Which is more economical - tumble dryer or ironing?

[Yika]

I hang stuff up to dry mainly because I think it's expensive and energy-consuming to run the dryer. Am I right? If I ran the dryer i would fold and put most stuff straight away. As it is, I iron (not necessarily myself - my cleaner does a lot) all clothes and bedclothes. What are the relative costs and benefits? Please advise!

I just bought a tumble drier "C" graded for efficiency and "Which" reckon it uses about £96 of electricity a year assuming 3 full loads per week. A load is 7kg. So that would be about 62p per load.

Most of the loads here are less than 7kg. In summer, stuff goes out on the line, then finished off and fluffed up in the drier, or ironed from slightly damp.

You can get more efficient driers, up to A++, but they cost hundreds and hundreds more to buy, so probably will not recover the extra cost in their lifetime.

BTW, the main cause of condensation, damp and mould in UK homes is people who drape wet washing around the home or over radiators.

Thanks. That's really helpful. Sounds like it's worth it. I dry my stuff indoors so I'm probably creating a mountain of mould!

Have a look in your loft on a frosty night and see if it contains a raincloud.

I agree with PigletJohn - and that's in terms of if you were doing the ironing yourself, but when you factor in the wages of someone you are paying to do ironing that wouldn't be necessary if you used the tumble dryer, then you'd be mad not to use it.

I use the tumble dryer quite a bit, but I still find that a lot of items would also need to be ironed afterwards. Where am I going wrong?!

i wouldnt think about ironing to dry something. i have a washer dryer, but veyr rarely use the dryer. we seem to manage mostly. hanging the washign, and dont get rain every single day so it goes on the line throughout theyear. in fact i am thinking of buying a washign machien with no integral dryer now my wm is broken

Thanks for all the thoughts! I think I will start using it a bit more, and particularly to finish things off and see if it helps with the ironing mountain. Ill probably still iron because i'm obsessive I like things to look neat and crisp but hopefully not so much. I'm a working single mum and something has to give!