Drying washing

[preparetheships]

Hi all,

Could anyone recommend a cheaper / more eco friendly way of drying washing than a tumble dryer during the Winter months.
We have airers but as a family of 5 we struggle for space as it takes too long to dry.
Also bedding and towels don't fit!

Are heated airers quicker and cheaper to run? Is there anything you would recommend?

Thanks in advance.

in Winter it takes two days to dry. It can be speeded up by:

turning over/round washing to bring the wettest part of a garment to the outside

moving damp washing away from the wet to air somewhere else in the room/house
putting in a sunny window.

stand airer next to radiator and hang a sheet over the top of the airer and tuck the ends behingd the radiator so you make a warm tent.

you can hang washing out to dry in winter too but it takes longer and you still need to air indoors.

however, in some places things just do not dry and you need a heated airer to finish stuff off. (holiday cottage like that)

airing cupboard was our go to before the boiler broke.

You’re at risk of mould with many of the above methods unless you keep windows open.

I line-dry most of the time and use a dehumidifier when I have to dry things indoors. But I will be replacing our defunct tumble drier as I am paranoid about mould and mildew and towels take a long time to dry indoors.

I bought a heated airer for £95, from Dunelm last year - so much quicker and tidier than using my radiators. Its not huge though so you might need a bigger one for a family of 5 but the principle of them I reccomend!

We are a family of 5 also and I find clothes take 2/3 days to dry hanging them up on airers even in the summer unless they are outside!

Traditional ceiling clothes airer. Amazing. We have had one fitted in the last few houses we have lived in. Because heat rises it gets most things dry within 24 hours (T-shirt's, bedding etc) and heavier items (men's jeans) within 48 hours. Large enough to spread king size bedding over so very little ironing as nothing is crumpled up. We have a tumble dryer and a heated airer which we very rarely use now.

Like this (but we just bought a kit off eBay and my husband fashioned the poles himself):

www.castinstyle.co.uk/product.php/285/traditional-kitchen-maid-pulley-clothes-airer?gclid=EAIaIQobChMInoPUiYHM8gIVBurtCh2qEwxtEAQYAiABEgIQKfD_BwE

@preparetheships

Hi all,

Could anyone recommend a cheaper / more eco friendly way of drying washing than a tumble dryer during the Winter months.
We have airers but as a family of 5 we struggle for space as it takes too long to dry.
Also bedding and towels don't fit!

Are heated airers quicker and cheaper to run? Is there anything you would recommend?

Thanks in advance.

Check the weather forecast and wash on dry & windy days. If your machine has a timer, set it for the early morning, so you can hang the washing out all day. Re-wear jumpers, jeans, trousers, hats and coats until they are stained / smelly. See if you can go 3-4 weeks between washing bedding (disgusting by MN standards, I know). That way I tend to get through the winter without using my tumbler dryer much (unless it's a very wet / damp winter).

Definitely hang outside if dry and windy even if only for an hour or two. Heated airers work but you need to move stuff around - bedding is ideal to 'tent' over the top. Dehuidifier is helpful especially on those days when you don't have the windows open much.

Sometimes, I do load after load of washing to get it all on the line on a nice day, but if drying indoors, it makes sense to do one load a day and get it dry. If you hang shirts on hangers on an over the door hook, and iron while damp, they just need to hang in the airing cupboard or above a radiator.

We got a A++ rating heat pump tumble dryer when our last one died in 2019. The heat pump ones are meant to keep energy usage lower due to the way they use lower temperatures - they may take slightly longer to dry however.

The cheapest we found was a Candy one which has a huge range of settings - really happy with it so far, didn’t notice a huge jump in the electricity bills over winter. I really don’t like having wet towels and bedding etc hanging about if I can help it

Buy a dehumidifier. I got a decent one for about £120 and it was life changing. Hang laundry on regular airer, before bed, leave in room with dehumidifier and door shut, dry by the morning!

Ceiling clothes airer 100%. I am always amazed at how fast things dry - ours is in a room which has no windows or direct sunlight and even in the depths of winter jeans are dry by morning. We got a dehumidifier for other reasons and that just speeds it up even more. We do have a tumble dryer from a previous house but I could count on the fingers of one hand how many times we've used it since we moved 2 years ago, the ceiling airer is so good.

I've seen them mounted all sorts of clever places - over bathtubs, over the stairs, even in the hall right by the front door.

I use a Dehumidifier.

I have an airing cupboard where I have installed wall mounted airers and I put the dehumidifier in it. It also has my hot water tank and a radiator in it so I’m very lucky that it’s a very warm dry cupboard. I can fit 2-3 loads on it at a time and depending on what the fabrics are will be dried in 12-24 hours.

Heated airers and dehumidifiers or a pulley airer are great.

BUT

All that moisture is going into your house unless you use a dehumifdifier and even if you use one unless you have your washing and the dehumidifier together in a small room with the door closed then a lot of the moisture is going to escape the dehumifdifier and go into yuor house anyway. So unless your house has good mechanical ventilation then you risk increased condensation and mould which comes with its own problems. If you have a good, energy efficient tumble dryer then overall it may be a more ecological option than drying on an airer and then dealing with the consequences once you compare electicity use of a dehumidifier (cheaper per hour but on for more hours) and increased heating costs once you've had to open windows to deal with condensation.

We use a heated aired, Chuck a large sheet over it and run a small dehumidifier at the same time (which we got free from a local FB group). It will do a full load of washing overnight.

Ceiling airer in the utility room. Washing machine and boiler in there put out enough heat to keep the window slightly open so there is always a breeze of outside air

I also have a drying rack that I can lift while loaded. It goes on the sun in the garden whenever I can: once half the drying time has been done that’s about 75% of the water that would otherwise be making my house damp.

Can also recommend a dehumidifier. I bought a heated airer and I think it's rubbish. I needed a dehumidifier too because of all the condensation it produces, and the dehumidifier does the job on its own. Make sure you buy the right type of dehumidifier. I have a desiccant one because I put it in my unheated conservatory (it also works in the house). If you are putting your dehumidifier in the house you can have a refrigerant one. I've got this one www.meacodehumidifiers.co.uk/products/meaco-dd8l-8-litre-desiccant-dehumidifier?variant=14284953092163&currency=GBP&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=google+shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5fbqlqfO8gIVgovICh02OAFCEAYYAiABEgI95vD_BwE

Have you costed the use of your tumble dryer? I'm sure I read it's about 60p a go. We use ours 5x per week, so under £160 per year / £13 a month.

We have an airer hung from the ceiling over the stairs, something like this:

www.therange.co.uk/household/laundry/clothes-airers-and-washing-lines/indoor-airers/clothing-airer-ceiling-pulley-white-2m/?gclid=CjwKCAjw95yJBhAgEiwAmRrutAAJZywE67km4R0zR6970CRUVtKUAlHm2TfICtJPlEBwhRtFRXpeARoCnCoQAvD_BwE#1240060

It's on a pulley so you can lower it to leave with the landing banister to hang stuff up, then raise it to ceiling hight. It still takes a couple of days to dry, but you can fit a lot on and it's not in the way.

As another poster said above - lower your standards slightly. Jeans and thick jumpers absolutely do not need washing after every wear. Most jeans manufacturers recommend washing them as little as possible, (obviously it helps that most people tend to sweat less in the winter). Ditto with bedding - if you usually change the sheets weekly, stretch it out to 10 days and then a fortnight. Despite what people on here would have you believe, nothing will happen, the sky won't fall in and no, you won't get a disease .

I look at the pavements outside my house. If they're dry it's going to be fine enough for washing to dry on the line. Even if I only get things partially dry it's reduced tumble drying/radiator drying time.

I have clothes airers and put them by an open window in my spare room and close the door. One room is freezing but dry and the washing dries in about 24 hours. Sometimes I finish it off in the tumbler.

This is the bane of my life during winter. No matter how tidy my house is, washing everywhere just makes it look a shit hole, imo! I use radiator hanging airers and turn the washing over half way. Heated airer in a room with a sheet over and the windows open. I have the Lakeland one, it's good but such an eyesore! Would love a tumble dryer but no room and not buying a 2 in 1 yet as our washing machine is only a couple of years old. This year I may go to the local launderette to dry my towels.

I had a Lakeland heated airier which was ok if not fully loaded and you were able to rehang the washing every few hours. I sold it and now use a dehumidifier which is brilliant! No condensation or damp problems and dry washing in a few hours.

Run an extra spin cycle at top spin speed (my machines is 1400) after the wash cycle has finished. It makes a huge difference at how much more moisture it gets out and it's noticeable how much quicker things dry.

We are also a family of five. I line dry during the summer, but in autumn/winter it's too damp in my area and I can't be faffed running in and out to bring the washing in early because it's raining again.

I do have a very ancient tumble dryer, but I try to avoid using it for ecological reasons, so I use a heated airer during the winter for all of our clothing, bedding and towels. I can get a full load on and it takes one to two days to dry everything. I do a wash every day, so it's always in use. I have had to make a few compromises: I now change the sheets every fortnight instead of every week, and most clothes (not socks or undies) are worn several times before washing, unless visibly dirty. We haven't had any problems with mould or mildew, but I have the airer in the gift-wrapping room and keep the window open a little.

I'm surprised at how effective dehumidifiers seem to be and will be getting one for winter. Would love a ceiling airer but my ceilings are too low I think.