Clothes Drying Advice please ?

Hi - a friend of mine has just bought a freestanding heated clothes drier from Lakeland which you can adjust according to the amount of clothes you need to dry. It comes with a cover to keep in the heat. She has not used it as yet but has been told it is economic to run. Worth a look.

I’m thinking the greenhouse could be a good place. I remember years ago in the summer while waiting for the boiler to be mended we put water in there to warm up.

On wet days , I dry my clothes on an ordinary clothes horse in the garage. I open the garage slightly to let the air circulate and the clothes dry in a few hours.

DD has one of those heated rails with a cover that Lakeland do. She found it invaluable when drying mountains of baby clothes and underwear especially.
She has moved house since and has a tumble drier for big stuff but still uses Lakeland drier when she can’t line dry.

I have one of those heated racks but prefer to use my pulley (also advertised as a Sheila Maid”) in the utility room. TBH I could not manage without it! The heated rack takes up a lot of space when in use, but I could put it in the garage which, being draughty, has built-in ventilation.
The tumble dryer will be for emergency use only from now on.

crazyH I did that yesterday, but was a bit worried about the spiders taking up residence in my underwear...and the blooming tortoise got into the garage and wedged herself in an inaccessible corner and took us ages to get her out!!!

Yes Fanny nobody likes washing hanging all about the house, but it’s almost unavoidable in winter isn’t it?

For us I’m going to go back to what my Nana did in her back kitchen over her range- one of the wooden pulley ones that you load up with washing then hoist up to the ceiling. This will go up above my stove.

Functional, but not pretty!

I don't use the back bedroom, and am going to set up the clothes horse in there, on top of a textile shower curtain. To avoid condensation I'm going to use the dehumidifier on 'laundry'.

too many "ands", sorry

I have a heated clothes horse and find it very useful in the winter for drying heavy items. I also have a wall mounted dryer in the utility room, above the radiator, which is good for lighter items.
Our washing is outside most days, unless it is raining, as wee too are curbing our use of the tumble dryer.

I use a clothes dryer-not heated-in the bathroom with the window open. Keep «turning» the clothes too

Thanks for starting this thread Fanny. I’ll be watching it with interest as I’ve been wondering if those heated dryers might be an economical option.

I’ve always used a free standing clothes horse in the bathroom if it’s not dry weather for hanging out the washing in the garden. But due to financial restraints I’ve not used my heating since March and indoor drying takes much longer. The risk of causing dampness is a concern and I keep the bathroom window open for ventilation.

I dry my clothes over night in the spare bedroom.
I hang shirts, dresses on the curtain rail and the rest on an ordinary airer. Alway leave the window slightly open. Towels are finished off in the tumble drier. Bed linen goes out on the line.

When it's wet outdoors, we do the washing in the evening, put it on a free standing airer overnight in the utility room and anything not dry by morning goes in the tumble dryer. By then it only needs a short time, maybe half an hour.

The cost of an electric dryer from lakeland is probably the same as two or three years use of a tumble dryer so would take a few years to recoup the cost.
I watch the monitor on my smart meter while running the dryer and it is not as bad as feared and certainly better than having washing draped around the house.

I have wondered about those heated clothes horses from Lakeland too
I have had a pulley in the kitchen which used to be over the Rayburn and clothes dried overnight. Now I have no Rayburn and a cold kitchen.
I hang most outside but have a tumble drier for emergencies.
When we were in our first home with a baby we had a scary thing called a Flatley drier. c1965
It was a tin box with wooden rods over an electric heater. A fire risk but it dried the nappies.

I have a small telescopic clothes horse attached to the wall in the utility room. It folds back to the wall and takes up zero floor space when not in use.

This is the Dry Pod that I’m thinking about.
According to one of the reviewers, it’s 10p an hour to use.
Dry:Soon Drying Pod Dries Clothes Quickly and Efficiently amzn.eu/d/fanouSp

I’m wondering what I’m going to do with towels and duvet covers etc ?
I’d like one of those pulley things (I always consider them quite posh!)
but I don’t have the room.
In fact, I really don’t have any room

Never had a tumble drier.

Put my washing outside whenever possible, like it to ‘have a blow’ even if it doesn’t dry, obviously not in the rain!

Then it goes on an ordinary clothes horse in the conservatory, and as things dry, move them around the hall etc to air.

Do like to feel my washing has ‘aired’, an unknown concept to DIL, who never seems to worry about things like that.

But I keep my mouth ?

Never had a tumble drier either, if it can’t go out it goes on the clothes horse in the spare double bedroom, soon dries.

The Lakeland heated drier is great. I don’t have the cover - works well without. Can get a lot on it. Could leave up in a spare room or use overnight. Easy to fold down when not in use.

If a tumble dryer is out of the question I think the heated rack is the best solution- or an ordinary clothes horse with a de-humidifier switched on for a while or both.
I think getting the damp washing smell out of the air is crucial in winter, otherwise it would be ? miserable, too much like the old days.

I try and dry outside but have a tumble dryer to finish off if still damp. I also have two airers on my landing. Hot air rises so in the winter when the heating is on, things dry over night. I have also used a caravan/window airer hooked over the banisters and that was very effective.

I have a spare bedroom in which I stand a clothes horse in front of a radiator, I leave a window slightly ajar to get rid of the condensation.

Works well.

Actually now I’ve read the thread I do exactly like grannyboots