Alternatives to the tumble dryer in winter

[A500leroy]

So with the news of electricity prices going one way, the most expensive thing in my house is the tumble dryer.
Anyone using anything that can use less energy but still dry clothes?

[Gingerbread Man]

Heat pump dryer.

Radiators

[thewarlock]

My sister uses one of these and reckons it's the bee's knees:

https://www.lakeland.co.uk/24909/Dry:Soon-Deluxe-3...

No idea what it costs to run or how long it takes to dry a load though.

Also. why is this here?

[SteBrown91]

Clothes rack and a radiator.

We generally find if we put clothes on in the evening (unless its a thick jumper or something), stuff is generally dry by the afternoon or evening the next day

Its all we use for clothes in winter. We only tumble dry bedding and towels.

[Radec]

Radiator or heated airer/dryer rack thingies with cover.

Or go to the laundry if you have one local with a stack of 20P's

[randlemarcus]

Hanging them outside, and out of the rain will still dry them, but they may need finishing in the tumbler to get them bone dry.
Heated drying racks are great, but plan for the water to go somewhere - if you put a wet load on, the moisture will go somewhere - opening the windows will help, but your heating costs may skyrocket

[Gecko1978]

I always after a wash do an extra spin on the cloths it halves the drying time or means most things dry over night on a rack

T shirts dont need tumble drying they will dry on there own same with socks an pants. So only dry what you need

[poo at Paul's]

We use an electric dehumidifier, but not sure how much less electric it uses than the dryer! I suspect quite a bit less, but a guess.

[A500leroy]

Super thankyou.

[Biker 1]

poo at Paul's said:

We use an electric dehumidifier, but not sure how much less electric it uses than the dryer! I suspect quite a bit less, but a guess.

I tried this a couple of years back. Dehumidifier was on for hours whereas the tumble dryer was way quicker, so I suspect not much in it.....
Has the OP got an airing cupboard? Open the door, place drying rack in door opening, et voila....

[geeks]

We use a standard clothes airer like one of these. https://www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-partners-stan...

Nothing goes into the tumble dryer to be actually dried unless it's urgent. Everything gets an extra spin in the washing machine and thrown onto the airer to dry which it usually is by the following day. Some stuff will then go into the tumble dryer just to "fluff it up" and straight onto a hanger, which means almost nothing needs ironing

[HTP99]

Does a tumble drier actually use that much electric in the grand scheme of things, we've always had one, it's used generally 3-4 times a week, even when electric costs weren't sky high and people still always brought up the dreaded tumble drier as the worst thing to use, I never had issues with particularly high bills.

[devnull]

thewarlock said:

My sister uses one of these and reckons it's the bee's knees:

https://www.lakeland.co.uk/24909/Dry:Soon-Deluxe-3...

No idea what it costs to run or how long it takes to dry a load though.

Also. why is this here?

I have one. It’s 6p an hour to run according to the smart meter.

Good for doing tshirts and the like. Just whip em off after a few hours and fold up. Much better than the tumble dryer as it won’t ruin your stuff or make them shrink.

[Byker28i]

For winter/bad weather get a dehumidifier with laundry mode - costs far less than a tumble to run and dries the items almost as quickly. We have a Meaco 25l with louvres that move to assist drying. They've now been replaced with one that doesn't have the moveable louves. Really low power usage, around 250w rather than 2Kw. We run it in the utility room, works brilliantly.

If you're just drying clothes on radiators etc, all that moisture goes into the air, which doesn't happen with the dehumidifier.

Also get a decent clothes drier thats strong. Don't waste money on a cheap one. We have this expandable one
https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8203919?clickSR=sl...

For anywhere else, large loads etc, check out the launderette. Our local one is £1 for 12 mins in a large industrial dryer that dries a load in that time. It's where we take bedding or 3 loads from the washing machine.

For the summer, we have a long washing line and a south facing garden thats a sun trap

[KTF]

HTP99 said:

Does a tumble drier actually use that much electric in the grand scheme of things, we've always had one, it's used generally 3-4 times a week, even when electric costs weren't sky high and people still always brought up the dreaded tumble drier as the worst thing to use, I never had issues with particularly high bills.

I have a sensor dryer and, with it on the cupboard dry setting, it sits at around 40p per hour at daytime rates based on my smart meter. Its generally not on for a full hour though so the cost will be less. Its used twice a week or so and with that cost averaged over the 7 days its not that much really.

If I set it to run during the night then the cost goes down by two thirds as we have cheaper overnight rates for EV charging.

[FunkyNige]

poo at Paul's said:

We use an electric dehumidifier, but not sure how much less electric it uses than the dryer! I suspect quite a bit less, but a guess.

I'm always a bit paranoid of living in a damp house and that's what we use.

[Byker28i]

So Meaco 25l we've got is this one.
https://www.meacodehumidifiers.co.uk/products/meac...

We had two, one went wrong with the fan after 2.5 years and they replaced it with the brand new model, the 25l Arete that doesn't have moveable louvres
https://www.meacodehumidifiers.co.uk/products/meac...

[KTF]

poo at Paul's said:

We use an electric dehumidifier, but not sure how much less electric it uses than the dryer! I suspect quite a bit less, but a guess.

Get a smart meter fitted then you will be able to see exactly how much energy each thing uses.

[cliffe_mafia]

I put a radiator in the airing cupboard when I switched over to a combi boiler.

[Byker28i]

FunkyNige said:

poo at Paul's said:

We use an electric dehumidifier, but not sure how much less electric it uses than the dryer! I suspect quite a bit less, but a guess.

I'm always a bit paranoid of living in a damp house and that's what we use.

I've got a 160 year old cottage with huge stone walls...I've got two