How on earth are you drying bath towels if heating not on much??

[GlomOfNit]

Just that, really. Our heating used to be on, but low, all day (I KNOW), on the basis that it was more economical to keep things at a baseline ok temp than have to reheat a cold house twice a day. So we were pretty cosy. Those days are gone now obviously and we currently have thermostat set to come on at 17 or so, twice a day. We have a horrible cold bathroom anyway (ground floor, built in what was once the house tool cupboard apparently, 1920's ex-council house dating from the days when you'd have a bath in front of kitchen range). We used to sling towels over radiator after baths to dry off. But now radiators aren't on, or not on for long enough. I sling them over bannisters to air (none of this is helping the damp in the house either ) but they don't fully dry like that.

Obviously in good weather we put them outside but it's getting cold enough that they don't really dry. They start stinking pretty quickly if they don't dry properly.

Are there any clever tips I'm missing? (no, we don't have a functioning tumbledrier any longer and I'm not looking to buy one at the moment, for obvious reasons. We do have a heated Lakeland airer thing but it's really awkward to have out all the time. I also have a decent dehumidifier.)

I know you said you didn’t want to get a tumble drier but investing in a good heat pump dryer is amazing for drying things (a full load still only costs 15p on our smart meter) and stops your house getting damp. Will dry off your towels within minutes.

We don’t have central heating so always dry towels and clothes outside or if bad weather on a clothes rack with the dehumidifier on and the door shut and they are lovely and dry by the morning.

I was bought up using a dry flannel after the shower was switched off. If you use it in the shower cubicle you don’t get cold. Then wrap in towel when out.

We never dry bath towels on radiators - we just hang them on a rack and they're crisp and fresh by the next morning.

Certainly not by washing them after every use as some people do on Mumsnet.

Washing stuff only when it is dirty, until last week it was still going on the line outside, this week a bit in tumble drier and on heated airer. Heating is still only on in the morning if it goes below 17 degrees C indoors.

Our heating is going on tonight, just for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening,the house is feeling cold and damp.

OP I'm a bit confused. I get why drying towels that you have just washed might be a challenge but why are the towels you have dried yourself with so wet? After have a bath I put my towels on the end of my brass bedstead and even my hair towel, which is damper than the bath towel, would be dry by the next day.

Heated airer. Yes, it's awkward but seems to work.

Whenever there's a sunny/windy spell, I run out and hang some big items like towels or sheets but have been caught out quite a lot by rainstorms recently.

Depends on your house I suppose, of I did that my towels would not be dry at all.

Heated airer. Yes, it's awkward but seems to work

Also heats the room up a bit 🙂

No tips, I've just sniffed a load of washing on an unheated wooden airer and its going back in the washer... 😫Not had the heating on, not used the tumble drier, or the dehumidifier, somethings going to to have to give!

Landing stair rail, over doors.

Same issue here. I have noticed a damp smell in two of the bedrooms now as well, and mould growing on the windows. I presume because usually we have the heating on by now!

I got way behind on washing with half term and quite frankly, can’t get anything dry! (Torrential rain here) so I’ve had to put the heating on.

the towels have ended up in the tumble dryer on more than one occasion just to get them dry as they’re still damp the next day and it’s causing moisture problems in the house. Not sure it’s a better solution tbh but we aren’t really ready for heating yet.

I dry everything in the kitchen because it's the warmest room in my house. Especially after the oven has been on. I leave the door open so the air can circulate though, trying to trap the heat in just made the air damp and things took longer to dry.

That's true! We're trying to keep heating off atm (luckily we don't live in a cold house/part of the county) and the heated airer is useful for taking the chill off the room in the morning.

It can be either as we currently have both. The one in original family bathroom (house built in 1970's) comes on with hot water, but the ensuite one (in 2000's extension) comes on with heating. We've previously had an electric one too, which was run independently on a timer switch.

Our heating hasn’t been on yet. We’re lucky in that the weather so far has been pretty mild and when I’m not at work, I’ve been able to dry towels/bedding outside on the line. We have an airer set up in a spare bedroom (DC at university so have never had a spare one before!). I know things take a few days to dry, but they aren’t smelling. I also put things in the airing cupboard when they’ve come in cold/damp from the line which is useful.

I think the solution is two towels each and alternate so they have two days to dry on the airer. I’m lucky that we have a hot water tank so our airing cupboard works to dry things but we have to be vigilant about hanging towels in there or they would just basically stay wet forever.

Have a look for quick drying towels on Amazon- there are loads that look like proper non-scratchy towels.

We shove ours over the bannisters. I've also got a "JVL Over door utility clothes washing laundry dryer balcony airer" which fits over the bannister and takes quite a few towels. I've also put it over the bathroom door with the window open and the door shut for a quick blast of air drying.

Tumble dryer. Wouldn't be without one.

I got an element put into my bathroom radiator so I can turn it on independent of the heating in the rest of the house

My shower has a rail for the sliding door runners, so I hang over that as it is near the window.

I love the flannel idea though and will advise my student DC, as they don't have opening windows and the heater in their room doesn't work. (It's apparently not cold though as a well insulated new build.)

No Heston here yet either.

Other than my hair towel a few times a week our towels don't get too wet after use but I have a brabantia wall mounted airier that goes across the bath (we rarely use it and it's in a different room to the shower so it's always dry in there.

Takes constant jigging around so all towels up there but generally speaking come shower time they are dry again, don't smell and no damp in that room.

It's a bit of a ball ache tho

Have two on the go and alternate them so that they have time to dry

I was moaning to DH about this the other day. Our heated towel rack is the radiator in the bathroom, it's a cold room anyway, but with us trying to keep the heating down, the towels don't get dry enough after a shower. The struggle is real!!

My Mum always had a seperate towel rail on the hot water system that wasn't controlled by the heating and if I had my way I'd 100% change ours. For now I'm trying various methods too...