Does fabric conditioner slow down drying times for clothes?

[Waspnest]

Just this really. MIL has quite severe dementia so I have started doing PILs washing for them due to either clothes being put back into wardrobes without being washed or three or four washing pods being used at a time (I wondered why I could not get rid of the scent whenever I washed their bedding - been doing this for quite a while, and how they were getting through so many boxes of Ariel 3in1 pods).

Anyway I never tumble dry clothes (for fear of shrinkage and the environmental issue) but they are taking for bloody ever to air dry, is it because of something in the pods still in the clothes? I use bog standard bio/non bio detergent with no fabric conditioner.

Ariel 3in1 pods don't contain fabric conditioner

Are you drying them in their house or yours?

Ours. I dry all our clothes either outside on the line or indoors on the airer/coathanger hanging thing and they're all dry within a day - our washing machine has quite a high spin speed so we don't get a lot of condensation.

So could it be something else in the pods?

I wonder if they leave more residue on the clothes. I'm not a fan of pods tbh.

Me neither. The whole idea of plastic dissolving into the wash sounds odd to me.

@dementedpixie

Ariel 3in1 pods don't contain fabric conditioner

Are they 3 in 1 because it's a prewash, wash liquid and then a fabric softener all in one pod?

I haven't noticed a difference when I use pods to powder OP. But then I only line dry. Maybe they have absorbed detergent due to being washed with too much previously?

Yes 3in1 (I bought them for her!) though interestingly(!) I think Aeriel may have now changed them because I couldn't find them on the Tesco page when I looked them up.

Only bold 3in1 has fabric softener in their pods

Yes I think her overdosing with pods may have kind of waterproofed the clothes. I'm hoping that over time washing may remove it?

Maybe try putting them through a wash with soda crystals to degrease them and remove residues

Oh thank you, I'll try that, is it ok to use on all fabrics?

@dementedpixie

Only bold 3in1 has fabric softener in their pods

I didn't know that, I just assumed they all did. I'm not in UK but we do get the Ariel pods amongst others. I've never added extra softener when I've used them. They do make the washing smell good though.

DH has just mentioned that he's pretty sure that she said she put them in the dispenser rather than the drum, and he wondered why clothes on their airer seemed to all have darker streaks on them..... He's going to confiscate the pods when he goes over tomorrow.

Yes soda crystals can go in the dispenser drawer or chuck some in with the washing. You get bags of them for £1ish near the other washing products

Thank you, I think I already have some somewhere for putting down the sink.