Drying clothes at home without using any electrical appliances, like a clothes dryer, which increases the electricity bill, is a problem that people face every day, especially when the winter season is coming.
Clothes dryers are among the most energy-intensive appliances. However, failing to dry your clothes properly can lead to unhealthy damp air in your home, causing clothes to smell bad.
Based on this, we wanted to put together the best tips you can put into practice to remove moisture from clothes and dry them completely in a reasonable time without using a dryer and spend more on the electricity bill.
Try these tips for eliminating humidity
A well-insulated, warm home is the best way to prevent dampness, but if you’re trying to reduce your electricity use, there are ways to combat dampness without breaking the bank.
Use central heating when you can and adopt good habits. Your goal is to keep your home ventilated, minimize the creation of moisture in the air, and get rid of it as quickly as possible.
- Try to open the windows every day for at least ten minutes starting in the morning or when the weather is nice, in the middle of the day, which is usually when it is less cold.
- Every time your washing machine is finished, run the drum again a few times to remove as much moisture as possible before removing the clothes from inside.
- Plan your clothes to be ready when the heater comes on, and place a clothesline near the radiator.
- If you have room in the closet where you installed your boiler or storage heater, it might be a good idea to hang wet clothes nearby to take advantage of the warmth.
- Air dry your clothes whenever you can. The wind is our best ally.
- Clean your kitchen exhaust fan and vacuum your bathroom fan if you have one, to make sure they are both running efficiently.
- Leave lids on pots when cooking and always use the range hood. If using a slow cooker, place it under the extractor hood during use.
- Use your microwave to reheat food instead of using the ceramic hob whenever you can.
- Before taking a bath or shower, turn on your bathroom fan and close the door. When you’re done, keep the door closed and open the window slightly until the steam disperses so it doesn’t spread to the rest of the house.
- Regularly clean the condensation that forms inside your windows and on the wall as soon as it appears.
Get the most out of your dryer
As frugal as you’re trying to be this winter, you’ll probably need to run your dryer at some point. If you have kids or a baby, you’ll definitely need to use this to keep mountains of clothes from piling up in your basket.
Clothes dryers have a reputation for being expensive due to their high energy consumption, but when it comes to buying a new one, little by little the prices have come closer to the rest of the appliances in our homes, and they have also become more efficient.
According to energy calculator which you can find on various web pages, with an average electricity unit rate of 36 cents per kWh, running a clothes dryer on a normal program could cost around 90 cents per hour.
But the clothes dryer can cost more or less depending on how much energy you use. If you want to know what it costs to run it, there are two options. The first is to consult your manual and see the information on the energy and electricity consumption of each program.
If you don’t have the manual handy, you can always search the web for your dryer brand and model. Once you have this information and the electricity price, you can use any online calculator to calculate the final cost.
Another simple method that helps a lot is use an energy meter plugged into the outlet where the dryer is plugged in. You will get accurate consumption information with the different usage habits of your device.
Cheaper alternatives to using a clothes dryer
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an electric clothesline
A popular option this year is to invest in a clothes dryer with a heater. It’s like buying a clothesline with a built-in heater. This way you can hang your clothes and plug it in so the heat can dry the clothes faster.
Advantage:
- It’s a cheap buy. If you look in stores like Amazonyou will see that it is possible to find models from 50$.
- They are easy to use: just unfold it, plug it in and hang your clothes.
- Depending on the model you buy, they may come with a cover to speed up drying.
Versus :
- You can’t just hang out the laundry and forget about it. You will need to change the position of the clothes to achieve complete drying.
- You may need to iron more, as the creases in the clothes seem to show more strongly.
- They are usually cheap and flimsy. Chances are the one you buy won’t last you a lifetime.
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dehumidifier
Instead of trying to heat your clothes, another option is to extract excess moisture from the air. A dehumidifier will stop the humidity and help your clothes dry faster.
Advantage:
- It is an economical purchase.
- You can use it to combat any moisture problem you may have anywhere in your home.
- A good one will last you for many years.
- A dehumidifier can also act as an air purifier.
Versus :
- They are more expensive than a thermal dryer.
In our experience, we’ve tested the more expensive 25-litre model, but for home use, the 12-litre capacity one will be a better choice for the vast majority of users.
It is a 165 watt device which, at an average rate of 36 euro cents per kWh, would cost around 6 cents per hour of operation to operate. The dehumidifier is easy to use and has wheels to allow movement.
If you want to consult another series of tips related to the use of electrical appliances, see the article how to know which appliances use the most energy in your home.
We also explain why long dishwasher and washing machine cycles can save you a lot of money.
Original article published in Technical Adviser.
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