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Is It Dry Yet?

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Re: Is It Dry Yet?

#51

Post by ponector »

ajuc wrote: post #34
CalRobert wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If your room has already high humidity level water does evaporate really slow and the next day you get smelly clothes.

Re: Is It Dry Yet?

#52

Post by ajuc »

LegitShady wrote: post #44
ajuc wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Never heard of this. Doesn't the moisture just freeze in the clothes?

They evaporate faster in the cold, because the air is very dry when it's very cold. Or sublimate I guess? In any case they usually don't freeze unless they are very wet (which rarely happens - people use washing machines that rotate very fast for the last few minutes of washing to remove most of the water mechanically).

And when they do freeze it's not like cloth encased in ice, it's more like the clothes still look and feel dry - they just hold their shape :) If you put them at room temperature they finish drying within minutes.

Re: Is It Dry Yet?

#53

Post by blowski »

ajuc wrote: post #39
blowski wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Thanks for the correction on that. In the UK cold and damp go together, and I’d always assumed you can’t dry clothes because of the cold.

Re: Is It Dry Yet?

#54

Post by ajuc »

lolinder wrote: post #41
ajuc wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Dryers typically are vented immediately outside via a dedicated tube and vent. That means that the air in the rest of the house never sees the moisture at all, so your whole-house ventilation system or dehumidifier doesn't need to work as hard.

Thanks, now that I think about it that makes sense :)

Re: Is It Dry Yet?

#55

Post by [deleted] »

gspencley wrote: post #50
LegitShady wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never heard of this. Doesn't the moisture just freeze in the clothes?

I think that there are two assumptions that we tend to make that causes the idea of air drying frozen clothes to be unintuitive: 1. We don't expect solids to evaporate, because it's not something we notice often (though if you think about the fact that a few inches of snow can disappear in a couple of days while the temperature remains below zero Celsius, you suddenly realize that you do observe it if you live in a c…

[deleted]

Re: Is It Dry Yet?

#56

Post by dzhiurgis »

CalRobert wrote: post #18
big_man_ting wrote: post #16

Earlier 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.

Dehumidifiers are pretty affordable and warms up your room a little. Still doesn’t solve the fact you need to ventilate your home. If you can - isolate your drying to a non living space.

Re: Is It Dry Yet?

#57

Post by dzhiurgis »

latentcall wrote: post #49
smilingsun wrote: post #12

The 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.

We have clothes lines in our backyard and hang drying clothing is the bees knees. For one, dryers tend to ruin clothing. When I didn't know any better I'd dry black t-shirts on lowest heat setting and they're all washed out and didn't keep their color. For some items like wool underwear and t-shirts I hang inside because sun bleaching can be a problem.

Sun bleaches black clothing too. Plus it’s essentially 2-3 extra steps. A good quality 2 in 1 washer/dryer in a bad climate/limited space is a perfect fit for busy people.

Re: Is It Dry Yet?

#58

Post by smilingsun »

CalRobert wrote: post #19
smilingsun wrote: post #12

The 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.

One of the issues is that tossing your stuff in the dryer is fast and easy. Hanging clothes to dry is kind of tedious. It also tends to result in crinkly clothes (especially shirts and towels). But I am curious about these laundry line systems you mention!

Here's a great example of putting a bit of engineering into hanging clothes outdoors: https://99percentinvisible.org/article/hills-hoist-iconic-ro...

I've seen many great things in photos where laundry lines are strapped out between windows and across streets "ad hoc". But most of them were in photos. I think the "pulley" that carries the line and the line itself seem to be more durable than what my local building market sells... I can only get nylon lines and small pulleys, so I'm not happy with the projects I've done so far. The best lines I've found are the ones with metal wire inside.. the ones without metal in them break very quickly.

One that I would really like to have is a strong, durable multi-line rack that sits below a window. If possible, I'd like to be able to expand and contract it.

There's also a lot of ideas shared online for creative indoor solutions.

In general, Pinterest is the place to go.

Indoors: https://www.houzz.com.au/magazine/designs-for-living-10-dryi...

Regarding crinkly clothes: generally if you hang up a wet shirt to dry, it gets less crinkly than in a tumble drier. That's an old tip for reducing ironing efforts :)

Regarding "hard" towels etc: This one is really difficult, especially terrycloth and similar material that's supposed to be very soft can seem hard after air drying. You can try to add vinegar as a softener if your water is hard, I find that makes a good improvement. And you can generally rub clothes soft - I tried folding towels and give it a good rubbing, works well to soften them up. I would also remark that after using a soft towel once and drying it, the terrycloth also becomes hard :)

Re: Is It Dry Yet?

#59

Post by CalRobert »

ajuc wrote: post #54
lolinder wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dryers typically are vented immediately outside via a dedicated tube and vent. That means that the air in the rest of the house never sees the moisture at all, so your whole-house ventilation system or dehumidifier doesn't need to work as hard.

Thanks, now that I think about it that makes sense :)

Some driers, especially in Europe, condense the water in to a tank that you empty manually in to a sink. This is useful if you don't have an easy way to vent it and also shows just how much water is coming out of your clothes (multiple liters per load, sometimes!)

Re: Is It Dry Yet?

#60

Post by CalRobert »

smilingsun wrote: post #58
CalRobert wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the issues is that tossing your stuff in the dryer is fast and easy. Hanging clothes to dry is kind of tedious. It also tends to result in crinkly clothes (especially shirts and towels). But I am curious about these laundry line systems you mention!

Here's a great example of putting a bit of engineering into hanging clothes outdoors: https://99percentinvisible.org/article/hills-hoist-iconic-ro... I've seen many great things in photos where laundry lines are strapped out between windows and across streets "ad hoc". But most of them were in photos. I think the "pulley" that carries the line and the line itself seem to be more durable than what my local building ma…

All good points, but definitely more time consuming than "throw in dryer, take out an hour later".

If you're even lazier you can get a combo washer/dryer. Not quite as effective as a separate dryer but it's nice to have dirty clothes go in and clean, dry clothes come out without a middle step.

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