Clothes Drying Advice please ?

I hang my bedding and towels over my upstairs bannister and clothes on hangers in doorways if I need to.But always prefer clothes line outside ...weather permitting

BTW is that pod from Lakeland really safe?

My washing does very well drying out of doors on my lines in dry weather but the recent days of rain have been a problem. The pilot light on the central heating has gone out so can't hang clothes over the radiators.

That heated clothes horse sounds an excellent idea and I'd be buying one immediately if I had a place to put it.

A friend recommended a camping rotary airer put the things on hangers on it out side then bring it in through the patio windows if it rain s. Seems like a good idea ? I've bought one but haven't actually used it yet !

I try and peg out over the winter as well as the summer I just love to see clothes on the line. I do have a indoor airer for when the weather is bad and hardly ever use my tumble dryer unless I really need something

Lots of people on line recommending a dehumidifier, works by drawing the water out of your laundry, tumble dryers have to heat the air/clothes before evaporating the water… not sure about cost comparison tho.

I have a pod from Lakeland. It’s brilliant. Clothes dry crease free as you hang them up on the spokes and then zip it up. It has a hairdryer sized heater at the bottom which inflates the cover and dries the clothes. It has a timer and vents in the top. I’m thinking to move it from my spare bedroom into the living room during winter as it will definitely take the chill off a room!!

Right now I would hesitate to buy any device that uses electricity!

Put up a pulley instead!

Modern washing machines spin clothes so efficiently that if you hang them on the pulley when they come out of the washing machine, they will dry in the course of the rest of the day, or overnight.

FannyCornforth

BlueBelle and no Nick Abbot this weekend! ?

wrong thread, sorry!

BlueBelle and no Nick Abbot this weekend! ?

Grammaretto

I found a photo of the Flatley. Ours had been mum's but she gave it to us to dry the baby clothes when we lived in a top floor flat.

We had a Flatley too. Gifted by my parents in (I think) 1980.
We used it mainly to dry nappies when they came off the line damp. We only had open fires so obviouslyno heating in many months.

It leaked heat into the room so made our freezing cold kitchen just about bearable in the coldest dampest months.

It eventually gave up the ghost but we still use the sticks for various jobs. We have them stationed in rooms with tall windows so we can still draw the curtains easily.

I always put my washing in the tumble dryer for a few minutes just to decrease them. Then hang them next to a radiator and dehumidifier. It dries very quickly and I haven’t ironed anything for years.

harrigran

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’ve thought that as well, it will take a long time to recoup the initial outlay of a lot of the things suggested to avoid using a tumble dryer, including a humidifier. Although the saving in energy if everyone used them would be good overall.

I dried my washing on an airier this week instead of putting it in the dryer as it was raining. I put it in the garden room off my lounge so when the sun came out later that afternoon, the room warmed up. That evening I was rather put off by looking at my clothes while I was sat down and also by the smell from the soap powder - not unpleasant but still a bit unnatural. My clothes were not fully dry after 24 hours so I had to leave it up another night. The T-shirts were much more creased than they are in the drier and as I hate ironing, I hope the dresses drop out as I wear them!

So my experiment was not as successful as I had hoped! Maybe the washing will dry quicker in the winter when my heating will be on? I did have a small radiator put into my airing cupboard when my hot water tank was removed so in the winter I can hand up six or eight items in there to dry which will help.

My bungalow had a really bad damp problem when I moved in until I installed a better boiler, more air bricks and a positive air exchanger so I really don’t want to have wet clothes hanging around for days. And if I bought a humidifier, I would have to recoup the cost of that.

Maybe with the new pricing measures introduced today and being careful with heating costs this winter, the occasional use of my dryer won’t be too expensive!

No tumble dryer gave it away when we moved as no garage or utility. As my DD has used a Lakeland Drier for years with no issues I bought one from the Lakeland outlet on ebay it was half the price of a new one and came with one year guarantee. However I wish I'd bought the smaller version for the two of us as it would have been more than adequate. That said it works perfectly with a sheet thrown over. I do rotate the clothes after a couple of hours but dont have on overnight just leave the cover over and place in bathroom clothes dry by morning. I also have an over bath maiden which is perfect for handwash or very small washloads. Everything drys quick in our bathroom with ventilation.

I do miss my Aga for drying - and warming myself up. Nothing here in the bungalow, not even an electric fire.

We have a rather nice greenhouse that we turned into a Garden Room with a couple of comfy chairs, small tables and power for a heater in the colder weather. We now put the bulk of our washing in there on a clothes horse (metal rack) and the sun does the rest. ☀️

Grammaretto

We all probably wash our clothes too often anyway.
A df whose adult son lives at home plonks his "dirty" clothes to be laundered every day. Df sniffs them and hangs out most back in his wardrobe. He never notices.

That's amazing about the 10L of water in the dehumidifier Razza

Do you remember those wooden airers popular when my DC were small? Beloved by Shirley Hughes, the children used to turn them into play houses.
They are probably collectors' items on Antiques Roadshow.

My nan, and dd3,called theirs the maiden.

I have 2 clthes horses which i set up in the spare room, leaving the door open. I find that what really matters is spacing the wet washing out ( hence 2 racks) . 24 hours later I fold the dry items and tumble dry anything that is a bit damp… which is not usually much at all.

We all probably wash our clothes too often anyway.
A df whose adult son lives at home plonks his "dirty" clothes to be laundered every day. Df sniffs them and hangs out most back in his wardrobe. He never notices.

That's amazing about the 10L of water in the dehumidifier Razza

Do you remember those wooden airers popular when my DC were small? Beloved by Shirley Hughes, the children used to turn them into play houses.
They are probably collectors' items on Antiques Roadshow.

I wish someone would reinvent the Flatley! We had a second hand one for years, it was brilliant! Doubt if the originals would pass Health and Safety these days, but with a few tweaks I’m sure they could make a comeback!

I line dry wherever possible and use the tumble dryer to finish off, or when the weather’s really bad, or just pop things on the radiators if they’re nearly dry. I can’t stand a damp atmosphere so wouldn’t ever hang wet clothes around our Victorian house.

We bought a Lakeland 3 tier dryer and cover when some of the family were living with us for a few months over winter and had clothes that couldn’t go in the dryer (they’re much posher than us ). I found it very slow to dry things and did notice some condensation from it, even with the cover on. When I checked out the cost of drying a full load the tumble dryer was marginally cheaper, and of course much faster. But even if the line dryer were more economical it’d take forever to recoup the initial cost.

The Lakeland did come into its own as an emergency heater when our boiler was out of action for a few days last winter. I wouldn’t want it as a permanent feature in a living area though.

DH couldn’t bear washing drying indoors (dates from our having to dry towelling nappies round the open fire) so I have a posh drying rack in the garage which has moved with us from house to house but dry outside if I can. Tumble dryer was a godsend when DH was creating an inordinate amount of laundry but only use it to finish things off and fluff up towels. Still have a hot water cylinder in the airing cupboard which is also very useful.

I've just dried my washing overnight using the 20L dehumidifier in a closed room, it collected over ten litres of water.

I'm very nervous of condensation here as I've just had all the floors replaced because of mould, I'm saving for a positive ventilation unit in the loft.

I’d be careful about condensation when drying clothes in the house. For some reason, a few years ago , I put a clothes horse in the living room and I had black mould growing behind some of my furniture. It was a huge time consuming job getting rid of it. Up until then I’d dried the washing in the hallway next to a radiator and a dehumidifier. So any drying of clothes indoors needs to be ( imo) done in conjunction with a dehumidifier. I’ve always tended to dry washing in the house after finding bees in my washing when hung outside to dry. It doesn’t seem to happen to other people. But when I heard a buzzing in my washing basket one day and found a bee inside my sons jeans it freaked me out and I never got over it.

Germanshepherdsmum

I have seen the dryers in the Lakeland catalogue and they look good. Cheap to run too. I would feel more confident buying from them (as I often do) than getting a similar item from Amazon.

Sorry GSM thought I had said mine is a Lakeland one bought through Amazon. £30 cheaper and no delivery charge. I have got it up right now as the rain hasn't stopped here for days!