I read somewhere that pigletjohn said....

[rumbelina]

...that drying washing indoors is equivalent to throwing buckets of water at your walls.

Are you there pigletjohn? Is it really bad?

For me, trying to understand how things dry is almost equivalent to understanding how phones work (particularly analogue, blows my mind).

I don't understand where the water goes, I thought it just evaporated and disappeared, does it go into the air and the walls? If the radiator's on does more of it disappear? If the window's open does that help? If anyone can explain in very simple terms I'd be very grateful. We tend to only dry clothes in one (small) room and it's not mouldy or damp afaik but it does concern me.

He is right. I got a new condenser tumble dryer just before Christmas, and the amount of water in the tank after drying just one load of washing really surprised me. I'm talking about several pints here.

Without ventilation the water will just condense on cold surfaces and eventually mould will form.

I drape washing in a spare bedroom - with the windows open.

When anything 'dries' the water evaporates and goes into the air as water vapour. It is basically 'in' the air as a gas like oxygen and nitrogen - floating around and minding its own business.

Warm air can hold more water vapour than cold air. When the temperature falls, the water vapour turns into water liquid, and gathers as droplets on any colder surface.

Mould starts to appear when water condenses on surfaces which then don't dry out fully before more condensation appears on it and thus stay damp all the time. Cold exterior walls which don't have any chance to warm up (eg behind furniture) are typical places.

also, water vapour is lighter than air (hence clouds) so it will diffuse through your home and try to rise upwards until it either escapes, or finds a cold surface to condense on.

its tricky when you simply cannot leave windows open all day for security reasons. I now have dehumidifier which helps . no room for tumble drier. have to dry clothes somehow.

According to a booklet from Lancaster City Council, the following activities generate this much water:

Drying clothes indoors 9 pints

also
2 people at home for 16 hours 3 pints
A bath or shower 2 pints
Cooking and using your kettle 6 pints
Washing the dishes 2 pints
Bottled gas heater (8 hours use) 4 pints

We dry ours in the bathroom, which has an externally vented fan and window vents, and never have damp problems. But if it's not vented, it would be a problem

We dry our washing indoors on a rack and have no condensation or mould.

We do however have the heating on quite a lot so the house is quite dry otherwise, and it's a drafty Victorian house so maybe that helps the moisture escape.

Thank you so much, that makes sense to me now. I will check behind the furniture in our spare room today. We do try to leave the window open a crack if it's not too cold. We've got a dehumidifier but use it in the room next door, ds's room which had been suffering from mould when we moved in.

I've been wiping windows down in the morning too as recommended by someone on here.

Thanks again...roll on summer and outside drying