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.
So get rid of your dryer! Such a strong attitude yet you still have and USE your own dryer.
Hanging a few damp clothes is far different than hanging towels, sheets, socks, underwear year round - and most of that year inside. I'm not into watching out to not run into hanging clothes all the time!
Just about all my laundry is cotton or a cotton blend. My skin and most synthetics don't mix, especially those "quick dry" polyester types. Rashes/contact dermatitis are no fun. So much for that grand idea.
If I tried to dry laundry outdoors it would either pile up until the wind won't rip it off the lines, get even wetter than it started, freeze solid (I know, ice can be knocked out of frozen fabric but that also damages the fabric), mold, be chewed off the lines or pooped on by animals, or get spruce/fir sap all over it so it would need washing again.
My laundry is in the garage where I also installed hanging racks suspended from the ceiling. There isn't enough room to hang a load of towels, linens, bedding anywhere in my small house.
Doing multiple smaller loads of laundry (so you need to dry less at once) uses MORE energy than one larger full machine load. I don't run either machine until there's a full load to wash/dry. Maybe one load every 10 days to two weeks. That one load from the washer usually gets divided into two dryer loads. A full washing machine load is too much for the dryer to deal with on one cycle, so you'd end up running it again anyway. Sort of a wash (pun intended). If anything is still damp after one pass through the dryer it gets hung after that. If there's only one or two items of a bleed-prone color or different temperature I hand wash/hang dry; no machines. Shrink-prone items get hung from the get-go. That's also more energy efficient. I would never run the washing machine for a few items or the dryer over and over just to dry some stubborn thick socks or a towel!
If your items aren't dry at the end of a cycle you probably aren't using the machine correctly. You are either overloading it, not keeping the lint filters/exhaust vent clean, or you are using the wrong combination of time and temperature for the fabrics. So much for your efficiency!
Last edited by Parnassia; 09-09-2019 at 02:04 AM..
I heard a good discussion today about how some people don't use dryers because they are a waste of electricity. They say that hanging their clothes dries almost as fast sometimes.
This made sense. I usually will take out shirts and pants before they are done drying to eliminate wrinkles. But the smaller items don't even require that much care. I will literally have to keep setting a dryer for extended periods just to finish drying some socks. But isn't this kind of a waste of electricity? Especially if they can get dry just as fast by hanging?
What do you think? Should they be banned for home use?
Try drying clothes on the clothesline when it is -20 degrees outside
In addition to banning home dryers being a HORRIBLE idea, how would you enforce such a ban without Big Brother-esque measures?
while I agree that they shouldn't be banned, if they were the govt could just order no more to be made or imported. Eventually existing ones would wear out and then no more dryers.
I've used drying racks for years, even when working. My preference.
Maybe manufacturers should just focus on developing dryers that use less energy.
I dry my dresses, skirts and tops by hanging them in the house to dry. But towels, sheets, blankets etc go in the dryer. I wouldn't hang clothes outside, I have really bad allergies. The clothes would pick up the pollen and it would be a headache and I would be sick. I hung clothes outside as a kid in upstate NY they do not dry outside they freeze. Towels are ruff, cotton doesn't feel good when it dries on a line.
Make better dryers that use less energy makes more sense! Otherwise leave me and my dryer alone!
Sorry, but I lived in Japan and had no dryer for a few years. They often burned stuff which made the laundry smell like smoke. Other days it rained (it was a very wet part of Japan), and not to mention it was very humid. All in all, it took things a while to dry. My shower had an independent heater that could be used to dry clothes, but that was way less efficient than putting out on the line or a real dryer and I only used it in emergencies.
Rick Steves, on his travel show talks about using clothes that wash and dry easily. He hand washes the clothes in the sink and hang dries them overnight. Inside.
I don't buy the argument that people can't do this or don't have enough space in their house to hang them. Nope. That doesn't sound right.
You're really confident that you know everyone's home size and layout well enough to back that statement up?
People air dry clothes in Europe during winter. Practically no problem, but surely not everyone's in the US preference.
People in Europe also use Dryers, too. This is not an American Centric thing.
\
I have 3 peple in my family...I have a 3000 sq ft house... there still isn't enough room to be hanging laundry... 3 peoples laundry... all over the house...
Quote:
Originally Posted by cp102
Make better dryers that use less energy makes more sense! Otherwise leave me and my dryer alone!
They do. Every year they get cheaper.
It costs me about 12 cents an hour to dry clothes. This is a worthy expense for me.
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.
