Dryer Max Laundry Dryer Balls

[tomturbomatic]

Tennis balls

Not a health condition. When you read instructions for laundering down items, the drying instructions suggest adding a couple of tennis balls to break up clumps of wet down during the tumbling. Why would this new product be better, except for the manufacturer's income? If you want something that you will really know is working, try using an old pink Kenmore sprinkler ball half filled with some dried beans like can be used when you bake an empty pie shell. You won't even need to use the dryer's end of cycle signal to know when it has stopped. Or take those old Downy dispenser balls. Rip the stopper out, add a lead fishing weight or two and then fill it to cover them with JB Weld, a two part epoxy that will hold a broken engine block together. Making your own dryer ball is a lot more fun than just buying a few cents' worth of PVC. Just don't use any plastic ones in a combo other than the Bendix & Philco Bendix or in any older condenser dryer, whether Filtrator, water condensing or other high-operating-temperature, Hamilton-type dryers.

 

[Designgeek]

NO LEAD! Don't ever use lead. Even if Tom was joking, someone might take him seriously. If you have a bunch of lead rattling around, it will tend to wear away and deposit lead onto your clothes. Lead is majorly toxic, causes brain damage, very difficult to get it out of your system. You don't want lead anywhere near you if you can help it, much less in your underwear and socks.

As for the dryer ballz. What Gansky said. They're kinda' cute, remind me of those little rubber hedgehog toys that squeak when you squeeze them.

I imagine the way these work is, as they roll around in the dryer, the little spikes get traction and catch on the fabric and tug on it so it doesn't ball up as much. I'm going to guess they have more of an effect in dryers that only rotate in one direction, and less of an effect in dryers that reverse direction periodically.

Seems to me that dryer sheets have more minuses than pluses; gunking up the sensors ends up costing money for more electricity usage than necessary, and gunking up the lint filter can cause fires, and little splotches can ruin clothes.

I wonder about this: for people who like a bit of perfume on their clothes, is there some kind of device that would hold a water-based scent and let it disperse slowly? Or could a dispenser be installed inline of the air intake or the hot air output before it reaches the drum? Seems to me it wouldn't take much to do the job. Though one might have to be sure the perfumes didn't contain anything flammable.

As for softening: tumble-drying by its nature softens fabrics, by keeping them in motion as they dry. If I take my towels out of the spinner and hang them directly on the line, they will dry stiff and scratchy. But I've found that five minutes in the tumble dryer on air fluff (no heat needed) is enough to soften them up so that when they dry on the line, they come out every bit as soft & fluffy as if I'd dried them full cycle in the tumble dryer. And if you look at the early ads for tumble dryers, 50s and 60s, they always talk about how the drying action itself leaves fabrics soft and fluffy.

 

[maytagbear]

Higher end Kenmore dryers

I remember from the 60s to early 70s had an "air freshener" liqid option, the bottle was alongside the lint filter.

Don't know how well it worked, but I know they don't offer them now....

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[tomturbomatic]

DG, If the lead is encased in epoxy and plastic, it's going nowhere. You could not have lead rattling around in the dryer; it would knock holes or big dents in the drum because it is too dense to use in large enough pieces. We will have the folks that produce the Guinness Book of Records come and take of picture of the cow.

 

[sarah]

toddler sized merrells work well too

I washed my son's feather pillow and have been looking for the tennis balls...weeks later, I had to wash the boy's shoes. I decided to toss the (now dry but limp, flat) pillow (that had been hanging over the laundry sorter for weeks) into the dryer with the two pair of Merrells and assorted other stuff. The pillow looked better than it had in ten years. Well fluffed indeed.

Never use dryer sheets and don't want extra scent, but I loved the fluff and am intrigue by the possible energy savings. Interesting thread--especially the demo info on the evils of dryer sheets.

Best,
Sarah

 

[eluxomarty]

i was wondering

what these blue balls (tee hee) were that suddenly showed up in the dryer. My roommates said they were to be used instead of the dryer sheets after i kept taking them out of the dryer. I went back to the dryer sheets after the Downey Ball spotted up alot of my scrubs!! I like the downey smell of the dryer sheets before you put them into the dryer but i have to admit the clothes don't really smell that fragrant once they are dry. I did know about the residue build up on the lint trap though and kept that clean on a regular basis. So i'll give the balls a try.

 

[panthera]

another type of massage

I know the balls as "massage balls" over here in Germany. They are sold for about the same amount of money. Listed as hypo-allergenic and supposedly food grade??! People use them to give each other massages. Feels good if you don't press too hard.
I have my doubts about the fire safety and hypo-allergenic aspect. The Chinese do not have a good track record on heavy metals and organic compounds.
I used a pair to loosen up the down feathers in my winter coat after reading this here. Sure worked, but, I would be very worried about the dryer being too hot and starting a fire.
Must talk to my folks about this, since they switched to dryer sheets the lint build up in the exhaust pipe is much greater than before.