Avoiding the tumble dryer! To get a heated airer or just normal airer?

[Lapland123]

Just pondering options as we move into autumn winter, and the opportunity to dry clothes outside falls. I’ve previously hung clothes up and used tumble dryer but have become aware of how costly that it. How do people find using an airer to leave the clothes on to dry indoors? A heated airer seems to be a thing- had never heard of it before!- but not sure if it’s that much better? Or indeed if it costs as much as tumble drying items instead…

thanks for your thoughts and hopefully it may be of interest to a few of you thinking the same thing…

Plus the 1200w dri-buddy will be using 34p/hour at the moment!

I've never needed an hour in one and it seems faster than our current tumble dryer - which is a condenser rather than a heat pump one and few years old.

When we get a replacement I'd get a heat pump one - though similar issue with electric clothes spinners would like one but ones I've seen so far are pricy so put washing on for extra spin at end of program in washing machine we've already got.

AND you get limescale free water to use in your kettle!

Have you ever looked at the water from the dehumidifier??? Ours is full of fluff and as it is getting on a bit black mould 😧we use ours to water the plants, I definitely wouldn't drink it!

I can also recommend the Meaco 12l low energy dehumidifier, we use it for probably 6 hours for a load so costs around 30p (our cost is 27p/kWh) but if we had a dryer we wouldn't dry everything in it so we'd need another way to dry The rest. We also use ours overnight otherwise we get condensation

The Meaco 12L Low Energy Dehumidifier uses just 157 watts of electricity – meaning a cost of just 3p per hour (based on a 20.06p/kWh).

Think I will look into these is it good for hayfever too?

Thanks @msbevvy I remember it being really efficient for very little time.

Doesn’t anyone have a washing line anymore?!

We either put stuff outside on the line or hang it on a rail upstairs. Open a window front and back to get air coming through. No damp or condensation at all.

I have never owned a tumble drier or a heated airer. Even with small children in cloth nappies we had no problems.

@sortmylifeoutseptember2023 sorry, I don't know about hay fever, none of us suffer from it

The instructions for our dehumidifier specifically say NOT to consume the water. I use it for watering and in the steam iron.

Have never owned a tumble dryer. Heated dryer works for us,or line dry where possible

Always used a TD until last week and we used to have a lodger who seemed to use it 4-5 times a week 😳 However, just bought a clothes “horse” (as they used to be called) for £14.99 and it’s BRILLIANT! 😃

We’ve got a bog standard clothes horse that we keep in the conservatory as it gets warm even on cold days and try to line dry things even in winter. If the floor outside is dry then your clothes will dry

we didn’t have to use a dryer at all last winter (even with my youngest in cloth nappies - not that you would tumble dry those anyway) and hoping to do the same again this time.

I currently have clothes on an airer, with a desktop fan blowing on it. It's a room with a vent (back boiler) so damp is not a worry. I'm figuring a fan is cheaper again to operate than a drier or a heated airer. 🧐

I'll let you know how successful it is...

We put clothes in the kitchen on a normal airer after we've finished our evening meal (so the kitchen retains some warmth and also because it means it's out the way as we don't tend to use the kitchen after that apart from a hot drink later.) We have a window open for ventilation.

Virtually everything is dry by morning, so gets folded and put away at the start of the day.
I can't see that getting a heated airer is the way to go if you're looking to reduce energy costs.