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Chemical analysis and origin of the smell of line-dried laundry

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Re: Chemical analysis and origin of the smell of line-dried laundry

#61

Post by karatestomp »

bonoboTP wrote: post #18
throw0101a wrote: post #14

In Ontario, Canada, some condo boards for town house developments (like home-owner associations) didn't like people putting up laundry lines and so prevented them since backyards were considered "common elements" and under group jurisdiction. So the provincial government had an existing law that prevented the use of "renewable energy" systems from being blocked by local by-laws and such. So they classified clothes li…

I have a similar clause in my rent contract in Germany, forbidding line drying, and first I didn't really understand why people care about this (I planned to use the communal dryer anyway). But to be explicit, it's because the optics of visible laundry makes people associate to poor people who have no other drying options. They don't want the neighborhood to look like poor neighborhoods. Maybe it will become one of t…

Banning line drying is the kind of thing you do when you're afraid your neighborhood might be mistaken for poor if there are a few backyard clotheslines. It's a middle-class class anxiety thing.

Re: Chemical analysis and origin of the smell of line-dried laundry

#62

Post by itronitron »

clomond wrote: post #6
lukevp wrote: post #3

I can’t remember a time I ever line dried laundry outside. How significant is this smell, is it worth changing my laundry drying habits just to reproduce it?

The smell can be rather significant / roughly equivalent to what you get with a dryer with scented sheets at its strongest. I rather question how “nice” the smell actually is, at best it’s “interesting and not bad” from my experience. I find that sometimes line dryer laundry can pick up a “clumpy”, rougher but yet distinctively line dried texture when compared to the machine or hang dried inside.

Also, a normal drier pulls out a lot of the fabric lint so if you line dry a lot the clothes will accumulate lint and that adds to the weird rougher texture.

Re: Chemical analysis and origin of the smell of line-dried laundry

#63

Post by beervirus »

ComputerGuru wrote: post #34

I think it depends on where you live. Here in Chicago, if you leave wet clothes out to dry on the line, they’ll stink of geosmin (to which the human olfactory receptors are insanely sensitive, to the tune of being able to detect a few parts per million) rather than smell nice and fresh thanks to the humidity.

Why is that chemical so prevalent in Chicago?

Re: Chemical analysis and origin of the smell of line-dried laundry

#64

Post by sukilot »

anewdirection wrote: post #58
monadic2 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone without a hope in the world for owning a house any time soon, what kind of teeth do these associations actually have to enforce their whims?

It depends. Unless membership is optional, I would consider it a lesser value home. Which is ironic given its intended function is to (possibly) keep one asshole from ruining property values, in exchange for a different set of assholes (possibly) destroying value in another way.

The history of government is trying to trade out different sets of assholes. It's a hard problem.

Re: Chemical analysis and origin of the smell of line-dried laundry

#65

Post by sukilot »

beervirus wrote: post #63
ComputerGuru wrote: post #34

I think it depends on where you live. Here in Chicago, if you leave wet clothes out to dry on the line, they’ll stink of geosmin (to which the human olfactory receptors are insanely sensitive, to the tune of being able to detect a few parts per million) rather than smell nice and fresh thanks to the humidity.

Why is that chemical so prevalent in Chicago?

Great Lakes

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-11-20-941120...

Re: Chemical analysis and origin of the smell of line-dried laundry

#66

Post by pengaru »

beervirus wrote: post #63
ComputerGuru wrote: post #34

I think it depends on where you live. Here in Chicago, if you leave wet clothes out to dry on the line, they’ll stink of geosmin (to which the human olfactory receptors are insanely sensitive, to the tune of being able to detect a few parts per million) rather than smell nice and fresh thanks to the humidity.

Why is that chemical so prevalent in Chicago?

Not OP but Chicago was built on marshland which I suspect plays a part.

https://gizmodo.com/chicago-was-raised-more-than-4-feet-in-t...

Re: Chemical analysis and origin of the smell of line-dried laundry

#67

Post by majewsky »

tikej wrote: post #46
kaybe wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another reason is that if you do it inside your flat (which many people do in Germany) and then do not open your windows enough there will be mold. Especially in winter this can be a problem.

It’s not true. If building has any reasonable ventilation (and it must have one in order to pass inspection and norms) it should has at least 3-4 air exchanges per hour. So drying inside wouldn’t make that much of a difference to cause mold by itself. It may be different if ventilation system is not functioning properly but in that case it should be fixed anyway.

Are you refering to German building codes here? Most German apartments that I know have no active ventilation system except in the bathroom and maybe the kitchen.

Re: Chemical analysis and origin of the smell of line-dried laundry

#68

Post by sturgill »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #38
stormdennis wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We once rented a flat, in a nice building housing mainly retired people. One day we gave the place a good cleaning and hung out a mat to dry on the balcony. Within half an hour the residents association which we didn't know existed were knocking on our door and demanding we take in the offending item.

I will never until my dying day, live under the thumb of an association. Its a magnet for pedantic busybodies.

Which is also why I lean towards libertarianism...

Re: Chemical analysis and origin of the smell of line-dried laundry

#70

Post by joyj2nd »

Animats wrote: post #69

UV triggers the reaction. So, driers need a strong UV source. There are some small UV driers, and sterilizers. Full-sized clothes driers with a strong UV source, not yet.

A UV dryer? You must be dreaming. Besides that it would bleach the clothes (what may be beneficial to WHITE but ONLY to white clothes), I would be skeptical about aging of the fibres. UV light is a bitch.

But I have heard about Japanese laundry machines using ultrasonic sound.

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