Student drying washing in rented house

[Rasputin123]

Tall student clothes fit where they touch. They are staying in the same cheap grim rented house again this year. Last year they refused to put the heating on (to save money) until term 2 and his clothes either shrunk as a smaller flat mate put his good hoodies and t-shirts in the tumbler or his best hoodies and t shirts were left drying in a cold dark bedroom on a unheated clothes airer for days and days on end. Suspect the very small house radiator in his room wasn’t working properly. He was face-timing in his coat often with a hat on.

He now has a small portable electric radiator for his room. Would he be better using a heated clothes airer (his clothes are big and long) or using a dehumidifier or humidifier or whatever and the unheated clothes rack. His course is high intensity, quite a distance from his house and he plays a lot of sports so isn’t in to leave something on for ages (due to fire risk and cost).

The first rule of uni is never take clothes that can't be tumble dried (or that need to be ironed). Have him check the label when he's buying things.

But generally the equipment in laundrettes is better than budget student washing machines.

I would say that if you have clothes drying in his bedroom you need a dehumidifier.

The damp clothing can exacerbate mould and cause health issues.

My DC was at Uni in the NE and was a rower-a lot of that kit can't be tumble dried so there was always washing hanging about and the dehumidifier was emptied daily!

Another vote for the launderette once a week or so. Clothes ready to hang up on the floor lol and good to go. Check the labels but I'd say everything that goes in the industrial size launderette dryer will be fine as pp said.

It's really a no brainer and won't cost any more than the extra heating/drier bills in the house in the long run. Saves brain space for his studies, and time for his sports.

Big boy now, he should have thought of this himself TBH!!

I’m tight when it comes to putting the heating on, doesn’t go on until December here and then it’s not every day. However they are not saving money using the tumble dryer!! Totally false economy there.

Thanks one lad is really stubborn and stingy. This lad is very tight as he is surviving on min loan with very occasional adhoc small amounts of cash from his parents or girlfriend.

When you are very tall you don’t always have the luxury of only buying things that tumble you buy whatever fits whether or not it goes in tumble dryer and his sports kit fabric doesn’t go in either.

No they are good friends but financial support from some of these lads parents is lacking. So that wouldn’t be an option.

One lad has a heated aired with a cover in his room not sure what the others do suspect they either go about with musty smelling clothes or shrunken clothes.

I would also say laundrette however if getting a dehumidifier I would get a dessicant one. It works at any temperature whereas other dehumidifiers don't work as efficiently at low temperatures. Another advantage is they work by heating the air so it would raise the temperature a bit (not enough to heat the house...)
Big big downside is that anything that will heat the air will use a lot of electricity. I have the Evo-air one - it says it's 300watt so comparable to a heated airer except that's on economy mode - when I run full power I suspect it's more like 600watt so at the moment that would be about 14p an hour. Meaco also do a desiccant one.
The sensible mum in me would say laundrette. The scatty uni student that I was would have been in no way organised for that.

Does there rental agreement say anything about responsibility to heat and air the house

it’s going to be thick with mould due to there actions

We have a meaco 12L dehumidifier in the hallway, it's really good.

his clothes either shrunk as a smaller flat mate put his good hoodies and t-shirts in the tumbler or his best hoodies and t shirts were left drying in a cold dark bedroom on a unheated clothes airer for days and days on end

Why was he letting his flatmate putting his clothes in the tumble drier? What does his mate being smaller have to do with anything!? I think it’s far easier to do your own washing, then you know what’s happening.

Leaving clothes drying on an airer wouldn’t shrink them though.

I wouldn’t buy a dehumidifier if the house is cold anyway, I can’t imagine that would do much. I’d get a heated airer if he is going to use it (and is happy to pay the electricity) but it would probably be easier to just go to the laundrette.

I would get them to reconsider the heating. Having it come on low but regularly is important. Last year ds and his housemates tried to not use the heating. It really wasn't healthy. Mould grew, clothes never dried, towels never dried. Ds coat got mouldy where it just never dried out properly. House smelled and ds constantly felt unwell. Whenever they did put heating on the house was so cold and damp that it just wasn't effective and a waste of money. I convinced them to work out the timer on the boiler and have it come on just for an hr in the morning and evening. Energy bill was fine and house is a much healthier place to be.
For washing, a dehumidifier is great if you can get him one.

Have they got a backyard or any outside space? If they can rig up some kind of line, washing will dry quite well on a breezy sunny day even if it's not too warm. Much better than having it in the house.

Are you just looking for an argument @Shinyandnew1 or are you always trying to insinuate people are lying or mistaken.

Both things happened. The washing machine in the house seems to take forever to do a cycle so on a couple of occasions a more vertically challenged flat mate came home before DS who left a wash running before he left the house as flat mate wanted the washer when DS got back from lectures all his good hoodies and tshirts had been put in the tumbler. Shorter friend thought he was doing him a favour. The rest of last year DS’s clothes that don’t go in a tumbler were left on an airer in his room.

Shrinkage is usually caused by drying at too high temperatures. If he puts the drier on a lower temp then they shouldn’t shrink.
Also second the launderette. I used one for well over a year and never had any clothes shrink. Most people tumble dry clothes all year round these days. We only do in the winter. I don’t put my best stuff in but put all the kids in and it always comes out fine

I'm really short, I didn't know it affected my relationship with tumble drying clothes until today.

Tough shit
They need to heat the house. The tumble dryer is worse than the heating

In addition to the above suggestions. Is your ds washing items more than they need it? For example if he has thick joggers/jeans or hoodies is he using them several times before washing?
cutting down in quantity of laundry would be good. So perhaps at home wearing jersey tops or T-shirts underneath and washing those daily, obviously pants etc daily. The things that need washing very regularly including towels and pants/socjs, basic y shirts can be tumbled with low risk of shrinkage.

The "tight" student will be terrified of not being able to afford to continue his course. (And likely has deluded parents.)

I shared with two others in that situation including a kid who had been in care at two different times at my time at uni but that was decades ago. The first wasn't by choice but the second was because we needed to fill a large house share up. It actually worked to the latter ones benefit as someone sensible worked out that sharing bills between a large number of people makes them affordable.

Also Gas is cheaper to use than electricity. So it makes sense for them to put on the gas central heating to warm themselves in the evening from November onwards, dry their clothes and to help stop the house rotting. They then need to be vigilant with dealing with any condensation to stop it turning into mould.

The main issue with bills at the moment is the standing charge being so high which you have to pay anyway.

Your son also needs to realise he that in future he should house/flat share with those in a similar financial situation in future. So his clothes being destroyed and him being cold is actually a hard but good lesson.

@Rasputin123

they won't. I don't tumble dry clothes either, because of the shrinkage.

he can take the 'gadgets' with him when he moves.

Have you ever washed and dried baby or children's clothes?

Then you would be aware you can put more stuff in as both washing machines and tumble dryers work by weight.

Though the OP hasn't said her son is well over 6ft and you haven't said you are well under 5ft.

He needs a dessicant dehumidifier like https://www.meacodehumidifiers.co.uk/products/meaco-dd8l-8-litre-desiccant-dehumidifier

Unlike compressor dehumidifiers, dessicant dehumidifiers work at low temperatures and heat the room as they run.

Definitely a desiccant dehumidifier, not only do they work fine at low temperatures they give out heat, so his room will be warmer. It will feel warmer anyway if the humidity is lower. If one of them is refusing to put the heating on due to genuine financial issues why not offer to split the gas bill between the othered who do want the heating on?

Bit unfair to keep referring to the other lad as 'tight' and 'stingy' because he's hard up and doesn't want to be faced with a bill he can't pay.

The problem is that running up the electricity bill by using the tumble dryer plus individual heated airers, individual dehumidifiers, etc is not helping him.

He needs to be sat down and shown that putting on the gas central heating for 3 hours in the evening from end of October to April is cheaper than everyone running individual electrical items to dry their clothing.

Your son needs a dehumidifier and a clothes airer.

As well as being cheap to run , a dehumidifier will dry his clothes quickly and make his room feel warmer because the air is dryer.

There are two types of dehumidifier - dessicant and condensing. Dessicants work much better than condensing types at low temperatures so if the house is cold, go for dessicant. However, it will use more electricity and is noisier than condensing models but it will definitely also warm his room.

We have a Meaco dessicant model. There's a timer and even a laundry setting so your son could use leave it working while he's out.