To think that tumble driers ruin your clothes?

[Loveheart13101]

It’s a bit pathetic really, but a relative tried to get into an argument with me over a flipping tumble drier.

We have a tumble drier but we only use it for a few things. Bedding in the winter/bad weather, towels in the winter and for emergencies.

It’s too expensive to run all the time, and when we were using it regularly we noticed that clothes were getting holes in and sometimes shrinking/fading.

Relative picked a fight over why we have got washing hanging around and argued that the tumble drier isn’t expensive and doesn’t ruin clothes.

Never had anything shrink in it.

I did have one, but got rid of it.

The filter got clogged with fibres, so everything was slowly getting thinner.

We’ve had ours for about 7 years. It costs around £1 per load but as we do a load every day it adds up to quite a lot.

As for ruining things, it wasn’t ruining things straight away, but I was noticing over time fabrics were thinning and getting small holes. I’d never had this problem before and haven’t since I stopped using it regularly.

Pissed off at relative telling me how to do my washing!

I think maybe they do a little but I’m lazy and Ds has severe allergies so I don’t like hanging washing outside so I do just tumble everything (apart from a few things like nice tops etc that need hanging up straight onto a hanger to dry). I just don’t buy hugely expensive clothes tbh so can’t be bothered if they shrink a bit over time.

I use a dryer for everything except items specifying air drying only. I'm in the US where dryers are a given in a home and apartment buildings with shared laundry facilities have dryers too.

I'd far prefer a dryer over the stress inducing sight of damp clothes all over my home, or the dampness and associated issues caused by inefficient evaporation in a damp climate. The air here is dry and most items I dry on a rack are ready in a few hours - I can't imagine leaving several loads hanging all over the place during a spell of wet weather.

I've never had any issues with a dryer apart from mistakes with woolens.

Those complaining about lint, with dark ruminations on what it signifies - the lint is loose fibre particles that are released into the air as you wear the clothing anyway, and moreover they're the loose fibre particles that are left after the washing machine has rinsed many of them out to begin with. (They're all hopefully heading for a water purification plant and not straight into bodies of water).

@Loveheart13101

The small holes - where do you see them on the clothing?

@oncemoreuntothebeachdearfriends
You're supposed to clear the filter after every load.
The loose fibres will eventually find their way out of the clothing anyway, with normal wear and friction. Dryers don't rip fibres out of fabrics.

There were literally just appearing anywhere on the fabric. The fabric was getting thinner over time.

Not I problem I ever usually had - until the drier.

I use the tumble drier for everything, it’s the only way I dry clothes.

Nothing has ever been ruined - although, I alway buy cheap clothes (looking at you, Primark) in a size larger for me and the children as they shrink a bit, however, not sure if that’s just what they do in the wash as I’ve only ever used a tumble drier.

We use our tumble dryer all the time (2 boys under 4) but I agree OP! Stuff lasts so much longer when line dried and you get that lovely fresh smell on them too.

Depends where you live though. If I had a washing line, my clothes would smell of weed and chips. Chippy over the road which stinks and neighbors who smoke weed in the garden all day. Tumble drier is preferable to that (I understand that most of you won’t live in an utter shithole like I do).

Not all garments are suitable for tumble drying. Most things, though, will tolerate a brief solo dance in there to shake out the creases before being hung up on a hanger to dry outside. Win win. Ironing is probably quite expensive too, as well as being a ball ache. I don't have small holes in any clothes.

🤣. I have put my husband’s Lacoste t shirts in mine and it comes out just fine!

Mine does seems to shrink some things a bit. Mostly it’s fine but the odd item has come out small or mishapen.
Could be to do with the setting.
I put all the little fiddly things in it like socks and pants. Things that take longer to hang up. And towels. Most bigger items like jeans I just hang up.

I agree. Ours is 10 years old, was cheap and has just 2 settings, even on the low setting its quite hot. I rarely use it in the summer, amd in winter I just use it for bedding, towels and things that won't be ruined if they shrink a bit. DH wears a lot of black and I def think his t-shirts fade quicker if they are tumbled.

In my experience a lot of stuff comes out a shrunken creased mess.

It gets used for towels and bedding in winter but for majority of the year, we line dry or use the airer.

Couldn’t be without my Miele washer/drier. Yes, it was very expensive but I’ve had it since 2008.

£1 per load will add up easily. I wouldn’t have it running that much.

I would never put a ‘good’ item of clothing in a tumble dryer unless they were cotton, eg shirts
Depending on the material and also temp of the dryer but I certainly think it has the capacity to damage some clothing and I have certainly had some shrunken items in the past

@Loveheart13101

Are you sure it's not moths?

I have a Miele and I stupidly put a lovely soft jumper in, one of my late OH's that I wear, and because it was in with a variety of things with different time requirement it came out unfluffy and flat feeling, I was devastated.

I absolutely loathe clothes hanging around, it’s so untidy and I just loathe if. Where have you got that a drier is expensive to run? I have a heat pump one. It takes 1.5 hours to dry a full load. And I’m done. There’s many different settings for different clothes, so no they don’t ruin your clothes if you dry them correctly. Absolute godsend during winter months.

I think it shrinks things, jeans feel so tight after being tumbled and school polo shirts definitely shrink, I think if you iron after tumble drying it might help stretch them back a little but I don’t iron.