Question For Indoor Line-Dryers

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frigilux

frigilux

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I've recently become a rabid convert to line-drying. The only things that see my dryer anymore are cotton blend dress shirts and slacks. 100% cotton shirts have to be ironed anyway, so I line dry them now, too.

As you may have guessed, the outdoor line-drying season in Minnesota is brief. I've been eyeing my laundry room and can visualize at least four, maybe eight lines across it. Can anyone out there recommend an indoor line-drying system that works well? I want to hang big, heavy bath towels, so it has to be able to withstand some weight.

My laundry room has two heat registers blowing down from the ceiling and the air is uber-dry in my house in the winter. I think I can pull off year-round line-drying with the right indoor equipment.

Thanks in advance for your advice, kids!
 
All you might need is some additional air circulation, which can be had in the form of an electric fan (maybe one of those floor models on a tall stand might be ideal). My family members often used fans as an assist for indoor drying. BTW, my mom and grandma hung out as late as December and would start again in late February, depending on snowfalls and etc. Don't be afraid to put your sheets out there in the winter even if you keep everything else inside. It's even better than in the summer!
 
I agree with Scott. The air here in the Upper Midwest is very dry in winter. It wouldn't take long to dry laundry, even possibly your heavy bath towels, at least partially.
 
I dry a lot of stuff indoors in the winter; heavy towels and bed linen, all very succesfully. The problem I have found is that the indoors dryers that are on the market are generally very flimsy so I made my own with two strong wooden battens screwed to the wall with 5 inch screws, 3 at each end, 10 strong pvc coated hooks and a length of good quality PVC coated clothes line. There is a saying about being able to "...sleep on a washing line". I could sleep on mine, with someone else as well!
 
My mom doesn't have a dryer and she uses her lines for most of the year. (New Jersey's winters are mild in comparison to Minnesota's, but I bet you can use your lines unless they get blocked by drifting snow.) Everything freezes and comes off the line frozen solid, but it smells so delicious. Even better, IMHO, then the normal fresh smell of line dried laundry. She hangs the partially defrosted laundry in her upstairs hall where it dries in no time.

I live in an apartment and can't have a line. (I sometimes walk my wet laundry over to my parents', so I can use their lines. They live five blocks from me.) The coin-operated (we recently switched to coinless operation) dryers that I'm forced to use have a fixed 45 minute cycle that costs $1.50 per load. I hang a lot of laundry in my apartment. Some things -- i.e. jeans -- never see the inside of the dryer and there are times when I either can't get a dryer (there's 16 washers and 10 dryers for over 200 hundred apartments) or don't have the time to wait for the dryer to complete it's cycle. I have two folding racks (and a small line that I put in my back hallway)that I use to dry the stuff that I don't put into the dryer.

Here's my experience. (Everything is washed in coin-operated Neptunes, using a "Free and Clear" HE detergent.) Indoor dried jeans come out stiff as a board unless I use fabric softener. Towels come out stiff as a board (and feel VERY harsh to the touch) no matter how much fabric softener I use. (It might help to briefly dry them in the dryer.) Dress shirts are fine. (I hang them on hangers from the shower rod.) Dress socks shrivel up and feel stiff as a board; again no matter how much fabric softener I use. I occasionally hang my sheets in the back hallway. They don't feel as soft as dryer dried sheets, but it's not the end of the world. I haven't tried indoor drying underwear. I'm suspect that they would wind up feeling very harsh to the touch.

Mike
 
Remember Dolores, Six Pins; Not Five, But Six Pins! That Is

You want good air movement, even wtih heat as items dry faster and more evenly. I use a fan or just the air being moved about by my electrostaic air cleaner. The fan is one of those commercial Honeywell jobs that moves air like a jet engine. On "high" setting it will blow items off the line! Neat thing is even heavy linens and other items will dry in no time flat.

Skip today's indoor drying kits, they are flimsy and not worth the bother. Instead, you can use screw in hooks, but make sure after drilling the holes you use anchors, otherwise the weight of heavy loads will yank the line down possibly damaging walls. Use nylon or polyester clothesline as the cotton variety will stretch and snag. I leave my line up most of the time, but if you don't wish to just take down the rope and leave the hooks.

A good brisk winter's day is fine for line drying, wipe down the line with salt water first to prevent laundry sticking to the line. Don't worry if items come in frozen stiff, they'll soon soften up as they warm. If you want to chuck them into the dryer for fluffing and or finish drying, allow laundry to come to room temperature first. Otherwise you are using lots of energy to "heat" the cold off.

For shirts: my tip is to let them spin for only a brief period, then hang will still slightly "dripping" wet. They will dry very much wrinkle free and need less ironing. My Miele has a special spin cycle for PP that only has several brief burts of 900 rpm spins, with distribution tumbling in between. IIRC this is now part of the "shirt cycle" on many new Miele washers.

Oh yes, if you plan to hang many heavy items like blankets or quilts; consider having two clotheslines running alongside each other. This will allow you to hang heavy objects over the two lines, evenly distributing weight.

L.
 
Jon---Mrs. Pegg's Handy Line looks like a great system. Thanks for the link! I could definitely see two of those standing in my laundry room. On the other hand, I can dry many, many loads in the dryer for the $170.00 (plus shipping) price tag.

Always a dilemma.....
 
If your dryer is electric you may want to consider letting it vent indoors. Just keep your dryer loads S P R E A D out over the week to prevent excess moisture being released at once time.

Yes electric heating is generally more expensive than say your central gas or oil-fired heating system, but no fuss, no muss, no sand-paper artciles, most of the ironing is done for you AND you save the heat and humidity! And if you are a bit claustorphobic like me, fewer piles and clutter and visual obstructions hanging about!

Some have used pantyhose as a secondary filter, or there are various "heat-savers" that have a filter as well. If your heating systeem is of the forced-warm-air variety, I suggest running the furnace fan while the moisture and heat is being released by the dryer. In this way it gets spread around.

The elctric bill will go (or stay) somewhat up, but the gas or oil bill will go down! Net result = savings.
 
Toggle, you are a dear person and am devoted to you; however would have to disagree about venting any automated dryer indoors on a regular basis. Aside from the moisture, fine lint dust, which no matter what one does/uses as a filter will get every where. Such dust is combustible and if allowed to build up over time could cause serious problems.

There is also the problem of allowing too much moisture to build up within a home that can lead to all sorts of problems including mold/mildew.

Drying times aren't that long when line drying, especially if one uses final high speeds for extraction, and or has good movement of air. It is the circulation of air that dries laundry faster, rather than heat. This is why many housewives would leap out of bed on a good windy day and think "Laundry Day". A good breeze also helps remove some wrinkling, which is why linens were hung taught and allowed flap in the wind. Such flatwork would be taken down from the clothesline and carefully folded, ready for ironing. Since most of the wrinkling was already gone, ironing was much less work.

Final argument against venting dryers indoors, is that the exhaust air is full of all sorts of chemicals from various laundry products. Detergents, bleaches, fabric softeners and the perfumes used in each contain some rather powerful chemicals that one should'nt breathe in for long periods of time. Indeed one finds that automatic drying is best for removing the rather heavy scents left by some laundry products. Line drying does not seem to make much of a difference, so must assume it is the air-flow through laundry in a confined space that "pushes" the scent out.

L.
 
~There is also the problem of allowing too much moisture to build up within a home that can lead to all sorts of problems including mold/mildew.

Some good points!

As to the above point: Indoor drying via "natural-speed" on a line or hastened in an unvented mechanical dryer results in exactly the same overall level of mositure in the home. It is just released at a different rate-of-speed.

BTW no one said EVERY load has to be machine dried or unvented for that matter!

The attempt to save money on one end (indoor clothes drying) may result in expenditures on another: More frequent painting, dusting, vacuuming, money spent on the electricity for ironing, etc.

Once a home is at near full-efficiency, it is difficult to find ways to cut-back and exonomize further. Something just HAS to "give."

So here we go to answer the question:
Low tech solution to a low-tech problem.
Get two 1 x 3 furring strips that are 40 inches (1 meter) long. Pre-drill some small pilot holes (so that the wood does not split.) Add four hooks to each board, evenly spaced. Add parallel clothes lines. Mount boards to walls. VIOLA, C'est fait.

:-)
 
When I installed the 40 ft pulley line outside my house, I found that even polyester/nylon clothesline material stretched too much. And it kept on stretching. I finally hit upon using clear plastic (vinyl) coated stranded steel cable instead (available at HD and Lowes). This stretched slighlty initially but then stopped and has been great for several years now.

Unfortunately in this part of the country we have wet, humid winters and indoor drying isn't such a great idea. I did set up a retractable line in the enclosed patio but found that it to be more hassle than it was worth. Instead I wait for the occasional dry winter day, or bite the bullet and use the gas heated dryer.

Sheets do come out better line dried, IMHO. They are a bit stiffer but with fewer wrinkles.
 

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