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).

I should add that a kWh of gas is about a quarter of the price of a kWh of electricity - this alone should convince the students to use the gas CH.

What is the relevance of the flatmate being "smaller" , "shorter" or "vertically challenged"?

I never had a tumble drier at university, a (non-heated) airer, central heating and cranking a window for some air circulation and reduce condensation worked fine. A dehumidifier would help. He just needs to space the clothes out - wash smaller loads if he doesn't have space to dry a larger one. Give the clothes a good shake out and reshape them while drying.

Use a laundrette and their drier for things like bedding and towels.

Yes, a condensing dehumidifier won’t work at low temperatures - we have one and I had it running in a room with the radiator turned off, and it stopped working as the inside iced up.

Aside from that I think it’s great for drying clothes.

Tall student clothes fit where they touch. I have read this over and over and just don't understand, what does it mean?

Tall student clothes fit where they touch. I have read this over and over and just don't understand, what does it mean?

It means they don't fit - they're loose and baggy, a bit shapeless. Or so I've always understood it.

(I don't understand what the other boy being shorter has to do with him chucking OP's son's clothes in the tumble drier.)

There's lots about this thread I don't understand. Tall/short people and how they relate to dryers. Tight students who run dryers but have no heating. It all sounds crackers and I think they should go to a launderette and put the bloody heating on.

Could get a timer switch for the plug so it would turn itself off after two hours

Running the tumble dryer probably costs more than putting the gas central heating on and air drying the clothes would.

I assume that as he is so tall, his trousers only just reach his ankles, his sleeves only just reach his wrist, I’m exactly the same with not tumbling clothes (I’m 6ft, ds is 6ft2). However, can he do extra spins and then a short tumble, followed by lots of stretching (I find a stretch and twist is best) to get the worst damp out, followed by a airer?

@Abouttimeforanamechange if you are short in height and your sleeves and the length of your clothes are on the long/big side it doesn’t matter too much is clothes shrink slightly in tumbler. Whereas, if you are very tall and the sleeves are only just long enough and your tops are only just long enough if things shrink a cm or more it really matters and it is more noticeable.