Monday 15 January 2018

Drying...

Where possible, I like to dry our clothes outside. It makes them smell lovely. However, this time of year, drying outdoors isn't always practical. I try to only use the tumble dryer for half drying our towels so they stay reasonably soft. Occasionally for other uses but not too often, as it is expensive to run.

Our radiators are good but damp clothes next to the walls, can cause wallpaper to wrinkle and lift slightly. Looking online for something I used many years ago, I came across radiator dryers. You can buy a pack of 3 (with 2 lines to dry on) for £3.50 from Wilko. We went and bought 2 packs.

I tested some of them out:
They work very well, but do take longer to dry the clothes. I shall try and remember to swap the back item for the front to get equal drying time. These 6 dryers give me 4.8m of drying space and along with a large clothes horse type dryer, should get all our washing dried from now on. Ching ching...

14 comments:

  1. You're right about the crinkly wallpaper behind radiators - I think all our paper is crinkly in fact!
    I went a whole year without a tumble dryer a while ago (thought it would be manageable once the 3 children had flown & grown). As a result we got lots of mould, crinkly wallpaper and condensation. (We have no gas fires or open fires at all). I now try and line dry whenever possible and finish off in the dryer. I find that a quick blast in the dryer cuts out the ironing in some cases too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Back rooms are fine as they have one or both windows open to air after sleeping etc. Wood burner in the front seems to evaporate all the moisture and the conservatory always has one window ajar whilst we are at home.

      Delete
  2. I have a couple of racks like those and they're extremely useful and do a good job.
    J x

    ReplyDelete
  3. Exactly what I use. All the upstairs radiators have these on and in the bathroom we use one as a towel rail. Between these, a clothes airer in the spare bedroom and the front of the Aga we manage to get all the washing dry in inclement weather.

    Some days we start things off on the washing line, but these days are few and far between at the moment.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Same here, always try to start drying outside when possible.

      Delete
  4. We don't own a dryer but hang everything outside. Except in midst of freezing weather and snow storms like we are having here in Illinois this January. I keep a drying rack behind our Rocket mass stove and it works well. Vinegar in the rinse water helps keep towels a bit softer. looking forward to spring breezes for sure!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. At least one ot two days a week, we can dry outside this time of year, but most days, it rains.

      Delete
  5. I'm affraid I use my tumble dryer if I can't dry outside. I even put the clothes airer in the greenhouse rather than use the tumble dryer. But sometimes there is no alternative and it would aggravate my asthma to dry clothes indoors.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Can’t say I blame you, got to be careful with asthma.

      Delete
  6. I would love to air dry but the last attempt led to one of my cats diving onto the rack and it crashing to the ground after breaking. I've yet to see a wishing line rigged for someone in a wheelchair and there are none of any kind where I live despite the fact that we have the climate for them. Thanks for the tip about vinegar in the rinse making towels softer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I use vinegar instead of conditioner but don’t find it keeps my towels soft, unless they are half tumble dried. These would work well for you if you had radiators.

      Delete
  7. We've moved our rotary drier into the spare room, it's a floor standing one not one you need a hole in the ground for. That gives enough room for two full loads of washing. We use a dehumidifier to give it a boost and prevent mould if there's more than a few things on it. Definitely prefer the summer when we can dry outside. Actually I just prefer the summer!
    Tx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. With our summers being so short solutions for drying seem to occupy most of us this time of year.

      Delete

I love hearing from you, will read all your comments and try and answer any questions you leave. Please leave comments in English. Don't forget to come back and read my reply! All comments are moderated so if you try to link it to a commercial web site, it will not be published.