Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Some counties or towns do not permit cloths lines. In my city, only older homes are grandfathered for cloths lines, newer homes may not install them.
I remember reading about a big stink in Bend, OR, because a woman was drying clothes outside and her HOA's CC&Rs forbid it. When I lived in the Central Valley in California, I asked the one neighbor who see my clothesline if he minded if I hung clothes on it, and he said of course not. I dried everything on it - and the clothes smelled SO good - especially sheets and pillowcases. Some items I tossed in the dryer the last few minutes to soften them up, but most, I didn't have to. And with the weather routinely over 100 degrees and little humidity, things dried quickly.
It certainly seems like a silly thing to prohibit, especially if in your own back yard where the visual impact is limited from the street. Maybe the utility companies lobby against it.
It certainly seems like a silly thing to prohibit, especially if in your own back yard where the visual impact is limited from the street. Maybe the utility companies lobby against it.
Most CCR's boil down to protecting property values by prohibiting behavior that is perceived to be "trashy." Sadly in the US is is perceived that people only hang wash on a line if they are poor.
OK, so what is the problem with the larger washer/dryer integrated models?
I would never buy anything like that unless it was absolute must to save space. If one component breaks you effectively have two broken machines. e.g. if you buy a TV/DVD player combo and the TV breaks now you have the world's largest DVD player.
Heat pumps don't work in the north so it's not going to do us much good.
Anyway, you can just dry clothes on the line or use racks. NO electricity at all.
I only do laundry for two people but if you have kids, it could be too much to do line drying. In that case I'd use the line for some things and use the dryer too. But by air drying the laundry you're saving a lot of electricity.
Current heat pumps work fine in the north. Heat pump dryers draw heat from within the house anyway so outside temperature is irrelevant.
OK, so what is the problem with the larger washer/dryer integrated models?
European washer / dryers tend to be smaller than most U.S. washer / dryers. The load size anticipated is smaller, for people used to higher energy costs and who live in smaller homes.
There is nothing wrong with an integrated washer / dryer, other than the added complexity and cross purpose. One is designed to get cloths saturated with water, add detergent and rinse. The other is designed to add warm air and heat cloths dry (in other words remove the water left over from the washer). One does the other undoes. It is possible to integrate OR to stack. In Europe integration seems preferred, in the U.S. stacking is frequently more common, where stacking doesn't occur, there is is usually sufficient room to just let two giant units sit side by side.
Note, a heat pump dryer would likely be unable to use gas (natural or propane) as unlike an electric dryer, the released air is also more CO2 intense. Some recycle hot air from dryers into homes to recover the heat released by the drier (this recovers moisture in winter, not so much a wanted thing in summer). This type of recovery is not recommended for a gas dryer.
I switched from oil heat and oil hot water to heat pump heat and heat pump hot water. I'll be interested to see where this technology goes, but to be justified, it must create a smaller carbon footprint from creation to recycling than it's peers. I'm hopeful of reading more about these in the future, but for now, will remain skeptical. I like heat pumps, but understand where something is heated or cooled, something else receives the inverse. These pumps are exactly that, moving heat or cold from one place to another. A heat pump dryer, must release cold somewhere, and likely requires a compressor (unless it can be done entirely with a solid state device which would likely still require at least active ventilation to move cooled air away).
Then it's pointless in the winter because you would just be robbing heat from the house. That could actually make your energy usage go up.
No the unit starts with inside ambient temperature but uses the exhaust heat as it's source. The units condense the moisture in the exhaust of the dryer and recycle the warm/dry air back to the dryer. You do need a drain for the units.
No the unit starts with inside ambient temperature but uses the exhaust heat as it's source.
If it's reccyling the heat then it will work but that sounds like maintenance nightmare.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
