Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

publish.csiro.au

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 106 posts

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

#71

Post by hatsunearu »

joyj2nd wrote: post #70
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.

well, the sun tends to fuck up the clothes as well, and the sun definitely has UV.

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

#72

Post by hombre_fatal »

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.

Exactly.

HOAs sound crappy but they're better than living next to assholes/slobs when you have zero recourse. HOA is really the only entity that will care about assholes. The problem with buying a home is that you don't know what your neighbors are like ahead of time.

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

#73

Post by hombre_fatal »

Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #24
fiblye wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meanwhile, living in Japan, if you tell people you prefer to machine dry your clothes, they’ll tell you outright that it’s wasteful. The assumption is that it’s only used when rain makes it impossible.

In Spain the attitude is similar, but for different reasons. Environmental consciousness is sadly low in general, but cult to fashion and looks is strong. Machine drying anything but towels and sheets would be considered shabby by most, as it damages clothes. When I was looking for housing, I visited some really luxury apartments (that I could never afford, but visiting is free and I'm a curious person, so why not) a…

> Machine drying anything but towels and sheets would be considered shabby by most, as it damages clothes.

So does UV light.

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

#74

Post by pbhjpbhj »

jbuzbee wrote: post #43
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?

As part of the purchase, you are given the deed restrictions and you contractually agree in the closing process to follow them. We once backed out of a purchase when we read the overly strict restrictions. You also contractually agree that the association has the ability to fine you for violations and put a lien on your property if you don't pay. There are plusses and minuses. The minuses are obvious - PITA, picky bu…

Can't you buy from the owner and not sign the contract with the HOA? Presumably the HOA has a contractual grievance with the prior-owner; or are such HOA contracts enshrined in criminal law?

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

#75

Post by Animats »

joyj2nd wrote: post #70
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.

Not UV for the whole job, UV in addition to hot air and tumbling.

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

#76

Post by pbhjpbhj »

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.

https://microbiologysociety.org/publication/past-issues/soil...

Sounds like geosmin is the smell of earth, which to me is a fine smell. Perhaps you're a city dweller that's just not acclimated to natural smells??

Mind you I hate the over-perfumed smell of heavy clothes detergents, so I'm probably peculiar in my scent-life.

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

#77

Post by wrp »

NoSorryCannot wrote: post #32
jasonv wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, that’s where the name comes from. I hang dry most of my laundry in my own house still. I learned to appreciate this after moving from a big city to a town of 13 people. Of course we all had lots of space but my house had one of those circular drying line contraptions. I enjoyed going out and hanging my laundry, even in the cold winters. Even in the snow. The sun and dry air did their thing pretty quickly. When I…

And the smell of tumble drying. I live in an apartment complex and the smell coming out of the dryer vents is overwhelming. It's not intrinsic; there would barely be any odor at all if people gave up dryer sheets and fabric softener, but it seems like many have never heard anything so outlandish as that.

That's an issue with houses, too. When my neighbor dries clothes, I have to keep my windows closed. Really annoying in hot weather when I need the ventilation.

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

#78

Post by wrp »

WalterBright wrote: post #57

When I lived in Arizona, I'd take the clothes out of the washer, step outside, and put them on the line. When I finished pinning them up, I'd return to the beginning of the line and take them down, perfectly dry and fresh. Who needs a dryer :-)

It really depends on the humidity. In tropical weather, I would hang up clothes in the morning and they would still be damp in the evening.

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

#79

Post by jbuzbee »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #74
jbuzbee wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As part of the purchase, you are given the deed restrictions and you contractually agree in the closing process to follow them. We once backed out of a purchase when we read the overly strict restrictions. You also contractually agree that the association has the ability to fine you for violations and put a lien on your property if you don't pay. There are plusses and minuses. The minuses are obvious - PITA, picky bu…

Can't you buy from the owner and not sign the contract with the HOA? Presumably the HOA has a contractual grievance with the prior-owner; or are such HOA contracts enshrined in criminal law?

My guess is that the restriction is already on the existing deed, originating with the first sale from the builder of the community. So it transfers with the property.

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

#80

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

hombre_fatal wrote: post #73
Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Spain the attitude is similar, but for different reasons. Environmental consciousness is sadly low in general, but cult to fashion and looks is strong. Machine drying anything but towels and sheets would be considered shabby by most, as it damages clothes. When I was looking for housing, I visited some really luxury apartments (that I could never afford, but visiting is free and I'm a curious person, so why not) a…

> Machine drying anything but towels and sheets would be considered shabby by most, as it damages clothes. So does UV light.

But less.
Post reply on HN