Ship of Fools: Drying clothes?

Thread: Drying clothes? Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :

Let's chat about drying clothes.

[Smile]

I have stopped using the tumble dryer and saved £16 a month, but this has brought problems of its own.

I rigged up drying racks in our (very narrow) utility room. But this humid weather means they take ages to dry - and, of course the radiators are not on.

I don't peg out unless I'm sure it won't be raining when I get home - and this hasn't happened for months.

What do you do?

Posted by Mrs Shrew (# 8635) on :

I use the line outside or an airer in the bathroom. I want to get a heated airer as soon as I can afford it-they seem to cost about £50-80 and they have slightly heated rails which make clothes dry better as a cost of about 2p/hour in electricity.

At my parents house, we never had problems as they have a range cooker which is always hot so dries clothes really well. It costs a fortune in gas though.

Posted by Balaam (# 4543) on :

There's no substitute for a line outside. Wash Friday evenings (twice, one light, one dark) hang out if fine Saturday morning.

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Balaam:
There's no substitute for a line outside. Wash Friday evenings (twice, one light, one dark) hang out if fine Saturday morning.

But it hasn't been fine for months - that's the problem. If I go out and come back to wet clothes it means re-spinning and still hanging indoors. So not worth it.

Posted by Beethoven (# 114) on :

For some reason, a number of our radiators seem to remain hot regardless of whether the heating is supposed to be on. So although I know I ought to get them checked as there's obviously something wrong somewhere, I actually make the most of it for drying laundry. I have on small radiator airer, as well as a couple of other laundry racks - one in the dining room and one in our bedroom.

Frustratingly, I have a very good sized rotary drier in the garden - but the same problem with the weather. Even on the few days that start off sunny, either I don't manage to get anything hung out before I go to work, or I don't trust that the weather will stay dry, so I've hardly used it this year. [Frown]

On occasion, I will resort to the tumble dryer, but try not to unless it's pretty urgent (as in, pouring down outside, Sunday afternoon, and still half the Opuses' school uniform to be washed...).

I'd love to be able to do the week's washing on a Friday evening, but unless I go without sleep for the night, that's not going to happen! [Biased]

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

I don't have anywhere to hang things out, and the tumble dryer takes a very long time to actually dry anything - if you only put a few garments in at a time they're usually still damp about half an hour later - so I don't bother using it.

I have a drying rack next to the window. As there's double glazing it means things dry pretty quickly if they've been on spin first, especially if there's sunlight. I do the laundry in the evenings after work and there's usually something dry to wear the next morning; the thicker fabrics just need a bit longer.

If something is urgently needed I resort to the fan heater to finish it off, but mostly I don't need to do that.

Posted by churchgeek (# 5557) on :

I live in an apartment, and split my loads into dryer/non-dryer. I have no qualms about using the dryer, but I never put my dress shirts or printed t-shirts in, and some other clothes, jackets, bags, etc. that seem on the delicate side.

These I hang on hangers from my shower curtain rod. If they're not dry the next day, I temporarily move them to a towel rod until I've showered, and then put them back. I also use towel racks for drying some things (e.g., some wool socks), and have a couple over-the-door hooks for hanging other things to dry. I also have one of those wooden fold-up dryer racks I can use if I need to (e.g., when I've run out of quarters but the load of underwear and socks wasn't completely dry), but I don't have much space for it. I store it folded up behind my computer armoire. I've also gotten pretty creative about hanging things from doors, door knobs, and cabinet door handles. Because I'm in a fairly dry climate (in CA), I can also just hang the dress shirts in my closet, spaced a bit apart until they dry.

I grew up in the country (in MI), but with the allergies in my family, we never hung clothes outside. The clothes that couldn't go in the dryer were hung (on hangers) from the copper pipes (plumbing) running along the basement ceiling near the washer and dryer.

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

I've never had the option of outside drying in this house, and never owned a tumble drier. So there is a semi-permanent clotheshorse in the scullery with the current wash on it. Everything gets an extra spin before it comes out of the washing machine, spends a day or so hung up and then moves to form a tottering stack on the small radiator behind the door.

It's not ideal, and while others may long for homes with inbuilt jacuzzis or views of the Himalayas, my eyes mist over at the thought of a hotpress.*

*AKA airing cupboard.

Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :

Hanging clothes out behind the fridge is usually a good last-minute option.

Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :

I haven't had a tumble dryer for years, and when I did it was a washer/dryer which only held half a wash-load, and meant that I couldn't do another wash until the oh-so-long dry programme finished.

First choice currently is outside on the clothesline. I'm home for most of most days, so can plan the washing to fit in with suitable drying conditions. Mr RoS's working hours mean that he is generally home in the afternoons, so even if I go out he will bring in the washing if necessary. I try to avoid that as the need to iron then increases from nearly zero to most of it.

I have an under-cover work area for garden related tasks, and in long periods of wet weather I'll hang slow-drying items under there for however long it takes.

Unless the weather is really hot for weeks I don't turn the pilot light off on my hot-water/heating boiler, so light stuff will dry on racks either side of it.

Otherwise, as we never throw anything away we don't often run out of things to wear before we have a suitable drying day. [Big Grin]

Posted by la vie en rouge (# 10688) on :

I believe this is one of those pond differences - Americans tend to be much bigger fans of the dryer. Personally I despise it and use it as little as possible. It consumes a lot of electricity and I think it damages the linen. Also unless you take the stuff out and fold it straight away it ends up irredeemably creased.

Fortunately our living room is big enough to accomodate a fairly large clothes horse. Also my mother the domestic goddess taught me to always, always double spin the laundry, which does indeed make it dry much quicker.

Posted by pjl (# 16929) on :

I guess I must be the lucky one. We have a communal laundry in the flats where I reside.
I go to gym 3 times per week and after collecting a few coat hangers from my room, head straight to the laundry where my kit and the odd other items are washed, dried in the drier and hung on my hangers.

I have another wash and dry at weekend for room items.

The cost is included in the rent, but works out at about £2 a week.

Posted by Enigma (# 16158) on :

Pegging things on a clothes line is too awkward for me so I go for the 'drape it everywhere you can' approach when it comes to laundry.

I have a washer/dryer which takes care of my smalls because I have found that they can be embarrassing if someone turns up at the front door when they are proudly displayed on the radiator in the hall.

Posted by Niminypiminy (# 15489) on :

I'm another pegger-outer. But then I live in the arid east -- apparently now drier than most of the mediterranean lands. Also Cambridge is a very windy place, so bizarrely even when it is wet the clothes are still quite dry because of the wind. When it does rain clothes go on an airer in my bedroom.

Posted by Beethoven (# 114) on :

quote:
Originally posted by LeRoc:
Hanging clothes out behind the fridge is usually a good last-minute option.

Ah. You clearly have higher standards of housework than I do. I could probably hang one or two things there, but they'd need to have a thick layer of dust & fluff cleaned off them before they could be worn... [Hot and Hormonal]

Firenze - just to make you jealous, for a couple of years I had the luxury of a house with TWO airing cupboards! So the downstairs one got table linen and kitchen towels stored in it, and the upstairs one was used for clothes and bathroom towels [Smile]

I'm now back to normal with a single airing cupboard, just wider than a normal door, but it's an essential part of my laundry system. If only I could teach Mr B or an Opus how to take more than one item of clothing out of it at a time... [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :

I have A-frame airers in my SE facing spare bedroom, which also houses my large airing cupboard. Being under a flat roof, the room can get warm in summer, though not as warm as it did before I had the solar panels installed on heavy rubber wedges. The airing cupboard sits on top of the warm air heating system, so is warm in winter, and the air dries clothes well. Drying is a bit slower at the moment. I'm thinking of having an awning out at the back where I should be able to dry things on an airer, if I've moved all the pots and the other clutter with no home.

I've seen ads for covers for the rotary lines so that clothes don't get wetter if the weather is not helpful. I suppose a cheap gazebo would do the job.

And I've seen ads for lines that fit in garages. Wouldn't smell as nice, though.

Posted by ken (# 2460) on :

Line outside. Except that this year so far it usually rains before I get home at night so I end up drying them inside [Frown]

No drying machine, and no room for one. No airing cupboard either. Its only a little flat and most of its full of stuff. So drying clothes indoors is a tedious and mildly smelly bore [Frown]

Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :

I no longer have an airing cupboard since having a hot-water-on-demand boiler installed, but don't miss it for drying laundry because I found that resulted in it smelling musty.
So I continue to use a drying frame in a spare bedroom - neighbours with children who a) generate more laundry and b) fill the rooms tend to take their wet laundry to the local launderette and use the huge driers there.

Posted by Qoheleth. (# 9265) on :

If it's raining, I hang them all down the banisters.

Posted by Martha (# 185) on :

I love drying clothes in Texas! In summer they can be dry in less than an hour, and in winter rarely more than a day. I can't understand why anyone wastes money on a dryer here. Except that when we were buying a house I mentioned to the realtor that I was looking forward to being able to hang clothes outside. When she had recovered from her laughter she informed me that most homeowners associations prohibit washing lines. We got around that by using the freestanding airers and having a back yard that is not overlooked, so no one can complain they have to look at our underwear.

Soon I will be back in the UK, land of teeny tiny washing machines and damp weather [Frown]

Posted by irish_lord99 (# 16250) on :

In Turkey it's usually too dirty outside to line dry, so we use a folding drying rack that will hand a full load of wash, and then some.

For bath towels, we do use the tumble dryer. I don't like the steel-wool texture of line-dried towels!

Posted by Graven Image (# 8755) on :

I use dryer, clothes rack, and both indoor in garage and outdoor lines.
The rack is good for things that must lay flat to dry such as sweaters, as it can be arranged to have a wide flat row of rods on the top. The dryer for jeans and towels and bedding. Where I live we are not allowed to hang things outside, but I am blessed with a back porch that looks over wood land and the porch has a 1/2 roof over it, so I can hang things outside and they are protected from neighbors view and also stay dry in case of rain. In the winter I hang shirts and such in the garage rather then outside.

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Graven Image:
Where I live we are not allowed to hang things outside

What??

I have never heard of this - what a rotten rule!

Posted by Galilit (# 16470) on :

quote:
Originally posted by irish_lord99:
In Turkey ... we use a folding drying rack that will hand a full load of wash, and then some.

For bath towels, we do use the tumble dryer. I don't like the steel-wool texture of line-dried towels!

Not far from you I dry everything outside - 2 or 3 hours at 37+ deg C.
In winter we put the standard fan towards the drying frame thingo and between that and the wood-burning stove it's an over-night job (especially if I put on a couple of big olive logs before retiring.
I told the Tiny Little Galilee 'uns that the texture of the sun-dried towels was "vitamins from the sunshine and *awe-fully* good for you". They still believe it (at 25, 23, 20 years old)

I detest driers with a passion [Mad]

Posted by RuthW (# 13) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Martha:
I love drying clothes in Texas! In summer they can be dry in less than an hour, and in winter rarely more than a day. I can't understand why anyone wastes money on a dryer here.

Because cotton things get all crunchy and stiff if hung up to dry. I hang up all my synthetic and wool things, some on the shower rod and some from a high shelf in my living room, and I tumble-dry everything else.

Posted by infinite_monkey (# 11333) on :

I live in a non-smoking apartment complex where people smoke marijuana in the front yard, dogs crap all over the place, and there are three, count them, three barbecues, two bicycles, and a play kitchen in the common spaces.

I have in the past hung a limited number of t-shirts out to dry for a limited number of hours.

I have received a cease and desist letter from the management on the grounds that line drying makes things look "trashy".

I am seriously considering a change of address.

Posted by snowgoose (# 4394) on :

Our homeowners association does not allow clotheslines. I occasionally dry linen tablecloths on the grass (gets them nice and white) or dry a quilt by draping it over the deck rail, but that's it. Everyone I know uses a tumble dryer. Drying things by hanging them in the house would make it more humid, which is a Bad Thing in a Tidewater summer. Once in a while I have to air-dry a sweater or something, but I keep that to a minimum.

Posted by Twilight (# 2832) on :

I wash everything from sheets to bedspreads, from delicates to winter coats in the washer and dry them in the tumble dryer. If it doesn't survive it wasn't meant to be mine.

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :

[Killing me]

I wish we could hang things outside safely--I have a line which gets used for the bathtub washables--but inevitably at least one thing gets crapped on by the local birds. It's a jungle out there. Which is fine when you want to watch the animals, but none so good when you're hanging laundry.

Posted by Meg the Red (# 11838) on :

I tend to compromise - everything (except bedsheets - they're too big) goes into the tumble dryer for a few minures to get rid of wrinkles and cat hair, then onto folding drying racks in the bedroom as we're not allowed laundry on our balcony. This indoor drying is a real boon in the winter when the air is so dry it scrapes your throat.

My Mom hangs everything out on her two lovely long clotheslines if the weather is warm enough. She remembers as a child bringing in freeze-dried clothing from her parents' southern Alberta farmyard during the winter; apparently if it was cold enough there was real danger of the bedsheets and towels breaking unless they were handled carefully.

IMO, there's nothing likas cozy as slipping into a dryer-warmed flannel nightgown on a freezing winter night.

[ 04. July 2012, 00:20: Message edited by: Meg the Red ]

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :

I agree with Twilight - how on earth we survived the first 15 years of our marriage without a tumble-dryer is one of Life's Little Mysteries™. I've never hung anything on a washing-line (my excuse is that I'm a vertically-challenged piglet); I only ever used clothes-horses, radiators and the backs of dining chairs ... [Hot and Hormonal]

We got one when we moved to Newfoundland because, the climate being what it is, everyone has one. The first time my in-laws (who had never had one before) came to stay, they were so impressed that they went straight to the appliance shop when they got home and bought one.

Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Meg the Red:

My Mom hangs everything out on her two lovely long clotheslines if the weather is warm enough. She remembers as a child bringing in freeze-dried clothing from her parents' southern Alberta farmyard during the winter; apparently if it was cold enough there was real danger of the bedsheets and towels breaking unless they were handled carefully.

I remenber my mother leaving a baby's all in one zip up suit on the line overnight and bringing it in to stand in the corner.

I line dry when I can, but the hot water cylinder cupboard has shelves to dry small things. Although there ate small birds and seagulls around their target pooping seems to be less accurate than birds mentioned above.

I love making a bed with fresh line dried sheets.

Posted by Galloping Granny (# 13814) on :

At Matarangi anything hung on the line dries in an hour or so, not because of warmth in the air or sun, but because there is always a faint breeze. And if it's wet – well, houses around us are unoccupied when we're there in non-holiday periods, and the neighbours have a covered area with clotheslines, so we use that. Two of our clotheslines stretch from their shed to ours anyway.

As for the city... If it looks like a fine day in winter 'We'd better do a wash'. If the next day's fine, we hang out another wash. If there are three fine days in a row (yes, it does happen) we feel guilty because there's nothing left to wash. But the hours before the sun ducks down behind the house next door are so few that we have to finish off anything still really damp in the drier, and the rest is draped on a rack inside a window that gets some sun.

The heat pump that we chose is a floor-level one (why not? hot air rises, doesn't it?) and blows towards me where I sit in the evening, and air that leaves the pump really warm is somewhat cooler when it reaches me. But if I hang, say, my thermal singlet from a coffee table in front of me I'm sheltered and the garment is drying.

Irish lord is so right:

quote:
For bath towels, we do use the tumble dryer. I don't like the steel-wool texture of line-dried towels!

But I find a quick spin in the tumble-drier when they're almost dry does the job pretty well.

Can't imagine rules against hanging out clothes on the line. I suppose either everybody does it or nobody is allowed to.

GG

Posted by Gill H (# 68) on :

We live in an upstairs flat, so no garden.

We use a clothes horse (or as Hugal's neck of the woods calls it, a maiden) and a dryer.

In the summer I hang stuff on the horse overnight. Next day most things are still a little damp so will put some of the clothes in tge dryer with those plastic 'drying balls'. Although the drying programme says 3 hours, it actually atops when the clothes are dry - usually about an hour and a half. And since you can pause it and open the door, I tend to put cotton stuff in first, take it out after an hour and switch for other clothes.

It has been so hot in our flat these past few weeks that things tend to dry on their own, though.

Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :

On a good windy day line-dried washing doesn't get stiff, and if there has been no wind a good sharp shake after unpegging usually loosens up the dry things. That works for indoor-dried things too.
I actually prefer a rough towel, so don't even use a fabric conditioner on a towel wash.

I turn most garments inside-out before hanging out, partly to reduce fading from exposure to sunlight and partly because I can scrape any bird poop off, and it won't notice when it's worn [Hot and Hormonal]

Posted by The Intrepid Mrs S (# 17002) on :

First choice is always outside but these days down in the soft South that wouldn't dry anything. In the winter, on the radiators *sigh* except for towels which as well as going hard, SMELL quite disgusting. But when it's raining, my favourite is to hang shirts on hangers along the curtain pole by an open window in the little back bedroom (not the front, which might be a touch low-rent!)

The resourceful Mrs. S

Posted by Beenster (# 242) on :

This sounds really sad but I iron whilst damp straight from the washing machine. Given that I'm in a 1-bed place with the only drying space being my bedroom - or living room - and I loathe living in a chinese laundry, it helps the drying time. I don't think you get the best ironing results and it's harder to iron damp stuff but at least it means the whole laundry scenario is done in one fell swoop.

I could tumble dry but that doesn't sit comfortably with me - energy reasons (I think more from a point of meanness than a care for the environment) although I do think that over time I could evolve.

Posted by FooloftheShip (# 15579) on :

Bit of a quandry for me, this one. I'm not theoretically allowed to hang clothes out (though many neighbours do without harassment) but I'm rather lazy and I work, so this could only ever happen at weekends unless I had far greater faith in weather forecasts than I do. Also, we simply haven't had an entirely dry day in a very long time.

Drying indoors makes the atmosphere excessively damp, and simply wouldn't work in weather like it is now, with humidity in the 90+% range. My flat seems rather prone to damp anyway, so I don't want to encourage this. It has no south-facing walls, which may be a significant part of the problem in this respect.

Therefore, my tumble dryer has been my friend since I bought it nearly 3 years ago now. It's A rated on the energy scale, and I keep the filter clean so it doesn't go on drying longer than it actually needs to.

Posted by Gill H (# 68) on :

When we lived in a smaller, damper flat, I used to do a liad of washing, put it in a black bag in my shopping trolley and take it down to the launderette three doors down. Put it in a dryer, put £3 in, go next door to the cafe for a cuppa, come back 45 min later and voila!

Posted by Twilight (# 2832) on :

quote:
Although the drying programme says 3 hours,

We need to talk about those dryers. When we first moved to England, the U. S. Air force provided its troops with a British Washer and Dryer set for the duration. Of course, we had to wait a few months and fill out the kind of paper work you would expect for renting the crown jewels, but the big day would come and there would be excitement in the home.

Had the military been prone to humor, I would have thought it was a joke. My childhood playtime washer and dryer were bigger. No matter! We'll just do more loads! But the hook up routine for the washer and the one and a half hour it took to dry one normal towel wasn't practical so I sent it back to the base. (Even more paperwork.) Thereafter I would ride into the base with my husband one day a week and do all the laundry at the base laundromat. Much less expensive over all.

Back in the U.S. I have the cheapest W&D set the appliance store carries. I'm, at this moment, drying a load that contains two queen size sheets ( Egyptian cotton--fairly heavy,) four pillow cases, two bath towels, several hand towels, a bunch of underwear, three T-shirts and two pair cotton slacks. They will be dry in fifty minutes.

Why is this? Do the small dryers take an hour and a half for one towel because the area inside is too small to evaporate the moisture? I understand that many British homes don't have much space to hook up larger washers and dryers but I think I would have given up the dining room if it came to it.

Posted by la vie en rouge (# 10688) on :

Like I said before, cultural thing. I was definitely brought up with the mindset that the tumble dryer was for Emergencies™ and that using it all the time was an appalling wanton waste of electricity. A monstrous great dryer in the house just doesn't occur to many British people as a necessity.

Posted by no_prophet (# 15560) on :

It may be cultural, but it is also weather. It is fine to hang up clothes outside when there is warmth, sun, only moderate wind, absence of pollen and dust storms, and we do it.

If it is well below freezing it is possible to put laundry outside to freeze and it will dry in 3-4 days, sort of, but it is very hard on the laundry hanger-upper and the bottom of the basket of clothes will freeze and stiffen before getting them out on the line. You can dry them inside hanging up, but this increases the humidity excessively which creates structural problems in houses. Both were the practice before the 1960s.

The dust and pollen issue is quite significant, in that it is not very clean to have bits of cottonwood fluff and frank airborne dirt on your clothes.

We have retrieved laundry from 3-4 houses away at times and rewashed/rinsed. High winds will take entire clotheslines.

So yes outside if good weather and your climate allows. Inside if the dryer is broken.

Posted by ken (# 2460) on :

quote:
Originally posted by RuthW:
Because cotton things get all crunchy and stiff if hung up to dry. I hang up all my synthetic and wool things, some on the shower rod and some from a high shelf in my living room, and I tumble-dry everything else.

Genuine confusion here. My cotton things do wonderfully when hung outside to dry. In fact it makes them feel muich nicer and softer than they woudl from a drier. Its the wooly things that get sticky and creased and so on. Do we have different kinds of cotton?

quote:
Originally posted by infinite_monkey:
I live in a non-smoking apartment complex where people smoke marijuana in the front yard, dogs crap all over the place, and there are three, count them, three barbecues, two bicycles, and a play kitchen in the common spaces.

Hey, I live in inner London, right nexxt to a mainline railway. I've got three (really, three) separate railway stations within three hundrede yards of my back garden. As for smoking, dog-crap, barbecues... the place smells like a mixed grill on a hot summer Sunday.

quote:
Originally posted by Twilight:
I understand that many British homes don't have much space to hook up larger washers and dryers but I think I would have given up the dining room if it came to it.

Dining room? You had a dining room? Sounds posh to me. I've never lived in a house with a dining room!

Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :

We have only ever had a dryer once, back in the day when cloth nappies/diapers were still more common than disposables. We have never liked tumble drying clothes and got rid of it as soon as we could. Sunshine and wind just make laundry smell so good, but then I live in one of the cleanest cities in the souther hemisphere.

These days, I cannot live without the four lines strung underneath the pergola out the back. I do not know how anyone in a house can live without a covered washing line, because it really does solve all problems. On those days when it is so wet and cold the washing doesn't dry, things get hung on a clothes horse wherever I have the heating on. I've never coveted an airing cupboard, but I do dream about ducted gas heating with one of these hung over a vent!

Posted by Martha (# 185) on :

I was under the impression that the stiff towel thing was more about the different kind of weather than the different kind of cotton. Something about it drying so quickly in the very hot dry air instead of drying a bit slower in damper air. It doesn't bother me, they loosen up again after you've dried yourself on them once anyway.

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :

I realise I entirely ignored my outside line, used for most things but not undies or woollens. at my last place, there was a line in the back communal garden, but it was a long way round, and became a little fraught with the neighbours behaving as if they were the only ones entitled to use the area. Here, it's only a few yards from the utility room, and a wash done in the cheap electricity period will be dry by lunchtime on a good day, and smelling lovely.

The last place had a covenant in the lease not to hang washing out, for some reason, but no-one observed it, though at another similar block, one resident had insisted the landlord enforce it. since the leases originated in the early 60s, before driers, I don't know what they had in mind for people to do. It was also before rotary lines, so I supose they didn't want the garden crisscrossed with long lines.

Here there is also a covenant from a similar date, not to hang out at the weekend, and not to have lines over 6 foot high. No-one has high lines, all rotary, but many have washing out at the weekend, because that's when they are home from work. I can't see anyone getting away with insistence on observation.

Posted by Twilight (# 2832) on :

Ken:

quote:
Dining room? You had a dining room? Sounds posh to me. I've never lived in a house with a dining room!

Not exactly a dining room more a table that wouldn't fit in the kitchen so stands at the end of the living room. This is not exactly where we lived but we were two doors to the left and it was almost the same inside. Except the kitchen was only half as big, I can't figure the kitchen out. Maybe they expanded. Now I'm homesick.

Posted by Enigma (# 16158) on :

Tangent to be avoided in this thread but could be taken up later.....
We all live very different lives just drying clothes.
But what clothes do we wear? Has this been discussed before?

Posted by Ye Olde Motherboarde (# 54) on :

I hang clothes outside. The sheets smell marvelous!. The dryer gets towels only. We get over 350 days of sun and even in the winter I hang. Because our humidity is usually under 20%, clothes dry in the blink of an eye.

I wear a lot of cotton and the sun dries them so fast, I rarely iron, but I will spend a little more money to get those new no-iron fabric shirts for the husband to make my life even easier. [Big Grin]

Posted by St.Silas the carter (# 12867) on :

I usually tie a few of mine to a line, attach the lines to the handles of the car doors, and dry them on the way to work. Speed limits are for suckers anyway.

Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Twilight:
Ken:
quote:
Dining room? You had a dining room? Sounds posh to me. I've never lived in a house with a dining room!

We have one, with a sliding door that is between the living room and the kitchen. It is so tiny and the table is so large that we can never use the leaves that came with it. I will always have it because my grandfather the mechanical engineer made it. It is currently configured to seat three. Good thing there are only two of us!

Back on topic: we use the electric drier virtually 100% of the time unless Zeke is afraid something of hers might shrink!

Posted by Gee D (# 13815) on :

Let's face it, dryers are not good for knitted goods, so that rules them out for socks, underwear and a range of other things for a start. Then none of us much likes the idea of shirts going through the dryer - they don't look the same after. Jeans shrink in the dryer.

We like to have ours dried on the line, with plenty of fresh air and sunlight if possible. Fortunately, that's not too difficult most of the time. When it's wet, the washing goes onto racks under cover but open to breezes. At the moment, when it's cold as well as having some wet days, we have a small room which has a floor vent for the central heating and good ventilation at the top by leaving the window open but locked. The racks just go in there. Not as good as outside, but we can live with that. The only use the dryer gets is sheets days when they can't get to the line. Perhaps towels for a few minutes if they're very close to dry and it's getting too late in the afternoon, or a shower is coming.

[ 05. July 2012, 08:41: Message edited by: Gee D ]

Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Boogie:

quote:
Originally posted by Graven Image:
Where I live we are not allowed to hang things outside
What??

I have never heard of this - what a rotten rule!

I've noticed this restriction appearing more frequent - it used to be on "posh" places, but much more in regular estates.

quote:
Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:

I wish we could hang things outside safely--

Ah - safely. That reminds me of when an entire load of undies disappeared from the line - even though the garden was walled and very private. Now if I dry outside the ahem delicates are dried inside.

quote:
Originally posted by Huia:

I love making a bed with fresh line dried sheets.

Oh yes - if the air is fresh then the sheets smell and feel delicious.

Posted by Galloping Granny (# 13814) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Gee D:
Then none of us much likes the idea of shirts going through the dryer - they don't look the same after. Jeans shrink in the dryer.

I actually used to put the Grandad's poly-cotton business shirts in the drier because they came out so smooth they didn't need ironing.

I'm recalling travelling round Scotland in a Mini in 1964 with three other girls, with our smalls spread on the back shelf drying in the sun. Yes, of course it was sunny all the way!

GG

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Galloping Granny:

I'm recalling travelling round Scotland in a Mini in 1964 with three other girls, with our smalls spread on the back shelf drying in the sun. Yes, of course it was sunny all the way!

GG

Ah yes, 64. The Year of the Terrible Blazing Thing in the Sky, as it's known locally.

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Gee D:
Let's face it, dryers are not good for knitted goods, so that rules them out for socks, underwear and a range of other things for a start. Then none of us much likes the idea of shirts going through the dryer - they don't look the same after. Jeans shrink in the dryer.

My dryer has three heat settings--regular, permanent press, and knits. I always use the knits setting, and nothing shrinks. It takes longer than the higher heat settings, but not a great deal longer.

I would much rather to dry sheets and blankets outdoors, but it's not feasible to rig a clothesline in my yard.

Moo

Posted by cattyish (# 7829) on :

I have a treasured collection of radiator frames on which hang every type of washing all winter. For those without radiators, a real old fashioned maiden is a fabulous thing. I've never had to resort to dehumidifiers, but sometimes I've had to open windows on rainy, cold, miserable winter evenings to try to freshen the air a bit.

We now have a house with a garden, and I don't have to pretend it's not really my washing hanging outside like I did in our old flat.

Cattyish

Posted by Ethne Alba (# 5804) on :

Massive difference between cultures and climates, then factor in the UK's rubbish weather right now.

I'm looking enviously at a neighbour's clothes drying set up which similar to this:
http://www.directplastics.com/carports

She works full time, has loads of washing for their household and has found something that works for them.

I'm back to hanging wet clothes in doorways, jamming the doors open and opening all windows

[Frown]

Posted by Augustine the Aleut (# 1472) on :

I live in a sufficiently ethnic part of Ottawa that no-one looks askance at me for drying my clothes outside (aside from the nearby Serbian engineering students who send all of their clothes, socks and skivvys included, to the laundry and who shake their heads at me in dismay). Even in winter, I dry my shirts in Ottawa's cheering January breezes so that, still stiff, the shirts take the iron better (as advised by Martha Stewart). Other clothes lose most of their moisture and are ready for folding after a few hours hanging.

Posted by Beethoven (# 114) on :

My laundry basket is threatening to take over the bedroom at the moment - not helped by the mountain of bedding which went into it recently. I think I need to concede defeat on my principles, and just do a couple of loads that can be tumble dried. The current radiator lot got left in the machine a few hours too long, as it was, so smells a bit iffy. And with the heating not being on much now, the jeans are not going to dry all that quickly in the house either... [Frown]

Bah humbug.

(If only Mr B was at home during the day, he'd be able to get some of the laundry done & hung out on the rare day like today when it's actually dry enough to help. Oh wait, he is. But won't. *sigh* )

Posted by Janine (# 3337) on :

Living on the sponge that is the swampy marshy delta below New Orleans, moisture removal is berry berry important to me.

I love the cardboard texture of a good-quality all-cotton terrycloth bath sheet dried outside on a clothesline on a hot summer day. I don't want the thing to be soft and comfy, I want it to quickly absorb all moisture off me after a shower -- which a towel dried that way will do, immediately. (Not only are you taking the water from your shower or bath off your skin, you're removing the immediate layer of perspiration that begins as soon as you step out into an un-airconditioned room.) Water will run away frightened when such a towel enters the room.

Assuming we have not entered the afternoon-thunder-shower pattern of Southeast Louisiana summers, I can drop a couple loads of wash on the clothesline a.m. and take it in p.m., and if you hang things neatly and with forethought you don't need to iron anything.

That's a lot of assuming, though. Unless it's on a day I'm actually home for several hours, the rain cannot be counted on to stay away.

The large electric spinning drum type dryer gets just about everything in wet weather. Some things ought to be hung on plastic hangers (to avoid rust spots), so I have a few doorways and unused ceiling fixtures that sport a few items when necessary.

Posted by Ethne Alba (# 5804) on :

Seriously considering installing cup hooks for just that purpose onto the loft entry surround.....

Posted by PD (# 12436) on :

We usually jam the clothes in the tumble drier (air; no heat) for 10-15 minutes and then hang them out on line in the backyard. As the humidlity is usually so low here, they take only an hour or two to dry even in cold weather.

PD

[ 05. July 2012, 17:12: Message edited by: PD ]

Posted by Curious (# 93) on :

Who'd have thought there would be so much to say on the subject!
I'm not a tumble fan (environment & cost) but love hanging things outside. When the English weather isn't kind enough for that, it's draping things over radiators, clothes horse. As a last resort, ironing without using the steam feature.

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Curious:
Who'd have thought there would be so much to say on the subject!

Hehe - hands up who now thinks of this thread when they put things out/in to dry?

[Snigger]

Posted by yellowroom (# 11690) on :

Having moved recently from the UK to the US, the laundry equipment difference was a big shock. The standard US washer is the kind of machine my grandma had way back when - a top-loader. I could have a bath in the amount of water it uses for one load, it is rubbish at actually cleaning the clothes as it just swishes them round for a few minutes, and the spin speed is a ridiculous couple of hundred rpm so clothes are still wet when they come out of the machine. No wonder US tumble-driers are relatively turbo-charged as they have to dry clothes that are still wet.

I really miss my Ariston front-loader washer that actually got clothes clean (I'm a mucky eater) and spun them so hard they were virtually dry by the time the cycle was done.

It seems ridiculous when the weather is as hot as it is here at the moment that I have to dry my laundry in a machine making yet more inside heat, but sadly I can't dry outside due to pollen/trees/birds/bugs. Although I did rebel at the weekend and dry my clothes on my maiden indoors - I'm not supposed to because of the extra humidity and the strain on the air conditioning, but it didn't actually seem to make a difference to the humidity so I'll probably do it again....

Posted by PriestWifeMum (# 17200) on :

Our first (rented) flat had a rule about not being allowed to hang things up outside. The humidity from having the clothes airer in the spare bedroom put mildew on our books [Eek!]

We now live in a house and put the airers at the top of the stairs with the loft hatch open (in summer); the heat rises and help dry the clothes but the humidity escapes through the roof. Most things dry in 24 hours, which is ok.

I do prefer pegging it out on the line when I know the weather will be fine, though. I haven't dared put it out when it might rain. Is it worth it?

Posted by QLib (# 43) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Martha:
I was under the impression that the stiff towel thing was more about the different kind of weather than the different kind of cotton. Something about it drying so quickly in the very hot dry air instead of drying a bit slower in damper air. It doesn't bother me, they loosen up again after you've dried yourself on them once anyway.

Yes, in cooler climates, cotton does really well hung up outside, but it does get a bit crunchy and stiff if dried inside, especially in a very warm place - not so bad in a cool room, in my experience - but then it takes ages. I occasionally resort to ironing to dry clothes, especially cottons, as that does tend to resolve the crunchy and stiff problem.

When I had a dryer, I used to only have it on for about three-quarters of the recommended time, so the cotton doesn't get too stiff. Dryers are the best thing for getting towelling nappies soft, but that's because it knocks the stuffing out of them.

Maybe if I lived in a swamp, I'd feel different, but I hate that cardboard sensation you describe, Janine – it sets my teeth on edge. I hate handling dry cotton sheets so much that I'd probably go using polycotton even if I could afford good quality cotton sheeting.

Posted by Graven Image (# 8755) on :

I did not really think about this until after reading this thread. After swimming I wash my suit out in the shower, and loop it over the shower rod to dry.

Posted by RuthW (# 13) on :

quote:
Originally posted by ken:

quote:
Originally posted by RuthW:
Because cotton things get all crunchy and stiff if hung up to dry. I hang up all my synthetic and wool things, some on the shower rod and some from a high shelf in my living room, and I tumble-dry everything else.
Genuine confusion here. My cotton things do wonderfully when hung outside to dry. In fact it makes them feel muich nicer and softer than they woudl from a drier. Its the wooly things that get sticky and creased and so on. Do we have different kinds of cotton?

Nope, we have different climates. It's relatively dry here. Plus I'm hanging up things indoors, as I have nowhere to put a laundry line, so they don't get blown around, which would reduce the stiffness.

Posted by Janine (# 3337) on :

Oooh, speaking of not liking how some things feel -- the feel of big bath towels with a fabric softener in them as they come out of the dryer sets my teeth on edge. I took years to be able to discipline myself to touch the things. That's weird, if I do say so myself.

A lot of the stiffness does come from whether or not the laundry got a breeze as it dried.

I can grow such a good mold crop around here, I oughta start a penicillin farm. If I have a damp towel, especially a dirty one I was cleaning mucky things with, and I don't plan to wash for a day or two, I have to drape the washcloth over the side of the hamper to get as dry as possible before I layer it in the hamper with other towels. Otherwise it will seed spores all over the other towels.

Posted by ken (# 2460) on :

quote:
Originally posted by yellowroom:
The standard US washer is the kind of machine my grandma had way back when - a top-loader.

On a previous thread a little like this one I was surprised to find Americans still use toploaders. I'm not sure I've seen one since the 1960s. Certainly since the 1970s.

So maybe the true answer is Americans all have to have tumble-driers because they don't have proper modern washers? My crappy old frontloader that was second-hand when I got it about fifteen years ago does a 1200 rpm spin which helps the drying a lot.

Posted by no_prophet (# 15560) on :

Top loading, high capacity machines are quite a bit cheaper. Top loading dryers too. We're talking maybe by 50-75% cheaper. They generally handle about 2× the volume of clothes than the ones I recall from 40 or more years ago.

I think generally all appliances are bigger, such as refrigerators and stoves too. The fridges certainly make sense to be bigger seeing as many shop for food only once or twice per month. I don't know about cooking more or wearing more clothes though.

Posted by Twilight (# 2832) on :

quote:
Originally posted by ken:

quote:
Originally posted by yellowroom:
The standard US washer is the kind of machine my grandma had way back when - a top-loader.
On a previous thread a little like this one I was surprised to find Americans still use toploaders. I'm not sure I've seen one since the 1960s. Certainly since the 1970s.

So maybe the true answer is Americans all have to have tumble-driers because they don't have proper modern washers? My crappy old frontloader that was second-hand when I got it about fifteen years ago does a 1200 rpm spin which helps the drying a lot.

Front loaders were very popular in the U.S. during the fifties and sixties but then we went to top loaders for a few decades. About ten years ago the front loaders came back strong with this set costing over 2000 dollars. Here.

What I don't like in my latest ($200 top load) machine is the water saver rinse cyle that leaves so much soap residue that I have to rinse twice, thus defeating the purpose.

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :

Crumbs - Our new front loader was less than £200 and has 8 settings and a 1200 spin speed. I wouldn't be without it. If I lived in the US I'd import!

Looks like we need to rationalise UK washers and US dyers.

Posted by Zacchaeus (# 14454) on :

I have family in South Africa, top loading washing machines are very common there. But having used them with family, I have to say they have been very good, I have not had any of the soggy washing issues that others are reporting. To be honest there was very little differnece between themand my fornt loaders..

The only differnce really is in space to fit them in. UK kitchens tended to be a lot smaller and laundery/utility rooms much less common than in USA or SA. So people needed front loaders that would fit under worktops to give more space.

Posted by yellowroom (# 11690) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Twilight:
About ten years ago the front loaders came back strong with this set costing over 2000 dollars. Here.

I've seen these in the stores, and they're only slightly smaller than the machines you get in UK launderettes. That must be why they're so much more expensive than domestic front loader machines in Europe.

Plus, they still seem less sophisticated for all their shininess - for the past 20 years in the UK I've had machines where you can set the spin speed and the temperature of the wash in increments of 10'C, independent of the cycle you choose. Here it still "hot, medium, cold" and no button to set the spin speed.

Posted by Martha (# 185) on :

Front loaders seem to be becoming more common in the US, even though top loaders are still standard. When we bought this house two years ago I got a front loader, and it wasn't drastically more expensive than a top loader. Plus it is still huge and uses a lot less water. AND, if you want it to, it gives you a tinkly little rendition of Schubert's "The Trout" when your washing is done. What more could you desire in a washing machine?

Oops, sorry. Back to the drying!

Posted by Zappa (# 8433) on :

I probably shouldn't mention that from about mid-April to mid-November we don't see a drop of rain, just endless warm (30-34°C) sunshine. Drying is not a problem, though it's not quite as fast as when we were at Wankydilla (40-44°C in the summer, with humidity around 7-10%). There, when I hung a washing machine's worth of clothes out, I was literally able to bring the first items in as I pegged out the last.

Come the wet season, while temperatures remain at 30-34°C maxima, humidity sits at 85-100%. Clothes just rot unless some precautions are taken. We can't afford to run a drier, but there is much setting of clothes horses and outdoor fans in the car port and on the quasi-verandah.

Posted by LutheranChik (# 9826) on :

We use a clothes dryer but take most of our clothes out while they're still a bit damp and hang them up on (plastic) hangers to finish drying. No clothesline. But I do have happy childhood memories of hanging up clothes in our back yard -- it was actually a household task I enjoyed. (Far more than fishing my dad's work clothes out of an ice-cold rinse tub and running them through our wringer while my mother regaled me with tales of relatives/neighbors who lost body parts doing the same thing.)

I'm in awe of our Amish neighbors' weekly laundry drying procedure. Most of them have long clotheslines, rigged on pulleys, that reach from their porches up to a tall pole or outbuilding...I'm talking yards of clothesline. Every Monday, and very often other days of the week as well, these will be filled with laundry...winter as well as summer. I don't know how the clothes dry outside in the winter (my mother used to hang up our laundry in our basement in the colder months), but they do; our friend Mary says she likes the smell of clothes air-dried in the winter. Imagine the laundry from a family of ten or twelve or sixteen or more, all flapping in the breeze.

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

Ah, the wringer: do you remember the shrapnel of shirt button fragments?

We too had a pulley which hung from the ceiling of the back room (the one we lived in, as against the Front Room, which had the suite and the china cabinet and was only inhabited on Sundays). Below it was the coal fire, with a wire fire screen used as another drying location, and in front of that a hearth rug several inches proud of the floor because of the layers of newspaper/woollen jumpers underneath it.

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Twilight:

quote:
Originally posted by ken:

quote:
Originally posted by yellowroom:
The standard US washer is the kind of machine my grandma had way back when - a top-loader.
On a previous thread a little like this one I was surprised to find Americans still use toploaders. I'm not sure I've seen one since the 1960s. Certainly since the 1970s.

So maybe the true answer is Americans all have to have tumble-driers because they don't have proper modern washers? My crappy old frontloader that was second-hand when I got it about fifteen years ago does a 1200 rpm spin which helps the drying a lot.
Front loaders were very popular in the U.S. during the fifties and sixties but then we went to top loaders for a few decades. About ten years ago the front loaders came back strong with this set costing over 2000 dollars. Here.

What I don't like in my latest ($200 top load) machine is the water saver rinse cyle that leaves so much soap residue that I have to rinse twice, thus defeating the purpose.

It looks like those are gas powered (don't know what kind of gas). Is the difference in mains voltage an issue here? We have 230-240v while Americans get something like a glorified battery voltage through the mains.

Posted by Janine (# 3337) on :

A large washer or electric dryer uses 220 here.

Posted by Sober Preacher's Kid (# 12699) on :

Gas in a domestic rather than automobile setting means natural gas, the fuel of choice in North America for home heating, unless you have a friendly electric utility like Hydro-Quebec.

Posted by yellowroom (# 11690) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
[Is the difference in mains voltage an issue here? We have 230-240v while Americans get something like a glorified battery voltage through the mains.

I believe that many houses get a dual feed of both 110 and 220 volt - the former for lighting and most power sockets, and the latter for the heavy duty appliances like cookers etc.

I've not enquired into the technical details of how this is achieved, but I do know that I can't plug both an iron and a fan heater in the same room at the same time. But at least I know more about American fuse boards than I did before I moved here.

To return to topic, my tumble dryer is all electric and actually very effective at its job. I prefer the effect of line drying but I find laundry such a faff that even if I did have an outside line I'd probably still shove everything in the dryer rather than drag washing outside, peg it out and reverse when dry.

Posted by birdie (# 2173) on :

quote:
Originally posted by LutheranChik:
(Far more than fishing my dad's work clothes out of an ice-cold rinse tub and running them through our wringer while my mother regaled me with tales of relatives/neighbors who lost body parts doing the same thing.)

My Grandma had the most amazing mangle-related scar on the back of her hand. I remind myself of it every time I'm about to start moaning about the difficulty of getting clothes dry - which in this weather, is approximately every couple of hours.

Posted by mrs whibley (# 4798) on :

When we first moved to this house we noticed that the neighbours on either side put out their washing on lines in the garden and (apparently) left it there until it was dry. In Scotland in Winter this could take some time. We thought this might be a peculiar Scottish habit, but on reflection (and after one set of people moved on) decided that we just had peculiar neighbours.
My Mum would optimistically put out the washing whatever the forecast, but fetch it in as soon as it rained. She had a very steamy electric drier for emergencies, which had to be dragged across the kitchen to the sink as it wasn't plumbed in. It made a noise like a Tardis which reverberated around the house - and probably the street.
We only put the washing outside if the weather is set fair, otherwise it gets draped over radiators or on an airer.

Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :

quote:
Originally posted by yellowroom:
I believe that many houses get a dual feed of both 110 and 220 volt - the former for lighting and most power sockets, and the latter for the heavy duty appliances like cookers etc.

To return to topic, my tumble dryer is all electric and actually very effective at its job. I prefer the effect of line drying but I find laundry such a faff that even if I did have an outside line I'd probably still shove everything in the dryer rather than drag washing outside, peg it out and reverse when dry.

I have 220v for the electric drier and it sits across the room from the washing machine even though they were originally designed to stack: it would cost a fortune to shift the 220 to the inside wall and even more to move the plumbing to the outside!

I have read that if I ever bought an electric car, it would be advantageous to have a 220 line on the wall of the carport or garage for quick charging. That said, prices for fuel here are about a third of what I paid in the UK last time I was there, so I shan't be driving an electric any time soon!

Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :

quote:
Originally posted by birdie:
My Grandma had the most amazing mangle-related scar on the back of her hand. I remind myself of it every time I'm about to start moaning about the difficulty of getting clothes dry - which in this weather, is approximately every couple of hours.

My grandmother ran a cattle ranch in northern California about a hundred years ago, after she finished university with a degree in nutrition. She told me that her washing machine ran on gasoline (petrol). Apparently the Maytag had a powerplant rather like the Harley Davidson V-twin mounted on its side: presumably it had to be kick-started! She would have used a mangle also.

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :

My Mum used a mangle - an electric one, huge machine. I was never allowed near it. We never had a twin tub - Mum went straight from the old paddle machine to a front loader.

Posted by mrs whibley (# 4798) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Boogie:
My Mum used a mangle - an electric one, huge machine. I was never allowed near it. We never had a twin tub - Mum went straight from the old paddle machine to a front loader.

So did mine! We got our first automatic in 1985, I remember it well. The paddle machine had a mangle on top, but we also had a separate spinner. The drying behemoth apparently arrived at the same time as me in 1970.
My Nanna had a twin tub, which she was very proud of. She used blueing instead of fabric conditioner. Wash day was Monday - I never really worked out how it never rained on a Monday as the washing always seemed to go outside. The twin tub lasted until Nanna died in 1996, although it was little used in her latter years as Mum did the washing for her.

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :

Not drying, but washing. In my youth, in Folkestone, Kent, UK, we used to hire a single tub top loading Hoover washing machine with wringer on a washday for, I think, 2/6 an hour. It was delivered by a hulking Italian who ran the business with his brother, carrying it down the drive beside the house on his shoulder. My mother remembered their name when a company appeared manufacturing white goods under the name of Zanussi, but we didn't find out if there was a connection.

Then the washing went out on the line. Two tall steel poles, with the line hung from pulleys at the top, loosened while Mum pegged out, and then tightened, with the middle of the line held up with a wooden clothes prop with a Y-shaped end.

When I moved to Dartford, on the edge of London, the lines were fitted in a different way. Taller steel poles, with a double pulley system, so the line fixing was lowered at each end by separate ropes for loading, and then hauled up to the top of the poles and tightened. No need for props. The washing really caught the wind.

Posted by Eleanor Jane (# 13102) on :

I've had some fun adjusting to English washing habits versus the New Zealand ones I was brought up with.

Using the laundrette before we got a flat, I ruined all my undies in the dryer- the elastic went crunchy, scratchy and friable.

In out flat we supposedly have a washer/dryer but it doesn't actually dry at all. And it takes forever to wash. We have no private outdoor space so we have a permenant drying rack in the lounge (helped by radiators when it's cold enough) and sometimes over dining chairs and even doors (for sheets).

Luckily there's just two of us and we don't have many clothes after the move.

Going back to stiff cotton towels - could water quality have something to do with it? The hard water here needs more detergent than the soft water in NZ. Washing in it made my hair do different things and my skin is dryer too...

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :

Depends on where in the UK you live Eleanor Jane - lovely soft water here in the North West.

[Smile]

Posted by ken (# 2460) on :

Hard water tastes so much better!

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :

quote:
Originally posted by ken:
Hard water tastes so much better!

Soft water is much better for soft, silky hair!

Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :

quote:
Originally posted by ken:
Hard water tastes so much better!

and is supposedly better for the heart.

Posted by PD (# 12436) on :

I live in the USA and have a front loading wahing machine. I think it cost us about $600 ten years ago, and it is still going strong. It isn't as large as a top loader, but it is bigger then the washing machines I encounter in the UK, and it runs on 115v AC. The drier we have is gas fired and will take two loads of washing comfortably. However we don't use it much here as it is so dry.

PD

Posted by Beethoven (# 114) on :

quote:
Originally posted by ken:
Hard water tastes so much better!

Not where I am, it doesn't. Coming back to the area after a fair few years away, we both got a shock at how nasty the first few cups of tea tasted. I don't notice it particularly any more, but it's certainly not an improvement...!

Every time the washing machine repair man has been called out to fix my machine, he's tried to sell me limescale protection products (at a ridiculous price). As I finally said to him, on about the 5th occasion in 13 months, when I start having to get him out for any problem to do with limescale, then I might consider it. [Roll Eyes]

Towels here are crunchy if line dried in sunlight, soft & fluffy from the drier.

Posted by Gee D (# 13815) on :

Try washing soda in the machine every month or so - the same with the dishwasher. If you're using it in the washing machine, put it through with a load of towels. In the dishwasher, into the machine on a long, hot wash. Any stainless steel will come out burnished and gleaming.

Dirt cheap at the supermarket.

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Beethoven
Coming back to the area after a fair few years away, we both got a shock at how nasty the first few cups of tea tasted. I don't notice it particularly any more, but it's certainly not an improvement...!

I was a student in Tübingen Germany in the 1950s. There was so much lime in the water that it was slightly cloudy. I tried various kinds of tea and finally discovered that Darjeeling went quite well with lime.

Moo

Posted by ken (# 2460) on :

I'm from Brighton, where the groundwater can turn litmus paper blue. Back when we had our own waterworks (*) our water came from artesian wells in the chalk. If you left a glass of water overnight, lime had settled on the bottom by morning. It tasted wonderful neat, and made great tea.

We frequently visited the west of Scotland where the water is soft and it tasted vile. Sometimes I'd take a bottle of tap water from home with me so I could drink it there.

London water, which is soft compared with Brighton, but harder than Glasgow, was vile as well, but that was partly due to the chemicals they put in it. They use less now - the London Ring Main improved water quality a lot - so it now tastes better. Not as good as Brighton though. That was proper water.

(*) before the Tories forcibly merged it with a lot of others in the south of England then sold the whole lot off cheap to their semi-crimninal friends and relations, yes Thames Water, I mean you, you bastards.

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :

Folkestone and Dover used to be good, too. Same chalky source, though I don't recall lime appearing the way ken describes, and Dad never mentioned it from his youth in Brighton. My current water in NW Kent does seem to be proper chalk stuff. It dries on glasses to leave limey drop marks.

I was supposed to do a project on water supply when I was at college. Some people had the do reams about settling tanks and filters and so on. I had "it is pumped up throough a borehole from a depth of (can't remember, probably about 300 ft) to a station below Dover Castle where it has a very low percentage of chlorine added before pumping to a reservoir, from where it feeds the town."

The sewage was similarly brief. "The sewers run to a station west of the Harbour, where the sewage is filtered, pumped up to a storage tank to await the appropriate tide state, when it is released to the outfall half a mile off Shakespeare beach."

[ 09. July 2012, 17:45: Message edited by: Penny S ]

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :

quote:
Originally posted by ken:

We frequently visited the west of Scotland where the water is soft and it tasted vile. Sometimes I'd take a bottle of tap water from home with me so I could drink it there.

This must be a matter of what you are brought up with. For me, the only decent tea is made with soft water. Tea made with hard water tastes horrible, I just drink coffee if we're in a hard water area.

[ 09. July 2012, 17:49: Message edited by: Boogie ]

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :

I think that is why tea companies make different blends for different areas.

Posted by mrs whibley (# 4798) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
I think that is why tea companies make different blends for different areas.

Which explains why we have Scottish blend tea, and I've never discovered the tea plantations here. Or for that matter the orange groves, and we eat Scottish Marmalade!

Posted by Gee D (# 13815) on :

Before this thread goes completely off on another tangent, let's remember Luther's saying: Other men may laugh when their neighbour hangs out his son's nappies to dry, but God gives a gentle loving smile.

Then think on the difficulties of cleaning, washing and dying nappies in a damp and cold North German winter - or anywhere else and in any other season for that matter before washing machines, for the vast majority without servants. The child's mother is probably inside feeding and cleaning the baby, cooking and keeping the house going. The father probably sees his role as being a hunter and warrior, but there he is hanging out sodden nappies trying to get them dry. Well may the neighbours laugh. God, instead, gives a loving smile.

Posted by ken (# 2460) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:

I was supposed to do a project on water supply when I was at college. Some people had the do reams about settling tanks and filters and so on. I had "it is pumped up throough a borehole from a depth of (can't remember, probably about 300 ft) to a station below Dover Castle where it has a very low percentage of chlorine added before pumping to a reservoir, from where it feeds the town."

Ah, that's the difference! Brighton water wasn't pumped. If you dug deep enough it came all the way up under pressure. From a lot deeper than 300 feet. And they added no chlorine or other chemicals. It was sold as mineral water for a long time - possibly the first bottled mineral water sold for supposed health benefits in Britain, way back in the early 19th century.

Posted by PD (# 12436) on :

The usual descriptive for the local water supply when I was a kid was 'hard as a whore's heart.' Whore should, BTW be pronounced as two syllables to get the right effect! I seem to recall that kettles were cleaned frequently using vinegar until the inevitable day when the thing spang a leak.

The water here is softer, but still quite hard. Works great for home brew and tea!

PD

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :

ken, I was definitely given the impression that they only waved the chlorine bottle over the water because they were required to, not because it was needed. There was no trace in it when it arrived in the tap. Not like Thames water at my last place, which was Chalk aquifer, not recycled, but sometimes built up a very strong Domestos aroma.

Posted by Pearl B4 Swine (# 11451) on :

Many of the older farm houses around here (PA & MD) have very spacious attics. Most families have laundry lines up there. The only bad aspect is hauling the wet stuff up 2 or 3 flights of stairs.
If you have a wood stove in the kitchen, then the drying laundry criss-crosses the room.

I like seeing the long string of drying laundry at Amish and Brethren farms- from the house porch to the peak of the barn- all year round.

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :

Don't much fancy what goes into producing the long lines of Amish washing. Do they have machines? (I know some do, from a programme on TV.)

Posted by HughWillRidmee (# 15614) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Boogie:
But it hasn't been fine for months - that's the problem. If I go out and come back to wet clothes it means re-spinning and still hanging indoors. So not worth it.

If you leave them out there long enough dryness and your presence will coincide - and they will have had lots of (free and untreated) additional rinses.

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :

Meanwhile, what do I wear?

[Paranoid]

Posted by Nenya (# 16427) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Gee D:
Let's face it, dryers are not good for knitted goods, so that rules them out for socks, underwear and a range of other things for a start. Then none of us much likes the idea of shirts going through the dryer - they don't look the same after. Jeans shrink in the dryer.

You have knitted underwear? That sounds itchy! [Eek!]

I dry things outside on our rotary line whenever possible - I got a couple of loads pretty dry out there this morning, in the window of opportunity afforded by a fine morning, and got it all in to air on hangers round the house before the rain arrived.

I do use our tumble dryer, rather than have things hanging damply round the house, but I time it so that I'm there when it stops so that I can pull shirts out and put them straight on a hanger. That way they don't need ironing. I never iron. Tell a lie - I did iron the shirts that Mr Nen and Nenlet2 wore for Nenlet1's wedding back in April. Have ironed nothing since... and nothing for years before that. [Smile]

Posted by RuthW (# 13) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Nenya:
You have knitted underwear? That sounds itchy! [/QB]

Look at your own underwear. I'll bet the rent it's not woven. It's very fine knitting done by a machine, but it's still knitting.

Posted by Pulsator Organorum Ineptus (# 2515) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Boogie:
Let's chat about drying clothes.

I have stopped using the tumble dryer and saved £16 a month, but this has brought problems of its own.

I rigged up drying racks in our (very narrow) utility room. But this humid weather means they take ages to dry - and, of course the radiators are not on.

I don't peg out unless I'm sure it won't be raining when I get home - and this hasn't happened for months.

What do you do?

£16 a month? Either you've been running it for 3 hours a day or electricity is VERY expensive where you live!

Posted by Gee D (# 13815) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Nenya:

quote:
Originally posted by Gee D:
Let's face it, dryers are not good for knitted goods, so that rules them out for socks, underwear and a range of other things for a start. Then none of us much likes the idea of shirts going through the dryer - they don't look the same after. Jeans shrink in the dryer.

You have knitted underwear? That sounds itchy!

I dry things outside on our rotary line whenever possible - I got a couple of loads pretty dry out there this morning, in the window of opportunity afforded by a fine morning, and got it all in to air on hangers round the house before the rain arrived.

I do use our tumble dryer, rather than have things hanging damply round the house, but I time it so that I'm there when it stops so that I can pull shirts out and put them straight on a hanger. That way they don't need ironing. I never iron. Tell a lie - I did iron the shirts that Mr Nen and Nenlet2 wore for Nenlet1's wedding back in April. Have ironed nothing since... and nothing for years before that.

What RuthW said about machine knitted socks and underwear. Dryers do terrible things to them. The same for t-shirts, polos and so forth.

As to shirts - a dryer may work for a shirt made at least in part with polyester or some other synthetic. Ours aren't, and they don't come well out of the dryer.

Posted by Beethoven (# 114) on :

I love hand-knitted socks, and eventually after much pleading got around to knitting a pair for Op2. Unfortunately I was running low on yarn, so they were fairly snug to start with - then my Father-in-law tumble dried them! Oops...

I briefly considered putting this morning's load of washing on the line, as it's a bit sunny adn a bit breezy. But there are also lots of grey clouds, and I'm now at work for the next 6 hours or so, so it's all on the radiators and rack instead. *sigh*

Posted by Nenya (# 16427) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Gee D:

quote:
Originally posted by Nenya:

quote:
Originally posted by Gee D:
Let's face it, dryers are not good for knitted goods, so that rules them out for socks, underwear and a range of other things for a start. Then none of us much likes the idea of shirts going through the dryer - they don't look the same after. Jeans shrink in the dryer.

You have knitted underwear? That sounds itchy!

I dry things outside on our rotary line whenever possible - I got a couple of loads pretty dry out there this morning, in the window of opportunity afforded by a fine morning, and got it all in to air on hangers round the house before the rain arrived.

I do use our tumble dryer, rather than have things hanging damply round the house, but I time it so that I'm there when it stops so that I can pull shirts out and put them straight on a hanger. That way they don't need ironing. I never iron. Tell a lie - I did iron the shirts that Mr Nen and Nenlet2 wore for Nenlet1's wedding back in April. Have ironed nothing since... and nothing for years before that.
What RuthW said about machine knitted socks and underwear. Dryers do terrible things to them. The same for t-shirts, polos and so forth.

As to shirts - a dryer may work for a shirt made at least in part with polyester or some other synthetic. Ours aren't, and they don't come well out of the dryer.

I have a cool setting on my dryer which I use for everything except the towels. I dry all the things you list on it, and don't have any problems. [Smile]

But, yes, all the family's shirts are polyester and cotton mixes. [Smile]

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :

Dry, sunny and windy today - wayhay! It's the first time I've been able to peg out since I first posted this thread on July 3rd.

[Big Grin]

Do you like this photo I took of my drippy clothes line last week?

Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Boogie:

Do you like this photo I took of my drippy clothes line last week?

very nice!

On my clothes line atm is hanging: several items of underwear, a couple of T shirts, a couple of sweaters and my bed linen, including mattress cover.
My duvet is draped over the patio chairs for a dose of fresh air and sunshine.

Posted by To The Pain (# 12235) on :

After a couple of years living in properties where you couldn't hang laundry out, I am house sitting for friends with a back garden that is both secure and a full storey below the front of the house. A pulley arrangement has been set up whereby one can stand on the back patio (level with ground floor of house) and send one's laundry sailing over the vegetable garden. Of course, this gets more taxing the more items are added and it is necessary to operate a peculiar system of filing half the line then scooting it to the other end in order to fill the other half of the opposing line to keep the two lines balanced. It may be wishful thinking but I fancy it gets the laundry up into nicely circulating air.

I will admit that when I need a set of sheets in a hurry I have been known to send them 'round in the dryer and enjoy climbing in between nice warm sheets. But they don't smell as fresh as the ones dried outside.

Must put out some laundry soon, the hamper's getting full.

Posted by mark_in_manchester (# 15978) on :

quote:
What do you do?

In the attic (a more-or-less habitable room with stairs, not a ladder, and a high pitched roof) I have an old pair of winch-up cast iron things with four laths between them. Gets hot up there in summer.

I've enough bits to make another, and I'd put it over the main stairs if SWMBO would have it. Another space with a 'long drop' not being used for much else [Snigger]

I also have a 'patio awning' out the back which in these climes is really a tent under which I can execute various woodwork and DIY chores. Washing gets hung under there too...great for surprising issues of sawdust from unlikely clothing orifices.

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