Clothes drying --- DH thinks I've lost it.

[NancyIL]

I bought a new gas dryer a week ago. Maybe it's the new dryer, or maybe it's because I also vacuumed out the vent - but it takes much less time to do several loads of laundry. I'm sure it will save something on the utility bill.

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

My dryer is 14 years old. It takes about 1 hour per load. Dh cleans out the lint every year. I would love a new one, but this works, why spend the money. In the summer I like to hang a couple loads outside. In the winter, I use the collasable rack. I don't recommend the wooden one. Ihad wooden one, but it broke fast, so I bought a metal one for like $15-20 and it works great. I generally hang 1-2 loads per week on the rack. In the summer with the warmth and breeze, I can get 4 loads per week on the line (weather pending). I would probably use the collapsable rack more, but I usually catch up with all of my laundry on the weekends. I just don't have enough time during the week between work, dinner, homework, sports, baths, etc. you get the drill. Anyway, after I dry the clothes on the line or the rack, I always through them in the dryer to fluff them up for about 15 minutes. It removes the stiffness and wrinkles. Back to your question, I think the rack is a great idea.

 

[swilshire]

I had my laundry room designed with a hanging rack for drying clothes in the winter. I also have four of the stacking net dryers for sweaters and things I don't hang up. I have a nice long clothes line for the summer.

I dry jeans, socks, undies, linens and towels in the dryer along with a few things that don't do well if I line dry them. The rest gets hung up. It takes a little time, but not so much. Clothes seem to last a lot longer this way.

I've noticed my oldest son's t-shirts have all shrunk since he went away to college and started doing his own laundry.

Sheila

 

[princess~yo]

Check your dryer vents. Everytime we have drying problems we run something through our vent hose (it goes up to the roof because of position on dryer and gravity works even on lint). As soon as we get rid of lint the dryer goes back to a one cycle dryer. You can buy this brush on a long flexible snake to do it or if it's short try a wire clothes hanger bent staight with the hook end going into the hose.

Oh and built up lint can catch fire if the dryer gets overheated, like when you run it twice. So please check your dryers.

Thanks for mentioning this. It should be part of regular house maintenence...it makes the dryer run more safely AND cuts back on double cycles, saving energy. Makes it twice as important!

(I know a family whose dryer did catch on fire...not sure if it was a lint/vent problem or not, but better safe than sorry!)

 

[hematite153]

Funny, I asked last year on THIS board if I should buy a new dryer...and the replies were no. Logic was that my dryer was working, and better quality than todays dryers that won't last long. And yes, I did ask about efficiency.

There are gauges that you can get (in my area you can borrow them from the library) which will tell you how much electricity you are actually using per load so that you can do a proper price comparison between continuing to use your current dryer and purchasing a new one.

Personally, I would assume that a new one would pay for itself quickly but I don't really know the specifics of your dryer.

I also have a habit of hanging clothes to dry. I'd go ahead and put them in the living room. We have a clothes rack with wheels. Could you hang clothes when you're out and busy and then wheel them to another room when everyone is around.

 

[bavaria]

You don't need a new dryer (ok, maybe you do ) what you really need is a new high capacity frontload washer. Spins the bejeebus out of the clothes at 1400 RPM and they are practically dry when you place them in the dryer. I usually extra spin mine, too. The best part is, the washer uses less water and electricity. Dryers are energy hogs, so even a new model won't affect your energy bill much.

One of my chores as a child was to hang up and take down laundry in the yard. While we did have a dryer, it was very very rarely used.

When I lived in Germany as an adult, our building only had a washer (no dryer) - very common there. It was a small front loader (again, very common there for years) and clothes came out pretty dry. Whites were 'cooked' at 100 degrees celcius ie boiling water. Then the clothes were hung either in the laundry room or outside on the drying racks.

I still remember the first time I did laundry again in North America, and had soft, dryer dried undies.... Even now I rarely use a dryer.

My mother has a new Bosch washer/dryer and the spin cycle on the washer does make clothes almost completely dry.

 

[Muushka]

I have a huge rack for drying in the summer. But in the winter, I bought these over-the-door hooks that clip on. I have 3 of them. Each one has about 6 hooks and between the 3 of them it is enough to hang the laundry. It is only the 2 of us so I do 1 load at a time and put all the clothes on the back of the doors. We both suffer from allergies and the extra moisture helps the house and our noses quite a bit.

If someone comes over, it takes about 10 seconds to remove all the clothes. When the clothes are dry, I 'fluff' them in the dryer. In addition to the energy savings and moisture addition, the clothes will last longer because they are not tossed around a dryer for extended periods of time.

 

[kelleigh1]

My laundry is always hanging around my apartment. The dryer in the basement is terrible. It takes at least 2 cycles to dry and even then it isn't guaranteed. I'm tired of paying through the nose to dry my clothes. We started taking most of our stuff to the laundromat because the one near us has free dry when you wash, no matter how long it takes to dry.

But, I wash most of my work clothes on delicate at home and then hang them in my bedroom. I have one of those iron beds with the four posters and the canopy top frame, so it's great for drying the clothes. I also now have 2 folding racks. I just bought a new one over the weekend on clearance. They are plastic since the wooden ones never work for me and just don't feel sturdy enough to hold wet clothes.

 

[PoohNPiglet]

I wish my dryer only took two cycles... In the summer it was taking about 1 1/2 but now it is taking 3! I am wondering if the negative temps outside are effecting things? DH plans to look at the vent Friday (after I sent him snippets of your posts!). I am really tired of drying that much. We have a super large washer, I always assumed that maybe the washer was too big for the dryer? Is that a possibility? I used to hang the clothes on a line downstairs and some racks but they started to smell like the litter boxes! YUCK! I am trying to find homes for the cats for other reasons (no luck there) but until then, I have no where to hang the clothes. The dryer is only 9 years old!

 

[solgent]

I do 1 load in the dryer and hang the rest in the family room where our woodstove is. I also hang some things in the bedroom on the frame of our bed. I think this is a good compromise. I hang the things that will dry really fast (why use the dryer for that?) and for things that take a long time to dry like jeans (don't want to run the dryer that long).

Socks, underwear, t-shirts etc. go in the dryer.

Why not hang the stuff in the evening-- it'll be dry by morning if you have the stove going. And nobody has to look at it while they sleep. Ask DH to try it before rejecting the idea.

 

[nuke]

My laundry is always hanging around my apartment. The dryer in the basement is terrible. It takes at least 2 cycles to dry and even then it isn't guaranteed. I'm tired of paying through the nose to dry my clothes. We started taking most of our stuff to the laundromat because the one near us has free dry when you wash, no matter how long it takes to dry.

But, I wash most of my work clothes on delicate at home and then hang them in my bedroom. I have one of those iron beds with the four posters and the canopy top frame, so it's great for drying the clothes. I also now have 2 folding racks. I just bought a new one over the weekend on clearance. They are plastic since the wooden ones never work for me and just don't feel sturdy enough to hold wet clothes.

That's funny! I had a canopy bed and I used to hang clothes from it all the time. When we bought a new mattress last year I decided to get rid of the bed too. Our bedroom looks so much bigger now!

Anyways I always wash my work clothes in cold and hang them to dry. With it being so cold outside the heat is on almost constantly and they dry in no time. I bought a three armed rack from QVC that works great! I dry pretty much everything else in the dryer.

 

[Chickysmom]

We have an extra bedroom for when DH's boys visit and they have a metal bunkbed....I also have a folding rack and two over the door hooks....if they could only see what that room looks like during the month when they aren't here! I have laundry all over every inch! All those rungs and metal rails on the bed are great for hanging stuff! lol

 

[horseshowmom]

I skimmed this thread but didn't read it closely, so I apologize if this has already been mentioned.

I just bought a new dryer to replace a very old dryer. The new one has a moisture sensor on it. It is the best thing I've ever bought (it was the cheapest XL capacity one that Sears had that came with a moisture sensor).

I cannot believe how fast clothes get dry in this thing! Even DH has commented on it several times.

Not only that, but they don't come out hot like they used to. Since I don't set a specific amount of time (example: 50 minutes), the timer goes off as soon as they are dry, and they don't overheat.

I'm positive that I'm saving more than enough to pay for it, plus I think it's better for the fabric in the clothes.

 

[disneysteve]

I just bought a new dryer to replace a very old dryer. The new one has a moisture sensor on it. It is the best thing I've ever bought (it was the cheapest XL capacity one that Sears had that came with a moisture sensor).

I cannot believe how fast clothes get dry in this thing! Even DH has commented on it several times.

We've noticed the exact same thing since we got our new dryer last year. Clothes dry much faster and are not hot when they come out. To me, that means no energy is being wasted heating up the clothes after they are already dry. Just another reason why I think the OP should consider a new dryer.

 

[horseshowmom]

We've noticed the exact same thing since we got our new dryer last year. Clothes dry much faster and are not hot when they come out. To me, that means no energy is being wasted heating up the clothes after they are already dry. Just another reason why I think the OP should consider a new dryer.

If I had known how much difference there would be, I would have bought mine before I started having trouble with the old one.

 

[SplshMtn99]

I'll mention a new dryer to DH. lol Let's see where THIS conversation goes. I guess if I hang the clothes in the living room.....he would replace it alot faster though.