Drying washing without a tumble dryer.

[LyraBelaqua]

Could you please advise me how to get my washing dry during winter without using my tumble dryer? I’d like to try and keep my electricity bill down this year. I find that if I hang clothes on the clothes airer/radiators they tend to get smelly, especially towels. Help!

I still dry outside if it's not raining or damp. I also have a dehumidifier.

Really? What do they smell of?

We hang everything over radiators and the banister and it dries in less than a day. Quicker if the heating is on. We recently bought a clothes horse too as our washing machine has 12kg capacity.

My clothes only smell if I've hung them up to dry in the kitchen and I start cooking, they pick up food smells then. Are you taking the clothes down shortly after they're dry, or are they hanging there for days? They will pick up whatever your house smells of if you leave them there long enough (dog, smoke, cooking smells etc). Do you have enough ventilation throughout the house when clothes are drying? Try opening all of your windows an inch. The moisture has to go somewhere. Also make sure the clothes are properly flattened/shaken out on the radiator and not scrunched up.

I use the radiators. Things only smell if they take days to dry but with the heating on, one evening usually does the job.

I hang mine on clothes airers. They dont smell bad

I bought a heated airer last winter and haven’t used my tumble dryer since!

Yes heated airer here too, brilliant

I would get a heated airer but make sure you ventilate well. The water has to go somewhere.

I put tops/shirts on hangers and hang them from the door frames upstairs, well spaced out. Trousers go over the banister and the rest goes on an airer.

We have the vertical radiators and I stand my airer in front of that

Hanging over airers works for me. Then, iron damp or fold, and put on radiators to finish off.

A dehumidifier helps.

Extra spin for towels and the like.

I had this problem for years until we bought a dehumidifier with a clothes drying setting. It has revolutionised my clothes drying (which I do indoors on an airing rack) and has sorted out the damp problem that had started.

I have this Vax one which has worked brilliantly for me for the last three years: www.amazon.co.uk/Vax-DCS2V1MP-Extract-Dehumidifier-Silver/dp/B01KV87U8K/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=vax%2Bdehumidifier&th=1&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1542362731&sr=8-3

The main thing you need to look out for is the clothes drying function, and you need to buy a powerful ones as the little cheap ones are totally ineffective. I would say you do probably need to spend £100-200 to get a decent one. However that is the same cost as a heated airing rack, and will also sort out your damp problems if you have them.

Clothes dry quickly and don't smell (you do need to make sure you take them out of the washing machine immediately after the cycle finishes, though, as that can be another cause of clothes starting to smell of damp).

Thank you everyone for your advice I think I’ll invest in a dehumidifier and potentially a heated airer too and give that a try.