Cheapest way to dry laundry

[Sparkle900429]

I live in a flat so NO outdoor space whatsoever.

Heating is storage heaters which are not great and super expensive and my electric bills are HUGE.

Already own a good quality dehumidifier but without the heating on still takes a while to dry things (small room with door closed)

Have heard mixed reviews re heated airers and would still need dehumidifier I presume? What would the cost of that be?!

Would you just give up and buy a tumble dryer? I had one previously and it cost around £1.50 per cycle (I think) but I did end up shrinking a few things but I did put everything on extra dry!.
Think this may potentially still be the cheapest option though even though people seem to say tumble dryers are the devil! (Must admit I do also worry about the fire risk).

Have tackled my problem with overspending on food shopping - next is my extortionate electric bills!.

What would you suggest?!.

I double spin my clothes then put on the heated airer in a small room & they dry fairly quickly. It's a cheapie from Amazon. I also put an old sheet over the airer to hasten the drying time as it creates a kind of heat tent. I've not worked out the cost but I know they're not expensive. Not sure about dehumidifiers costs, I use one in our kitchen & electric bills don't seem astronomical. Tumble dryers are good if you've got the space but I think you'll find your leccy bill goes up.

My mum has a meaco dehumidifier, she hangs clothes on a clothes horse and they're dry by the morning. The dehumidifier isn't cheap to buy but is cheap to run.

Dribuddi by a slightly ajar window, cheap to run and you can hang loads in.

I've got a heated airer and I think it's great. I haven't got a dehumidifier but I do open a window - not every time.

Try adding a pedestal fan to your small room, with the window open. You'll be surprised how you don't actually need heat to dry things. Plus drying with heat adds to the mould risk.

Heated airer also heats room up so you can save on heating. I think they're great.

i do have the space for a tumble dryer if needed.

just not sure if it’s actually works out cheaper which is the aim.

The small room I use with the dehumidifier is actually the bathroom and does not have a window unfortunately so anything else electrical (airer, dribuddy etc )would also need the dehumidifier running so then it’s whether the cost of the two combined is more than the tumble dryer.

Luckily it’s just me at the moment so not huge amounts of washing but would really like to not waste money.

How many people in the flat? Now that our DDs have moved out and it’s just DH and me most things just hang in a clothes horse, but I use a tumble dryer for towels. Our utility room has an extractor fan, could you put a clothes horse in the bathroom and use the extractor fan?

I could but I don’t think it’s very efficient, the light also comes on at the same time so seem if the room isn’t being used to have light on constantly too.

its just me but as I work in health care it’s 5 sets of uniform + normal clothing, bedding,towels etc.

Weirdly the thing I have a hard time getting to dry is pants and socks! Plus obviously jeans but I kind of anticipated that.

Could you put the dribuddy in a corner near a window not in the bathroom, so no need to run the dehumidifier at the same time? Ours is in a sort of lobby outside the bathroom, but we previously had it in the spare bedroom and just cracked am inch open.

Possibly but it would have to be in either the bedroom or living room to be near to a window - are they quite large?.

I find heated airers take bloody ages and that's in a warm well insulated flat. I also have no outdoor space and I have to use a tumble dryer during months where the heating isn't on but the temperature is below around 23/4 (ie a large chunk of the year). I don't do a full cycle, just twenty minutes, after an extra spin cycle, then stuff is dry in a couple of hours on the horse. It doesn't cost much doing it that way.

I use a concertina airer, and slide it over the top of the dehumidifier so the air is blowing directly into the clothes from underneath. I've tried to draw a picture to show what I mean, but I'm not sure it helps! (It has to be an airer that doesn't have a bar at the middle of the X for it to work.)

I make sure most things are over 2 bars rather than 1 to let the air blow at them, unless it's something small and light like socks and pants.

Stuff generally dries overnight can fit approx 1 load on at a time.

I shut it in the box room, as when I tried with it in the bathroom I found it pulled water out of the loo and the sink / bath traps rather than the clothes and took longer to dry.

This is what I have too and have been astounded at how much more quickly the washing dries in the unheated utility with it on

Not really, on the stand maybe 5 foot high, and less than a meter diameter.

only wash what's needed.

add an extra spin at the end of the cycle, that reduces drying time quite a bit.

Could you fit a pulley airer to the bathroom ceiling? Made a world of difference for us.
Extra spin on the wash helps too

I worked out that running the tumble dryer for an hour was a similar price to running a dehumidifier for six hours. You'll be paying £1 to £1.50 whichever method you use.

WHICH did a survey on this somewhere recently.

Tumbler dryer is cheapest. The cost of heated airer plus dehumidifier are more expensive.

https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/clothes-airers/article/whats-the-best-and-cheapest-way-to-dry-clothes-indoors-aVcs74u56Gk8

here’s the article. I might have got slightly muddled!

A heat pump tumble dryer is much cheaper to run than the old condensers, and probably a similar cost to running a dehumidifier, plus it's gentle on clothes.

It's the initial outlay that's the downsize but they're coming down in price.

I've tried all different ways, but the quickest and easiest is a tumble dryer. Ours has a low and high heat setting. I only ever use the low heat, on for 40 minutes and it dries everything for about 35p, no shrinkage.

Heated airers need to be run for a long time (overnight) to get results. I found the dribuddy was good in theory but didn't dry the clothes fully, eg the sleeves were often still damp if they were leaning on another garment. I kept having to go back to it regularly and move things round.

So, my vote would be for a tumble dryer which can have a low heat setting.

If it's just you there should only be one or two loads a week and you can just wait for your clothes to dry. I don't see the problem.

As the weather gets better they will dry quicker.

Get a heat pump tumble dryer. Doesn't cost as much electricity as condensers & dries clothes quickly.

I use the eco setting & cupboard dry & so far nothing has shrunk (but I don't use it for trousers/jeans/jumpers etc). It's brilliant for towels, bedding etc

Beko seem to do a reasonably priced heat pump dryer, but again have had mixed reviews? Long drying times and sometimes inefficient?

unfortunately as rented accommodation cannot attach anything to the ceiling.

as uniform needs to be washed separately it works out about maybe 3 loads a week, I could wait for it to dry which whilst it may not seem a problem I don’t want damp washing hanging around for ages and causing damage to the property due to moisture therefore I’m trying to find an efficient but low cost method to dry clothes