# Save €€€'s on Tumble Drying - using a clothes airer!



## Lex Foutish (11 Feb 2009)

Back about October we bought a clothes airer, big enough to take a full washing machine load. Prior to this, we generally washed clothes in the washing machine and then transferred most of them straight to the tumble dryer during winter (and summer!) months-generally for well over an hour-to dry them.

Now we wash them as before and then place them on the clothes airer in the sitting room (which is a nice warm room) before we go to bed at night. When we get up in the morning the clothes are almost dry and more or less completely dry when we get home from work in the evening. We just pop them in the tumble dryer for two minutes to make sure they're fully aired.

We've often saved ourselves five full tumble drying sessions in a week, a big saving on electricity charges. 

I would strongly recommend getting one and I'd also recommend you spend a few bob extra, as you're at it, and get a sturdy one that will last.


----------



## Sherman (11 Feb 2009)

*Re: Save €€€'s on Tumble Drying!*

Is that not what radiators are for ?


----------



## mathepac (11 Feb 2009)

*Re: Save €€€'s on Tumble Drying!*



Sherman said:


> Is that not what radiators are for ?


Not if they are on a studded partition wall.


----------



## Vinnie_cork (11 Feb 2009)

*Re: Save €€€'s on Tumble Drying!*

My Mom actually bought me one only last weekend. Its taking a few day to dry clothes. I generally don't feel the cold and only run gas heating for an hour a day to have hot water and to take the chill out of house about 8pm.


----------



## Lex Foutish (11 Feb 2009)

*Re: Save €€€'s on Tumble Drying!*



Sherman said:


> Is that not what radiators are for ?


I suppose that'd work too if you turned on the rads in all the rooms to take a full load and didn't mind burning oil unnecessarily. I dont know about your house but, in mine, my rads downstairs go cold a while after I've turned the heat off! I reckon they'd dry a lot faster on the airer in the middle of the room with the warm air about them than they would on a cold rad.

But each to their own....


----------



## truthseeker (11 Feb 2009)

*Re: Save €€€'s on Tumble Drying!*

Could never really understand the point of a tumble dryer myself - too many shrinking experiences, plus cost a fortune to run.

Since being in charge of my own washing (i.e., since moving out of family home) Ive always used an airer - only problem for me is space.
Cant use it in the sitting room as kitchen is in same room so food smells get on clothes.
Cant use it in bedroom cos no space for it.
Only room I manage is spare room/computer/study room - but can be annoying clambering over it to get to computer.

Id love a space saver version, something high instead of wide and low. And suggestions?


----------



## hizzy (11 Feb 2009)

*Re: Save €€€'s on Tumble Drying!*

Hi All

A friend of mine leaves her's in the bath, yep, the bath.  As for me, I use the rad's.  

Regards

Hizzy


----------



## DrMoriarty (11 Feb 2009)

*Re: Save €€€'s on Tumble Drying!*

This?


----------



## Jetblue (11 Feb 2009)

*Re: Save €€€'s on Tumble Drying!*

Anyone notice increased moisture/condensation in the room during "drying days"?


----------



## annette mac (11 Feb 2009)

*Re: Save €€€'s on Tumble Drying!*

I can't understand why anyone would choose to dry clothes indoors, whether on a radiator, clothes airer or in a tumble dryer.  My washing goes straight out on to the line where they dry without using electricity unnecessarily or making my house look like a laundry!  Absolutely nothing beats the smell of laundry fresh from the line. I have a tumble dryer which I use for just two loads a week - one for towels and one for underwear - I like them soft!  Obviously there are delays sometimes when the weather is bad but even through the present spell of bad weather I've managed to get my clothes dry. I just watch the weather forecasts and act accordingly.  Hanging clothes out to dry used to be the norm but I have neighbours with small children who don't even have a clothes line, I can't understand it, when my kids were small the lines were permanently full!


----------



## Smashbox (11 Feb 2009)

*Re: Save €€€'s on Tumble Drying!*



Jetblue said:


> Anyone notice increased moisture/condensation in the room during "drying days"?


 
I have, I started to get damp coming up the walls in my spare room where I used to have my airer


----------



## cinders (11 Feb 2009)

*Re: Save €€€'s on Tumble Drying!*



annette mac said:


> I can't understand why anyone would choose to dry clothes indoors, whether on a radiator, clothes airer or in a tumble dryer. My washing goes straight out on to the line where they dry without using electricity unnecessarily or making my house look like a laundry! Absolutely nothing beats the smell of laundry fresh from the line.


 
Completely agree, but the downside to apartment living is not being able to dry washing on the balcony.  Don't really like the tumble dryer due to shrinkage experiences (not me, the clothes! ) when l was a youngster.  

Now we have an airer & a dehumidifier.  Living room gets lots of sun, so clothes dry in a day usually.  Also have those 'airers' you hang over a radiator which helps during the winter.  We put the dehumidifier on maybe once a week / fortnight, just to take out any extra moisture in the room.  

Truthseeker - check out Howards Storage ([broken link removed]) for some ideas on alternative airers.  Ikea & Argos might have some space-saving alternatives too.


----------



## Jetblue (11 Feb 2009)

*Re: Save €€€'s on Tumble Drying!*

Dear Annette,

Oh to have a partner at home to hang out my washing....

Some of us leave home at 7 am and rarely get home before 7 pm..
Perhaps our employers should provide staff washing machines and clothes lines for us, maybe we could have a personal clothes line on our taxed parking spots. (then again this might incur further tax).

JB


----------



## hizzy (11 Feb 2009)

*Re: Save €€€'s on Tumble Drying!*

Hi Annette,

You've just reminded me of the good aul days, when my mum used to hang the washing out on the line........and there were 9 kids in our house.  I don't miss finding spiders in my clothes though.

Regards

Hizzy.


----------



## cleverclogs7 (11 Feb 2009)

*Re: Save €€€'s on Tumble Drying!*

I use the clothes horse all them time.i put it in the hallway and dry the clothes on it and what ever doesnt fit i put on the heaters.or outside of course if its a dry day.never once have i used a dryer.waste of electricity.


----------



## Sherman (11 Feb 2009)

*Re: Save €€€'s on Tumble Drying!*



mathepac said:


> Not if they are on a studded partition wall.


 
Old house so all walls are concrete!



Lex Foutish said:


> I suppose that'd work too if you turned on the rads in all the rooms to take a full load and didn't mind burning oil unnecessarily. I dont know about your house but, in mine, my rads downstairs go cold a while after I've turned the heat off! I reckon they'd dry a lot faster on the airer in the middle of the room with the warm air about them than they would on a cold rad.
> 
> But each to their own....


 
We time washes to finish as the heating is coming on, put the clothes on the rads and most things are dry by the time the heating goes out.

We dry outside in fine weather, but as another poster said, we're in work during the day and find in wintertime the clothes can stay out getting re-soaked every couple of hours during the day. Easier and quicker to use the rads/some other internal method in the wintertime IMHO.


----------



## Caveat (11 Feb 2009)

*Re: Save €€€'s on Tumble Drying!*



Smashbox said:


> I have, I started to get damp coming up the walls in my spare room where I used to have my airer


 
Me too - generally not a good idea at all to dry clothes on a radiator.  Blocks the heat anyway.


----------



## Morgause (11 Feb 2009)

*Re: Save €€€'s on Tumble Drying!*



Jetblue said:


> Anyone notice increased moisture/condensation in the room during "drying days"?



Oddly no.  I hang the damp clothes on a horse in my living room which gets plenty of sun during the day.

I would never hang sopping wet clothes inside though; make sure they have been spun well in the washing machine so that they are just damp.  Disclaimer: obviously this does not apply to delicate clothes!

I also use sock dryers to put all the small things onto, they're very handy:

[broken link removed]


----------



## michelle789 (11 Feb 2009)

*Re: Save €€€'s on Tumble Drying!*

i do stick on the wash in the evening. put the clothes on the rads just downstairs mainly before i go to bed...heating is time to come on 2hrs during the nice. get up in the morning and all clothes are dry apart from jeans around the top of them!! 

ive never had a tumble dryer. my sister has hers on constanly and wonders why her esb is so high. 

and i do use the washing line  loads when we get good weather! full big line of washing!


----------



## Jane Doe (11 Feb 2009)

*Re: Save €€€'s on Tumble Drying!*



hizzy said:


> as for me, I use the rads


You put them on rads completely wet?would that not cause condensation damp/mold? I dry on line and in wet weather on a bath airer and when almost dry I air them on rads. am I wrong?


----------



## Gordanus (13 Feb 2009)

*Re: Save €€€'s on Tumble Drying!*

I'd love one of those old-fashioned airers that can be pulled up to ceiling height (using a pulley system) once you've put the clothes on it.  Clothes are then out of the way, and if heat rises, they will dry quite fast.

Anyone know where I could get one?


----------



## truthseeker (13 Feb 2009)

*Re: Save €€€'s on Tumble Drying!*



annette mac said:


> I can't understand why anyone would choose to dry clothes indoors, whether on a radiator, clothes airer or in a tumble dryer. My washing goes straight out on to the line where they dry without using electricity unnecessarily or making my house look like a laundry!


 
Oh to have a line......
Apartment living, not allowed hang anything outside. 

Id dont dry indoors by choice, only by necessity. I doubt Id use outdoors anyway though cos Im gone early and home late most of the time.

Some great suggestions here - thanks guys, DrMoriarty, that looks like a smashing device, Ill be looking to get one of those.


----------



## Smashbox (13 Feb 2009)

Search automatic indoor washing line or clothes airer pulley and google have some results!

ebay have some too, if your a member.


----------



## annette mac (13 Feb 2009)

Jetblue, you're being presumptious - no partner at home all day, I wish!  - we both work full time and yes, that does mean that sometimes I hang clothes out very early morning or very late at night - such is life!  Hizzy, I haven't got a problem with the spiders, but earwigs AAGH!  However, I find that a good shake as I take the clothes off the line takes care of all unwanted hangers-on.  Apartment dwellers obviously have no choice but to dry indoors but I can't understand why apartment blocks here haven't got communal washing facilities which are common both in the States and in some other European countries.  A friend who lives in Brussels has a communal wash room which leads out on to a sheltered outdoor drying space, don't know why that shouldn't be the case here where many apartment blocks do  have access to outside space.  I had to replace my tumble dryer not so long ago and bought one with reverse tumble and two heat settings which was an improvement on my previous one, which definitely shrank my clothes.  If money was no object I'd have the "drying cabinet" which I saw in Clerys window about two years ago, it was the same size as a fridge freezer and had two sets of hanging bars which you hung your clothes on, the hot air circulated around them and meant no ironing!  I HATE ironing and would do anything to cut it out entirely!


----------



## DrMoriarty (13 Feb 2009)

Ah. How !


----------



## Lex Foutish (13 Feb 2009)

*Re: Save €€€'s on Tumble Drying!*



Gordanus said:


> I'd love one of those old-fashioned airers that can be pulled up to ceiling height (using a pulley system) once you've put the clothes on it. Clothes are then out of the way, and if heat rises, they will dry quite fast.
> 
> Anyone know where I could get one?


 
I saw one in a friend's house only a few weeks ago. An oldish house. In his kitchen over the range. About a 9 foot ceiling, I reckon so the clothes would be well out of his way.

Will check with him and get back to you.


----------



## annette mac (16 Feb 2009)

Dr Moriarty, yes, couldn't believe it when I read the Irish Times, I promise I hadn't seen it before I posted, I always read it in the evening when husband brings it home with him.  I'm very glad to see that I'm not the only one with a bee in my bonnet about this!


----------



## Katella (23 Feb 2010)

steel pulley airer in ikea


----------



## mylittlepony (23 Feb 2010)

We just started airing in front of the new sunroom it get alot of light and the oil stove is in there, great heating for a large room. Dry in a day.
When the weather is fine they dry outside.
But problem if weather turn for worse suddenly and ye away at home grr or come home late and the night damp make it wet again grr.
And the bird poo or spider eekk!!
Also saw this on donedeal:
Search: All weather washing Line


----------

