Time to tumble dry?

[teabagpleb]

How long should a proper tumble dryer, not a washer-dryer, take for a reasonable load - say 1/3 of a wash, like 2 single duet covers?

Cos I'm having to use mine a lot now, and can't believe it's taking 1 1/2 hours for a small load! Am I expecting too much or is this rather crap?

I took just less than an hour this afternoon to dry a mans pair of trousers, a mans shirt, two school polo shirts, a few odds and ends, like pants, socks.

However I find that even a single item will take about forty minutes, so putting a bit more in takes less time iyswim.

I dried three large bath towels and a couple of hand towels in about one hour forty mins.

Got a cheapy vented dryer for the garage after years of washer dryers - best purchase we've ever made. Just put on a REALLY big towel load and it took 80 mins to dry. Normal load size takes an hour.

My washer dryer used to take over 2 hours to dry anything :(

I'm still hanging stuff out and then finishing in dryer

I have a tumble drier and almost never use it.

Can you not dry on a line/clothes horse/ceiling airer? Saves you £££ in electricity.

Is it vented or a condenser?

Drying clothes in the house is terrible if you have even have the slightest damp problem, Mintyy. I was forced to when my old dryer broke, last year, just as we had some crap weather and even with a dehumidifier going like the clappers, we ended up with loads of new mould patches and the carpet stunk.

I don't dry duvet covers and whatnot in the drier.. I find they have damp spots when finished... I have quite a decent sized drier that can a fair bit of wet washing.

I just hang bedding and towels over a door overnight (unless it's desperate measures) and it's usually dry in the morning.

I put mine through another spin cycle before I put them in the tumble drier. This removes so much more water and makes the drying so much quicker.

I obviously use more electricity to do another spin but save much more electricity with the much shorter drying time.

It's a condenser, and usually used about twice a year for a single emergency item. Currently we have builders in the garden so can't dry out there at all, and not enough doors to hang sheets on atm.

We have airer on the balcony but can't fit big items there - and the weather isn't always good enough either. We don't have a garage - at the moment there isn't even a kitchen! But should be resolved in 2 months. I think I'll try only washing bedding in the evening and hanging it on doors, then tumbling in the morning to finish it off.

Our condenser started taking ages (but we do use it a lot). Make sure that all fluff thingies and water reservoirs are empty (are there any you don't know about?)

I haven't got a tumble dryer. I've dried washing in the house all my life, as well as putting it on the line when possible during the summer. I've never used a humidifier. I've managed to reach my 50s without ever living in a house with major damp problems despite horror of horrors drying washing inside. Unless you have a problem already, is it really such an issue to dry stuff in the house?

When I have machine washed a load, I put in on the airer (unless it's a sunny day). If it's winter the heating helps dry it, if it's warm weather the warm air dries it, and when it's neither, it takes a bit longer.

Try putting a dry clean towel in the dryer with the wet items, that might speed it up a bit.

Tbh, I would be reluctant to hang stuff inside to dry. I have a condenser dryer and I empty the water tank often, i use my tumble dryer all the time and I hate to think of all that water evaporating into my house.

my dryer is a bog standard vented hot point cheapy that resides in my husband's shed and it will take a full load straight from the washing machine and dry it in about 40-60 min. that it's using the low heat setting.

can only think that your heating element must be on its way out.

Ah... condenser. They are slower than vented.

I empty the condenser and filter after every load. I'm usually fine drying in the house, but we're currently down two rooms and have an extra adult in the house. And the dryer is now in the main room so the noise is getting on my wick! There's enough draughts that damp isn't an issue.

Back to hanging everything up and then just finishing off in the dryer I think. Will try an extra spin, too.

Do you air your house? If I am tumbling I open windows etc

I have a condenser and once it is cleaned out, it dries fairly quickly. I put duvet covers over the upstairs bannister at night though.

My condensor one takes 1 hour 12 mins to dry a full load. Cupboard dry. That's usually heavier stuff like school jumpers, t-shirts, jeans.

Shirts, duvet covers take about 40 mins iirc (don't do it often).

It's a quite new Siemens one.

Drying washing inside can be more expensive than tumble-drying since you have to open the windows to air the house you end up having a higher heating bill. We tumble dry all year round and have smaller electricity and gas bills than anyone we know.

At one point our washing was taking ages to dry in the dryer.... It wasn't the tumble dryer it was the washing machine... The spin was starting to go and items were slightly wetter and taking longer, I hadn't noticed until I couldn't get them to dry in the normal times.
My zannusi condenser would do 2 single cotton duvet covers in about 45mins.
I find cotton sheets/shirts dry quickest,
A full mixed load of t-shirts/pants/socks/kids clothes will take about 1hr10
Towels about 1hr20
We are renovating our house at the moment and one of my luxury purchases is a drying cabinet, which should allow for a winter halfway house re: line drying without draping clothes around the house.

DoesBuggerAll, I don't open windows more because of the washing. I put our airer in the dining part of the kitchen-diner and it has a small window which is low so anyone could climb in, so I only open it if we're in the kitchen-diner and feeling hot, usually in hot weather. I open windows to air the house or because it's warm, nothing to do with washing.

I'm a bit amazed by the implication that the house will implode have a major problem if you dry washing indoors. Surely hanging washing to dry indoors in the UK most of the year is normal? I see tumble drying as the last resort if you have lots of washing you need to get dry quickly. In the past I've had a washer-dryer or sometimes used a TD in a launderette to part-dry it after washing it there, but I'd still hang the washing to dry on an airer afterwards, rather than use a TD for ages til the washing is completely dry.

Jan some houses will have a problem with excess moisture from drying clothes others won't. It will depend on the background ventilation of a house as to whether or not you will require windows to be opened. Different houses, different constructions.
Drying clothes will release a lot of moisture into the air but some houses are better at getting rid of this than others obviously you are lucky enough to have one which is fine.
There is no hard & fast rule with this as to what works best just a few options.

Wonky, I have lived in lots of houses and flats and bedsits over my lifetime so it isn't just one house that's been "lucky" for me. I appreciate that some houses have more of a problem with dealing with moisture.

I'm just concerned to think we've gone from people buying TDs as a convenience item which gets washing dry quickly, to people thinking they actually mustn't dry washing naturally indoors as it will have some impact on their house or heating bills.

I used to live in a terraced house that had the most horrendous mould all over the walls and it was sooooo much worse when I dried washing indoors, my husbands asthma got so bad that we went and bought a drier, best £200 we spent

Just spent £400 on a condenser tumble dryer, it takes forever up to 3 hours, and it still doesn’t dry the washing !!! Phoned Bosch twice, second time man was helpful, but told me it was unrealistic to expect washing to be totally dry —- What ! So , has anyone else had these problems and have I just wasted £400. It dried better on the airier