Taking Sides: Drying Clothes

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Which is better, clothes dried in a machine dryer, or clothes dried in the air?

(taking into account gradations of air-drying such as "on radiators" or "in the fresh air and the sunshine"

― kate, Tuesday, 7 January 2003 16:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Obviously, in the fresh air and sunshine = VERY BEST with radiator-dried a close second in the wintertime.

Dried in a machine = AN ABOMINATION and must be avoided unless in extreme deprivation or hurry.

― kate, Tuesday, 7 January 2003 16:45 (twenty-two years ago)

no no, dried in a machine = fluffy fluffy towels, and nice warm clothes that you can hug.

nothing better than pulling on clothes that have just come out of the drier. And they don't clutter up the house as they dry either (at least in the winter, when you can't put them outside.

― Vicky (Vicky), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 16:54 (twenty-two years ago)

yea, avoid machine for clothesw

but machine good for drying towels

― gareth (gareth), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 16:54 (twenty-two years ago)

aha, beaten to it

― gareth (gareth), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 16:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Things coming out of the drier smell funny .^.. dud

― RickyT (RickyT), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 16:56 (twenty-two years ago)

although having just thought about it there are loads of my clothes that can't go in the drier (if I had one) because they would shrink.

But if clothes will survive the dryer then definitely.

― Vicky (Vicky), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 17:04 (twenty-two years ago)

And also when you think of the amount of energy a drier uses = instant global catastrophe.

Admittedly damn house is a bad thing too though. I assume any goths round here would say drier. Yellow-face has bleaching power after all.

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 17:06 (twenty-two years ago)

damn house = nu-goth/dance crossover?

― RickyT (RickyT), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 17:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Dmandampdamn.

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 17:13 (twenty-two years ago)

how about drying them in the dryer for a bit and then hanging them on a clothes horse to dry the rest of the way?

― DV (dirtyvicar), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 17:15 (twenty-two years ago)

In driers you can use BOUNCE, which is exciting. But there's something not quite right about tumble-dried clothes, all the same. Outside is best. But I have no outside any more. Nor do I have radiators :(

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 17:17 (twenty-two years ago)

real punx wear wet clothes obv

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 17:17 (twenty-two years ago)

We air-dry out clothes in the house for one simple reason: using the dryer causes the circuit to overload fairly regularly, and we don't have access to the switchbox. I don't mind air-drying so much, though I notice that it leaves my cotton clothes a bit ...crispier than if we had used the dryer. My bottom line is that I'd prefer to use the dryer if the wiring in the house was up to the task.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 17:19 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, one would prefer cotton underwear not to be ...crispy

― JuliaA (j_bdules), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 17:28 (twenty-two years ago)

I can't believe anyone likes air-drying! It leaves clothes awfully stiff and awfully stretched-out. I am quite happy with the machine, particularly with an overload of fabric softener and a nice high setting that will shrink my sweaters back to size after having been stretched by wear.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 17:29 (twenty-two years ago)

fake funfur cushion covers require FORCEFULLY BLOWN HEAT for full-on fuzziness (if you like em dry) (which i expect you do, you big squares)

"i prefer my sweaters stretched by war"
—general omar bradley

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 17:35 (twenty-two years ago)

an hour in the dryer, then a day or so on the clothes horse, followed by another day in the hot press (UK: airing cupboard) to finish off. outside is stinky, and birds crap on your clothes and then stand around laughing at you.

― rener (rener), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 17:46 (twenty-two years ago)

using the dryer is not just dud for massive waste of energy (drives leckie bills through the roof!) but it shrinks clothes, mutes colours (black turns to grey...) and breaks the fibres of the fabric. Yuck yuck yuck.

I wish I had one of those Victorian heated drying rooms for when the weather was bad...

I also like the smell that fresh clean laundry on the radiator disseminates throughout the house. yes, I know that's weird.

― kate, Tuesday, 7 January 2003 17:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Dryers are great for small people, as they get to keep the nearly-new sweaters big people inadvertantly shrink.

I am a big person who does not like to donate nearly new sweaters.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 17:52 (twenty-two years ago)

i hoped colin was going to say: "Dryers are great for small people, as they get IN to keep the nearly-new sweaters big people inadvertantly shrink"

i wz thinking of the dryers you get in laundrettes, and imagining v.tiny ppl in bright sweaters, tumbling and tumbling and tumbling...

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 18:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Sitting by the tumble drier at dusk in the autumn is always nice.

― jel -- (jel), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 18:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Sunshine > radiator > tumble drier > racks & strings indoors > spin drier (because spin driers don't get things properly dry on their own).

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 19:35 (twenty-two years ago)

driers = dud.

air dry whites and lights in the sunshine... blacks and darks in a shady breeze.

― gygax!, Tuesday, 7 January 2003 19:37 (twenty-two years ago)

You people realize there's more than one heat setting on most modern dryers, right?

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 20:19 (twenty-two years ago)

If you fold clothes properly when they come out of a tumble dryer, when they are all still nice and warm, you often don't even need to iron them. Hurrah!

― C J (C J), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 20:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Some of us feel no need to iron clothes however they are dried and folded. Of course, some of us have been known to get comradely nods from tramps.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 20:27 (twenty-two years ago)

You know, "comeradely nods" is the most genteel slang term for oral sex I've ever seen.

(I originally wrote "venereal warts" but that didn't scan as well.)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 7 January 2003 20:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh mama, you make it sound so good.

As for the conundrum at hand -- in a machine, natch. You are only allowed to romanticize drying your clothes in the air if you also wash them all by hand. Thus spake the me.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 01:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Sheets dried on a line give me allergies because of the pollen from the air.

― Christine "Green Leafy Dragon" Indigo (cindigo), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 01:32 (twenty-two years ago)

i've actually *done* the washing by hand (pain in the assss) and air drying thing. so.

what really sucks is when you leave your clothes out overnight and it pours rain at 3 am, and it's a ton of clothes and thick towels....

dryer, all the way. and no ironing, certainly.

― JuliaA (j_bdules), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 02:13 (twenty-two years ago)

wouldn't a heated victorian room for drying clothes use even more energy than a nice efficient modern clothes dryer?

i work next to an appliance grave-yard, which is depressing and makes me sad about all these behemoth gadgets. but then again, i prefer not to live without a dryer.

― ron (ron), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 02:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Dan, perhaps our british friends don't have the latest in machine washing/drying technology.

Drying clothes on the line has never been good for me. The are always stiff and smell funny.

Dryer is best. And the ones that use natural gas are less wasteful than electric ones.

― That Girl (thatgirl), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 02:31 (twenty-two years ago)

MY CLOTHES HAVE STARTED FALLING APART SINCE I STARTED USING A DRYER BUT IT IS VERY CONVENIENT.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 02:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Do you use the "Scorch" setting, Nick?

― That Girl (thatgirl), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 02:42 (twenty-two years ago)

falling-apart clothes are all the rage! get hip daddy-o ;-)

― ron (ron), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 02:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I SET IT TO THE LESS HOT SETTING BUT MAYBE THE REVOLUTIONS WERE TOO SPEEDY.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 02:44 (twenty-two years ago)

And here I was thinking I finally had you people figured out.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 03:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I am concerned that N. is being impersonated by a Dalek.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 03:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Where's Rainy? I think she has a complete mastery of laundry - I try to imitate her methods.

― maryann (maryann), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 05:36 (twenty-two years ago)

didn't ned and rainy have a laundry pow-wow while he was there? maybe he brought back the laundry gospel to the states, where it will catch on like wildfire

― ron (ron), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 05:40 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't like dryers (shrinkage, warping, colour-fading, static-inducing, expensive, waste of space)

I don't like outside (cobwebs on line, birds' shits, sun-bleaching, rain, tangles, dew, spiders) - unless it's a really hot, breezy, not too sunny day and stuff dries in, like, 15 minutes.

I like clothes horse and drying racks inside - with assisting heater in colder weather.

Most of all I like the little, round, indoor washing lines with the hook at the top and lots of pegs hanging off. I am shameless about drying my underwear in the lounge room.

― toraneko (toraneko), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 05:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Rainy does in fact air dry her laundry, and that I admit was megacool, because she does so indoors rather than out, to prevent rain sadness, while the strong winds via the living room window speed the drying process quite a bit.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 06:05 (twenty-two years ago)

outside is indeed better. dryers make the underwires come out of my bras. dryers make everything static up. outside is fresh as a daisy.

― di smith (lucylurex), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 07:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I am pleased by Mark's image, but must point out that the little people in your dryer are there to steal left socks, not sweaters.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 10:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Of course we are forgetting a major dichotomy here between posters - in as much as most UK people will be washing their clothes at home. Hence to use a dryer they will either need their own tumble dryer, have a washer/dryer (which are never as good), else air drying.

The first thing we ever proved way back when on ILE is that everyone in the US goes to the Laundrette.
(This is an over simplification I know - and possible untrue to boot).

I have been a little person in a dryer. It is not fun. (Feeling for death as the door clanged I couldn't help but think that this would have been a great way for Bond to kill Nik Nak.)

― Pete (Pete), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 10:22 (twenty-two years ago)

There is another possibility Pete. I wash my clothes at home, then when tumble drying seems appropriate I take them across the road to the launderette and use the dryers there. (Though at 20p per 5 mins I more often do the damp draping round the house thing.)

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 10:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Lawks. I discounted that one.

― Pete (Pete), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 10:35 (twenty-two years ago)

FINALLY!!! I've managed to start a thread that more than 3 people have contributed to! Now I know the secret of cracking the ILE cabal... talk about REALLY MUNDANE THINGS.

Even when I lived in the US and had a dryer in the house, I didn't use it. Early indoctrination of radiator-drying has twisted my mind. My first proper apartment in NYC had a CLOTHESLINE so I used to bring my clothes home and use that. I was devastated when I moved, and the new place didn't have one. I had to dry my things in a dryer and I hated that.

― kate, Wednesday, 8 January 2003 10:47 (twenty-two years ago)

I always do towels and sheets in the dryer as I hate having them draped around the radiators in our flat. Also better for fluffy towels (which Pete doesn't approve of as apparently it slows drying yourself time or he is a masochist or something). But clothes on constantly collapsing clothes horse BUT then I worry that as it's in the kitchen my clothes will end up smelling of whatever Pete is cooking i.e. garlic and sardines and other stinky foods. Now someone is going to make some clever comment re 'ah that is why you smell funny Emma'. Sigh.

― Emma, Wednesday, 8 January 2003 10:57 (twenty-two years ago)

HA HA THAT'S WHY YOU STINK OF FISH.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 11:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I didn't think most laundrettes let you use only their dryers - in case you're just bringing in a pile of rags soaked in piss.

For all our Dyson bleeding-edge contrarotating doohickeys, I think we are behind the Americans in washing/drying technology, simply because it takes so bloody long in a Brit/EU machine. Americans of my acquaintance simply can't believe the morning-sapping slog of doing two loads in a Zanussi or Hoover. Top-loading basement-dwelling behemoths with a shot of liquid deterg that finish in 25mins are clearly the way forward. See also US fridges.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 11:04 (twenty-two years ago)

All the laundrettes near me just specify 'priority use' for those who have used the washers as well.

For Xmas 2001 my parents gave us a contraption called, I believe, a SheilaMaid, which is a v complicated wooden clothes line/bar thing that you drill into your wall (and maybe the ceiling too?) and winch up and down. Since we live in rented accommodation and aren't allowed to attach huge bits of wood and metal to the house, this is possibly the most useless gift ever. But does represent yet another alternative to radiators/bannisters/clothes horses.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 11:06 (twenty-two years ago)

i tht we proved by science that americans never owned washing machines?

and that they took their dirty plates and cutlery to something called a dish-o-mat?

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 11:07 (twenty-two years ago)

I used to sometimes take stuff to dry in the launderette, before they cottoned on to the piss-soaked pile of rags thing.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 11:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Doing the laundry: Classic or Dud?

Where we proved that there are no Washing Machines in the US - and the towel, fluffiness thing got discussed.

― Pete (Pete), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 11:12 (twenty-two years ago)

We inherited our evil Gaia-murdering tumble dryer from the previous occupants of our Greenwich flat - bizarrely, they had it in a kitchen cupboard, with the hot air exhaust pipe running into the adjacent larder. Must've eaten out a lot. Or just liked to bring that special moistness into their cooking.

It's been worth every frivolously spent kilowatt-hour for the small, regular pleasure of cleaning out the lint trap.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 11:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Aw. In Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye there is an artist character who makes beautiful abstract collages from sheets of different shades of lint from tumble dryers. I always wished someone would do that in real life.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 11:20 (twenty-two years ago)

But wouldn't you just think 'They're copying that from a Margaret Atwood novel - lame-O'?

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 11:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Maybe! But I would still like to see if it works in real life.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 11:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Well hey Archel, there ain't nothin; stopping you? Go down your local laundrette, introduce yourself as an artist and ask for the lint.

― Pete (Pete), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 11:40 (twenty-two years ago)

From time to time when I was small I used to fill in for my friend cleaning a local laundrette. One of the tasks was to open up the front of the tuimble driers and remove all the lint which collected in a large cavity beneath the barrel. That was enough lint-cleaning for a whole life (but... lint!).

― Tim (Tim), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 11:48 (twenty-two years ago)

American washing machines: loud noises for 30 minutes, clothes come out wet.

Euro washing machines: loud noises and visuals for 1-3 hours, clothes come out clean.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 11:55 (twenty-two years ago)

since lint is mainly made of human skin, presumably you cd build a frankenstein machine powered by bolts of lightening and bring it to life?

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 11:58 (twenty-two years ago)

(A joke so nice he told it twice.)

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 12:09 (twenty-two years ago)

But all washing machine lint is the same shade of greyish purple. I don't know why this is, but it never changes. Or maybe that just comes from years of me washing blue jeans and red towels together.

― kate, Wednesday, 8 January 2003 12:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Peoiple with greyish purple skin shed an awful lot.

By the way, when I got my Mum's microwave (from the eighties) the other weeks said boldly (so like this
DO NOT USE TO DRY CLOTHES

I believe the phrase is wtf. So does anyone here use a microwave/conventional oven to dry clothes with?

― Pete (Pete), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 12:21 (twenty-two years ago)

What are Pete and Mark S on about with this lint skin thing?

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 12:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Launderette service washes = essential when you've got a small child.

So, machine dryer I presume.

― James Ball (James Ball), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 12:24 (twenty-two years ago)

it's true, it was on cheers

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 12:27 (twenty-two years ago)

ILE's font of all knowledge = Mark S
Mark S's font of all knowledge - Cheers.

― Pete (Pete), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 12:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Conventional oven, yes. When I was in an extreme hurry and needed to dry a pair of knickers. It's better than using a hair dryer. But then I discovered that you could drape them over the back of a large computer monitor with a decent cooling fan. Probably not particularly good for the monitor, but they dry really quickly!

― kate, Wednesday, 8 January 2003 13:28 (twenty-two years ago)

I've used a microwave to dry my underwear before and it didn't do anything bad. Just made for oddly steamy pants. Nowadays I have to go the laundrette, where it is mental and one has to have a fairly agressive approach.

― alix (alix), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 13:29 (twenty-two years ago)

I have heard of people using microwaves for this purpose. I think maybe the warning is because of metal zips and things. Either that, or Zanussi are mad as hell at people not buying enough white goods.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 13:35 (twenty-two years ago)

do the pants keep cooking for 5 minutes?

― Alan (Alan), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 13:38 (twenty-two years ago)

And people worry about the radiation from mobile phones whilst walking around in knickers that are still cooking. The world has gone mad.

― Pete (Pete), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 13:49 (twenty-two years ago)

"steamy pants"????????????????????

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 15:08 (twenty-two years ago)

My god, this thread has turned into a tempest in a teapot... I mean MUG!!! MUG! TEA-MUG!!!

― kate, Wednesday, 8 January 2003 15:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Launderette service washes = essential when you've got a small child.

Uh, James, I don't want to appear judgemental, but I suspect the social services would not look kindly on your treating a child this way.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 19:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Martin, are you suggesting that you haven't met small children over time who would benefit from this treatment?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 20:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Dryers, classic, only when your cat climbs in their of their own free will.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 20:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Absolutely, Ned, but it is widely frowned upon.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 8 January 2003 21:52 (twenty-two years ago)

How else do I make sure he's clean behind the ears? I throw in a rubber duck as well so he enjoys it.

― James Ball (James Ball), Thursday, 9 January 2003 10:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Absolutely, Ned, but it is widely frowned upon.

This is clearly political correctness gone mad.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 9 January 2003 15:42 (twenty-two years ago)

two years pass...

In response to cast iron and pine clothes airers, have a look at the Kitchen maid(sheilamaid) from http://www.castinstytle.co.uk or directly at http://www.castinstyle.co.uk/product.php/285/1/Hope it helps

― urbanman, Friday, 10 June 2005 19:28 (twenty years ago)

In response to cast iron and pine clothes airers, have a look at the Kitchen maid(sheilamaid) from http://www.castinstyle.co.uk or directly at http://www.castinstyle.co.uk/product.php/285/1/Hope it helps

― urbanman, Friday, 10 June 2005 19:28 (twenty years ago)

― urbanman, Friday, 10 June 2005 19:29 (twenty years ago)

Glasgow spam??!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 10 June 2005 22:36 (twenty years ago)

For those of you who don't know about these devices they actually are well cool.

Their common placement in kitchens ensures, however, an even coating of food smells. Which is presumably why Glaswegians don't eat.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 10 June 2005 23:57 (twenty years ago)

otherwise known as a pulley, they're great because they make use of the fantastic ceiling height in glaswegian tenament flats, which is where all the heat goes from those stupid electric heaters that most flats have a sole form of heating.

This thread made me realise that I've managed to survive over two and a half years without a tumble-dryer, which was surprisingly easy to do, but only because we've got a staircase and banister to drape towels and bedding over.

― Vicky (Vicky), Saturday, 11 June 2005 05:38 (twenty years ago)

i put my clothes in the dryer until they're just dry enough, then i hang 'em up to let room temperature do the rest.

― metal assembly (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 11 June 2005 05:41 (twenty years ago)

I take the side of my cleaning lady. Well, just the handwash/drying part. I do the easy things, like towels.

― nathalie's post modern sleaze fest (stevie nixed), Saturday, 11 June 2005 06:08 (twenty years ago)

i must insert here that my mother claims to have known a woman who grew up in some cold place, who claimed that nothing compared to drying one's clothes outside when it was freezing. she said the ice crystals that formed inside the clothes as they "dried" created an unspeakable fluffiness. no doubt mark s will be freezing his wet clothes now and wearing them around that way.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Saturday, 11 June 2005 06:09 (twenty years ago)

"unspeakable fluffiness" is the phrase of the weekend.

― metal assembly (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 11 June 2005 06:13 (twenty years ago)

2 loads in a zanussi of a morning? jebus, how often do you people change your clothes?? as far as i know i don't reek and i change at least some clothes every day and still it's never, ever more than 2 loads a week... and fluffy towels are overrated. towels should be a) the size of a mammoth-skin and b) scratchy as all hell, obviously, for that delicious simultaneously-snuggly-and-exfoliated-raw feeling. mmmmm.

"a woman who grew up in some cold place, who claimed that nothing compared to drying one's clothes outside when it was freezing."

- my friend says that in norway they do this with babies.

― emsk, Saturday, 11 June 2005 11:43 (twenty years ago)

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