How do you dry washing indoors in winter without it smelling bad?

[MegumiEto]

Just moved into a flat where there is no outdoor space for drying clothes. Got a 3yr old and an 8wk old - a lot of washing! Since the weather turned, I just can't get washing dry indoors without it smelling really awful, even if I finish it off in the tumble dryer.

At the moment it's on three airers in my spare room. I've tried opening the window and that doesn't help, and it's not cold enough to have the heating on much.

Trying to be economical with the dryer if I can!

if you have an extractor fan in the bathroom (you should) put a line up in there and leave the fan running and the door shut. This will at least prevent the rest your rooms suffering damp, condensation and mould

If you are doing low-temperature washes then the resident bacteria and mould spores on your clothes and in the washer will be clean, but not killed, so will be busy feasting on the wet clothes.

• extra spin or two - so the clothes come out as dry as possible
• open all windows of the flat for a couple of minutes at least mornings and evenings.
• if you have the airers in the spare room, can you put the heating on low?
• buy a dehumidifier (we cope without)
• minimize washing.

against the smell: do a hot wash (towels for example once a week at 60) regularly, use much less powder than it says on the pack

I'm washing for a family of five without a drier. I haven't found it smells (yet!) I wash at 40 (my 30 wash is a mini wash which doesn't cut it for the children-soiled clothes). I don't use much detergent and try to jiggle according to the weather - I do an extra wash if it is windy and might dry outside or if it is cold and the heating is on.

Are you sure it isn;t a problem with the washing maching itself? I dry indoors on airers and we don't have smells. Run an empty washing machine on a really hot wash, I use white vinegar in mine iirc (been a while since I did it) and it'll give it a thorough clean. If not, then you probably have ventilation and damp issues, maybe ask your landlord to stump up for a dehumidifier?

I don't have a dryer and live in a flat. I'd second the advice to check if the washer itself smells. Try doing whites or towels on a 60 degree wash with non-bio powder (not liquid as powder cleans the washer better imo and non-bio has bleaches in). Try using the appropriate powder or tablets rather than liquid for all your washing.

I dry my clothes on an airer and put stuff on radiators when it very nearly dry, just to check it is totally dry before putting away. I put my heating on for an hour in the evening to do this, even if not needed at other times.

Check that your airers aren't overloaded and clothes have air-space round them to dry. I take the quicker drying things off as they are just about dry, leaving the longer drying things more space to finish drying in.

Opening the spare room window seems a good idea, but you shouldn't have to do it for too long. (say 1/2 hour a day with door shut to rest of flat to avoid letting out heat).

Thanks for the tips. Definitely not a problem with the washer, it's brand new and all smells fine when it comes out. I think the problem is that my spare room is a tiny box room, pretty much filled by my three airers and it's just not drying fast enough in there with all that wet washing.

I think I will try the extra spin and spacing the airers out around the rest of the flat a bit more. Let you know how it goes!

Oh, I've already been doing the 60 degree wash once a week, my husband has a dirty job and it's the only way to get his work clothes clean!

I'll give the clothes a good smell when they come out of the machine this time, just to make absolutely sure it's the drying and not the washing that's doing this.

If you DO dry things in the tumble dryer straight from the machine, how long does it take?

Do put as much as you can in the bathroom with an extractor fan running.

Wash things less frequently if you can.

Put smalls on radiators.

Keep the windows open for as long as possible. Spread it out as much as possible.

Send your DH to work in grubby clothes, rather than washing every time (if he's going to get filthy, why not start filthy?)

Time isn't the problem, Megum, it's cost when TDing. You will notice.

I have to put the heating on full on wash days. Don't have a dryer - got rid of washer dryer as it was useless, but wonder what would be cheaper to run - heating or dryer?

My helpful suggestion is that you must hang up your washing in the area of the house with the highest air flow - i.e. not a spare room. For me this is the upstairs landing.

I tend to give my washing an extra spin and then hang it up in the bathroom which is always the warmest room. You can buy special over bath airers but they tend to be pricey so I just measured the width of my bath and found an appropriately sized concertina airer and stand it inside the bath (which is unused space for most of the day) and just lift it out onto the landing when we need to use the bath.

Most stuff, bar denim, dries overnight and I try to hang items over 2 rails of the airer so some air gets underneath and turn it when I remember. We don't have a tumble drier and we have always managed, though I do put washing outside right through the year as much as I can, even when it doesn't seem to be drying it does seem to dry much quicker when I bring it in and put it on the airers to finish so it must work a bit!

A typical UK tumble drier is about 3KW (3,000 Watts) and will use one unit of electricty on about 20 minutes.

Depending on your tariff, this will cost you in the region of 12p - 14p this winter per unit. More if you are on a prepayment meter.

For contrast, a bathroom extractor fan is usually about 20W and will run for 50 hours on one unit of electricity.

How to stop washing smelling? Dry it as quickly as possible, before the smell-bugs can get in there!

FWIW, and I know I am fortunate in this respect- I put up a clothes airer and run a dehumidifier in the utility/laundry for maybe 3 hours if I need to dry washing that big quicker!

Cheaper than a TD and doesn't wreck clothing to the same extent.

You gotta get your windows open, as all the water that evaporates off the clothes will make the room damp - that's possibly the source of the smell.

I use a dryer indoors and no tumble dryer and it takes about 24hrs to dry properly - I finish them off on the radiators if need be.

I have this ceiling airer in the utility room (where the boiler is, and next to kitchen, so a warm, busy room. Can easily fit 2 loads on it, and it all dries v quickly, though I do put jeans/sweatshirts in the dryer to finish them off, as I think they might get stinky before they got dry, otherwise.

All over the radiators - all over the house. Draughty Victorian house so well ventilated!

Am I the only person who finds drying washing inside actually makes the house smell nice? My house always smells of fabric conditioner when I've got the laundry airing. I second those who say put it in a room with a good airflow - I put mine in our bedroom which is really big and the open the window. I hate having it in the bedroom, but it dries much more quickly in a big space. I leave it there all day and then finish it off on the radiators. I have a tumble dryer, but almost never use it because it costs a fortune to run.

How do you fix those ceiling airers so that you don't pull all of the plaster off? I want one

Yes, you need a ceiling airer. Warm air rises. Also, could you keep your washing down to one load a day? 3 airers in an unheated box room sounds like too much damp washing in too confined a space.

I hang wet washing on coathangers and hang it up on doors and doorhandles. It gets more air round the individual items and mostly they dry overnight. However house does look like a launderette.

Try putting a few drops on lavendin oil in with the washing powder in the machine.