A dehumidifier can be really handy to dry clothes. In fact, I personally use my dehumidifier to dry clothes!
Do any of these situations sound familiar?
- Not enough space for a tumble drier
- Worried about the cost of a tumble drier to start with and in electricity costs?
- Dry clothes on a radiator
- Put washing outside only for it to rain before it is dry?
Before I go into more detail on how to use a dehumidifier to try clothes, I want to talk about using your radiators to dry clothes.
This is actually a really bad idea!
When you dry clothes on a radiator, the dampness and moisture from the clothing has to go somewhere – where does it go? Into the air in your house.
It is a huge spiral effect – you dry clothes on a radiator, you don’t open the windows (it is pretty cold most of the year) and the moisture goes into the room or around the house from the damp clothing.
This moisture in the air then causes things like mould on walls or around windows, dampness and condensation on windows and in worst cases can contribute to breathing problems.
Some of these issues then actually lead to people buying a dehumidifier to combat the issues, when a dehumidifier can actually prevent the issues from occurring in the first place.
Many dehumidifiers come with a specific “dry the washing” setting. So if it is too cold or wet outside to dry the washing, just do it inside and use a dehumidifier to help along the way.
I own the EcoAir DD122 which has a setting specifically for this purpose and it does a great job.
Once the washing is done, hang up on an indoor airer and set the machine to its drying mode and the washing is normally dry in 3 hours or so! (on full mode)
You can also do the washing in the evening and leave the duhimidifier on low over night when electricity is cheaper.
Overall I think this is a great way of drying your washing. A tumble dryer is much more expensive to run and can damage clothes. A dehumidifier is a multi-purpose object and a more cost effective solution to the problem of drying clothes.