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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)

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

London. Cold enough that anything in an old Victorian building won't dry but warm enough that the air remains humid.

I dunno about that - I live in Norway. Most folks dry their clothes inside for most of the year. They take a little longer to dry in the winter, but it really isn't an issue.

Having lived in both Norway and England, Norwegian houses are much warmer and drier indoors during the winter. Every house in England I lived in was damp, basically uninsulated and had terrible heating systems.

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

#92

I can’t imagine such a freedom limiting law in any European country or here in the UK. Utterly absurd a country that prioritises freedom so much also dictates how people are allowed to dry their laundry. I’m sure if the wind could be taxed they’d not restrict it though…

What kills me the most is the electricity is increasingly solar and wind. It's basically putting your clothes in the sun with extra steps.

"Ah, what fine weather! Spot prices must be low... we should do a load of laundry!"

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

#93
post #68
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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”.

You might start by explaining why they have to have a lawn. If I was going to park my truck | caravan | boat out the front I'd rather have a well drained raked gravel pan than a lawn growing up through the vehicle, weeds, and dead grass when I drive awy. Aesthetics are a thing after all.

You don’t have to have a lawn. I’m sure your town has codified what is appropriate. Where I live some people have u-shaped driveways on the front and they are “to code”. But you’d be making an appropriate place to park a vehicle. The lawn, if you have one, is certainly not appropriate in most towns.

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

#94
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Bad choice nonetheless. Get a heat pump dryer and you'll save a lot and your clothes will last longer.

Saving depends on the cost of gas and electricity, so you might be right for some locales and wrong for others (to the point that a heat pump dryer will cost more than gas dryer), but how do you imagine clothes will last longer? Do you think temperature causes more wear than a spinning drum?

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

#95
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 inconsiderat…

> Although there are no formal laws in this southeast Pennsylvania town against drying laundry outside, a town official called Froehlich to ask her to stop drying clothes in the sun. And she received two anonymous notes from neighbors saying they did not want to see her underwear flapping about.

If it's so important, just make an official law. Don't allow police or towns official to enforce whatever rule they made up. Is your hair too short/long for your gender prototype? Is the music band in your t-shirt not welcome here? Is your hallowing decoration not 100% lore compliant?

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

#97

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.

[deleted]

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

#98

> 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.

Okay, so your dryer uses zero electricity, but the carbon impact is presumably still substantial?

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

#99

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…

> 3-4hrs a day

You aren't supposed to wait there for the clothes to dry. They can dry on their own ;)

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

#100

I can’t imagine such a freedom limiting law in any European country or here in the UK. Utterly absurd a country that prioritises freedom so much also dictates how people are allowed to dry their laundry. I’m sure if the wind could be taxed they’d not restrict it though…

There are certainly places in the UK where you aren't allowed to put up washing lines. I'm pretty sure Poundbury is one, but I can't find any evidence, but there's also Nansledan [0].

[0] https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12658715/prince-charles-bans-w... (I'm very very sorry that all I could find was a Sun article.)

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