Hah, this reminds me of one of the first programs I wrote for personal use. My Macbook at the time had an accelerometer or gyro of some kind. So I made a program to monitor the output from that sensor, and it would send me an email when the motion stopped. I'd run the program, set the laptop on top of my running dryer, and go upstairs. In retrospect it was probably not smart to leave a laptop on top of the dryer for an hour :)
Is It Dry Yet?
31–40 of 147 posts
Re: Is It Dry Yet?
#32The cool thing about water is that evaporates all by itself. For free even. No electricity is required. So an alternative to making the tumble dryer "smarter" can be to simply not use it for most of the time, thereby cutting the loss caused by "dumb" dryers. The engineering part that's missing is related to re-introducing and improving the many awesome laundry line systems that used to be available.
Hanging clothes on a clothes line to dry only works you dont live somewhere with frequent rain
Where I live most people have special pulley systems in their bathrooms for drying clothes. Sth like this: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61sYCKX1U6L._AC_UF1000,1...
You put your clothes there, and the next day they are dry.
Other common solution is collapsible drying racks on your balcony: https://images.morele.net/i256/12998234_0_i256.jpg
Or just clothes lines (but usually people have some backup in case it rains).
I've never seen people use powered dryers for clothes. And we get our share of rain, and in the winter it gets to -20C sometimes.
Re: Is It Dry Yet?
#33[flagged]
Re: Is It Dry Yet?
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
How about you hang your clothes indoors when it's raining inside? I've been doing that for years in a rainy country in a tiny studio apartment. No issues.
This can cause issues with damp depending on your home and the local weather.
The water that was in your clothes and evaporated over 12 hours at night naturally is the same water that evaporates in 1 hour in the powered dryer.
If you have working ventillation you're fine either way. If not - you're not. In fact I'd expect worse problems if you evaporate that same water quicker, because there's less time for it to escape outside.
Re: Is It Dry Yet?
#35Mechanical kitchen timer will suffice. You usually know the duration of most used programs. Doesn't need a hundred taps in the phone to get it working. Mental effort to set the timer is lower than with phone timer. You dial it and carry in a pocket. Zero distraction when you set it up or get notified -- you won't sink into the timer scrolling for half an hour. And in the end you'll get the notification.
Also not as fun or educational.
Re: Is It Dry Yet?
#36The cool thing about water is that evaporates all by itself. For free even. No electricity is required. So an alternative to making the tumble dryer "smarter" can be to simply not use it for most of the time, thereby cutting the loss caused by "dumb" dryers. The engineering part that's missing is related to re-introducing and improving the many awesome laundry line systems that used to be available.
Many British houses are already damp and small, and heating them to dry clothes doesn’t save energy. Putting clothes outside when it’s -2 degrees or raining consistently also doesn’t help. I think I’ve seen the kinds of indoor drying lines you are perhaps referring to, but I don’t know how compatible they are with Northern Europe.
Drying in freezing temperatures actually works just fine, wet environments are really a problem though.
Re: Is It Dry Yet?
#37The cool thing about water is that evaporates all by itself. For free even. No electricity is required. So an alternative to making the tumble dryer "smarter" can be to simply not use it for most of the time, thereby cutting the loss caused by "dumb" dryers. The engineering part that's missing is related to re-introducing and improving the many awesome laundry line systems that used to be available.
> The engineering part that's missing is related to re-introducing and improving the many awesome laundry line systems that used to be available.
I live in a desert, and my current place has a not-tiny yard, so I'm curious about this. Anyone got examples or pictures of laundry line systems they really like?
Re: Is It Dry Yet?
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hanging clothes on a clothes line to dry only works you dont live somewhere with frequent rain
How about you hang your clothes indoors when it's raining inside? I've been doing that for years in a rainy country in a tiny studio apartment. No issues.
Still dependent on the overall climate. It's not necessarily about how much it rains, but how humid the air is. When I was in Virginia, it rained a lot, but the air clears up fairly quickly after rain.
In contrast, my grandmother lives in a village with such incredible rainy seasons, that this has been a pain point as perpetual as the rain itself. For a few months in summer, the air is so humid that even unused clothes have trouble stay dry. Condensation appears on the wall, and nothing ever dries, no matter where you hang them; indoors, outdoors, doesn't make a difference. Sometimes, they have no dry clothes for weeks during summer.
Re: Is It Dry Yet?
#39The cool thing about water is that evaporates all by itself. For free even. No electricity is required. So an alternative to making the tumble dryer "smarter" can be to simply not use it for most of the time, thereby cutting the loss caused by "dumb" dryers. The engineering part that's missing is related to re-introducing and improving the many awesome laundry line systems that used to be available.
Many British houses are already damp and small, and heating them to dry clothes doesn’t save energy. Putting clothes outside when it’s -2 degrees or raining consistently also doesn’t help. I think I’ve seen the kinds of indoor drying lines you are perhaps referring to, but I don’t know how compatible they are with Northern Europe.
Dunno what counts as "Northern Europe", but in Poland nobody uses powered dryers, it's all natural. And it gets to -20 C in the winter here sometimes. Dry cold is not actually a problem for drying clothes.
Re: Is It Dry Yet?
#40This seems exactly the same approach as the rice cooker post. Maybe inspired? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39902207
Yes, I had the same thought. Suspicious or coincidental.