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U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

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Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#41

Post by ThePowerOfFuet »

robbywashere_ wrote: post #33

I've sat in at a couple anti-dryer meet ups in my locality (big city, east coast) out of curiosity. Most of the points are valid some are a little outrageous; (dryers sheets disrupt sea turtle populations?) But after reading Sally Heathers book 'The Doomed Dryer Nation'; I decided to give line drying a try. I will say that my sleep improved and some of the daily fatigue I struggled with when I lived with a dryer most…

>a big load could take upwards of 3-4hrs a day

I find this hard to believe; I can wash an 8kg load and it takes me perhaps 15 or 20 minutes to hang it, and much less to unhang once dry. Folding and putting away is the same regardless of drying method.

EDIT: "just such a chore" made me think it wasn't about the drying time.

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#42

Post by mijamo »

nemo44x wrote: post #17

Although I get her point I think she’s antisocial and being a bad neighbor. Especially by insisting to hang it in the front yard. To live peacefully in a society you have to compromise and you can’t just do as you please. Communities have certain standards and by-laws that should be respected. If you’re compelled then bring it up at the next town meeting and rally support for your cause. What if someone decides they…

Are those things that are not possible to do in the US? That just seems so absurd. I'd be pissed if I couldn't put a sofa or a car where I want on my own property!

Can your neighbors also prevent you from putting your children sculpture or garden gnome in your garden because it's not up to their grand standards?

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#43

Post by nemo44x »

kergonath wrote: post #26
nemo44x wrote: post #17

Although I get her point I think she’s antisocial and being a bad neighbor. Especially by insisting to hang it in the front yard. To live peacefully in a society you have to compromise and you can’t just do as you please. Communities have certain standards and by-laws that should be respected. If you’re compelled then bring it up at the next town meeting and rally support for your cause. What if someone decides they…

> Although I get her point I think she’s antisocial and being a bad neighbor. Especially by insisting to hang it in the front yard. That’s a very restrictive view of what a good neighbour should be. Those who are offended by the view of drying clothes and insist on dictating other people’s lifestyle are much worse neighbours than she is. > To live peacefully in a society you have to compromise and you can’t just do a…

The town has a standard where you don’t hang laundry though. She’s the odd person out here and should appeal to the people of the town. Otherwise she’s just doing as she pleases and that’s antisocial behavior.

As to who it “would hurt” - it could very well hurt everyone’s property values and certainly hurts everyone’s eyes to have to see a car parked on the front lawn. Again, it’s antisocial behavior and inconsiderate of the vast majority of people in the area. It’s selfish.

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#44

Post by Karellen »

nemo44x wrote: post #17

Although I get her point I think she’s antisocial and being a bad neighbor. Especially by insisting to hang it in the front yard. To live peacefully in a society you have to compromise and you can’t just do as you please. Communities have certain standards and by-laws that should be respected. If you’re compelled then bring it up at the next town meeting and rally support for your cause. What if someone decides they…

What if they do? It's their lawn.

What if they put a lawn chair on the front lawn, and sat out to read or play on their tablet or whatever, and fell asleep? Is that so bad? Or are lawn chairs somehow better than couches, and that's what makes it OK? (Are they more expensive? Better upholstered? Comfier? If yes to any of the above - where do you buy your lawn chairs?)

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#45

Post by JoeAltmaier »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #3

> dryer use accounts for about 6 percent of U.S. residential electricity use That's a huge amount! I didn't realize it was so much!

NOt mine! I live in the country, but the county gas pipeline crosses our property. The easement (written 50 years ago) permits us to connect as a customer.

So all our appliances are gas.

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#46

Post by refurb »

blakesterz wrote: post #5
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #3

> dryer use accounts for about 6 percent of U.S. residential electricity use That's a huge amount! I didn't realize it was so much!

I thought for SURE that was going to be one of those made up stats from stupid magazine... nope... seems like that's actually true!? That's WAY higher than I would've ever guessed.

It's 6% of residential use.

Residential use is 39% of all electrical generation.

So driers are 2.3%.

That number doesn't surprise me in the least. Residential electrical consumption is trivial if you don't include heating. So having an appliance use 5% of all home electricity seems pretty low?

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#47

Post by alehlopeh »

torstenvl wrote: post #34
nemo44x wrote: post #17

Although I get her point I think she’s antisocial and being a bad neighbor. Especially by insisting to hang it in the front yard. To live peacefully in a society you have to compromise and you can’t just do as you please. Communities have certain standards and by-laws that should be respected. If you’re compelled then bring it up at the next town meeting and rally support for your cause. What if someone decides they…

Living peacefully in society is fundamentally at odds with the position you're advocating for, which is enforced slavery to a particular technological innovation. People can survive without a couch on their lawn, and there are alternatives to couches on lawns that don't require the use of a particular technology. But people need dry clothes, and the only alternative to air drying is to use a particular kind of machin…

Yeah slavery is definitely the best word choice here. And it’s actually enforced slavery, you say? Even worse!

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#48

Post by viraptor »

nemo44x wrote: post #36
viraptor wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Especially by insisting to hang it in the front yard. We don't know if she has a backyard, so it may be just... the yard. > What if someone decides they shiujd park their car on the front lawn since the boat and camper take up the driveway? I don't understand. What then? Why shouldn't they? I'm not sure what a clinch is or why it's not welcome on the front lawn...

I have to explain why people shouldn’t park their car on their front lawn? Seriously? Aesthetics are a thing and I can’t imagine anyone that lives in my town (or most towns) finding that acceptable. “Clinch” was a typo; corrected to “couch”.

It's not strange here, even if uncommon and I could not care less what people do in front of their houses. Utility over aesthetics. (also whose aesthetics?)

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#49

Post by nemo44x »

Thlom wrote: post #35
nemo44x wrote: post #17

Although I get her point I think she’s antisocial and being a bad neighbor. Especially by insisting to hang it in the front yard. To live peacefully in a society you have to compromise and you can’t just do as you please. Communities have certain standards and by-laws that should be respected. If you’re compelled then bring it up at the next town meeting and rally support for your cause. What if someone decides they…

You examples sounds reasonable enough? I'm a huge proponent for strict building codes etc, but don't really see the problem with turning your front yard into a parking lot or whatever you'd like as long as it doesn't actually cause harm to the neighbours in the form of stealing sunlight or making lots of noise.

I’m grateful to not be your neighbor.

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#50

Post by sbradford26 »

mellavora wrote: post #20
buzzdenver wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do you live? Winter is when people traditionally use humidifiers because the air inside tends to be dry. (Cold air outside has a low absolute humidity, so relative humidity will be low when you heat it up inside.)

A lot of EU heats by steam/water radiators. These don't dry the air the same way forced air heating does. You are right about absolute/relative humidity, but our basement feels damper in winter than summer.

Forced air and radiators dry the air equally. Steam radiators sometimes can add humidity to the air it is limited and only when they are initially heating up before the valve closes. What causes dry air in the winter is the act of heating air up. Relative humidity is based on the temperature of the air, so if there is a fixed amount of water in the air, as you heat it the relative humidity goes down. So in the winter cold air slowly comes into the house via air leakage. This air is heated up which drops its relative humidity down. I have lived in houses with baseboard heat and with forced air, and recently converted my house from baseboard heat to forced air. There is no real difference in the relative humidity in the house.
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