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> Why would you line-dry your clothes if you have the convenience of a dryer? Some advantages: 1. Clothes last longer with less dryer agitation 2. Less agita
by dashundchen 8y ago
> Why would you line-dry your clothes if you have the convenience of a dryer?
Some advantages:
1. Clothes last longer with less dryer agitation
2. Less agitation means less lint
3. Lower carbon emissions and gas/electric bills
I have a gas clothes dryer at home but I hang dry my clothes year round.
In the summer I have a line, more delicate and fade-senstitive items get hung in the shade while towels, sheets, undershirts, socks and underwear can go in the sun. If you hang them in the morning or evening when light is less intense, or bring them in as soon as they dry during sunnier hours, there's very little risk of fading in my experience. The most delicate items are hung inside on a drying rack.
In the winter or rainy periods I have a folding indoor drying rack that I hang clothes on. It takes longer but still works. During furnace weather I can leave them in front of a vent and the dry furnace air gets some humidity as well.
Some tips if you haven't hang dried before:
You may notice your clothes are stiff after air drying. Depending on your water hardness you may be using too much soap (most detergents recommend too much). Try using less, or add plain white vinegar in the fabric softener dispenser (no commercial softener)
Vinegar will soften the water, remove soap buildup from the washer and clothes, and leaves fabric soft without any other artificial softeners.
- BoorishBears 8y agoThe sun will ruin clothes much faster than a properly configured dryer
- dashundchen 8y agoYMMV - it may be different closer to the equator, but in the great lakes I don't have an issue. The brightest colors and most delicate fabrics are hung inside or in shade. With a medium washer spin speed there's very little wear on the clothes. In contrast, my experience with the dryer is clothes and up looking threadbare and worn from a high heat dryer. Just look at how quickly the lint trap fills up.
- BoorishBears 8y agoI’ve found most wear on clothes comes from people who only used timed washes on high heat I wash my clothes and dry them according to type with automatic settings which end the cycle early if the clothes are dry before the full cycle is complete On the flip side when I lived in a place where dying clothes outside was the norm there was no avoiding sun bleached clothes unless you dryer your clothes at night (which only partially worked because it was a tropical climate)
- Angostura 8y agoPossible, but I'm not convinced that this is a given. You have UV v mechanical tumbling and deformation. Line drying is also quite a lot faster on on a warm day.
- Cthulhu_ 8y agoEven on a not so warm day, the moving air really helps dry it out a lot faster. Not as fast as a dryer maybe but still. Plus, outdoor air freshness. If you don't live near a major road anyway.
- Symbiote 8y agoI've only lived at 50-55° N, and 99% of my clothes are black. They seem to last much longer without fading if I don't use a dryer. On cheaper t-shirts, the dryer gradually ruins the elastic around the neck. I use the dryer for clothes that don't matter, and line dry the nicer ones.
- AstralStorm 8y agoMostly because the tumbling damages the material by abrasion. The damaged fibres look dull and hold the pigment much worse. Likewise washing without tumbling is much gentler but clothes dry a lot longer.
- Symbiote 8y agoI took some super-macro photos to try and see this, but there wasn't as much difference as I hoped. The second photo is my newest t-shirt, and the fourth is the oldest. https://imgur.com/a/8wzFWki https://imgur.com/a/8wzFWki?
- ChristianBundy 8y ago> but there wasn't as much difference as I hoped That looks like a huge difference to me, the first shot looks super old whereas the last shot looks brand new. What sort of difference were you hoping for?
- Symbiote 8y agoYeah, but the fourth is an old item. The second is the newest. I wonder if I'm looking at it the wrong way, and all the "fluff" has been sucked out of the fourth one by the dryer, which probably weakens it.
- petre 8y agoWe dry them on the other side. Also, we avoid leaving them in the sun more than an hour or so. The dryer stays outside during the night and is moved inside in the morning during work days or left for about an hour in the sun otherwise then moved inside.
- coldtea 8y agoNot in my experience.
- pbhjpbhj 8y agoI line dry and have tshirts that are over 20 years old. I've lost clothing to a washer that broke a paddle though. Another benefit of line drying is you don't need to iron, we don't iron clothing. The only times I've ironed in the last couple of decades is job-interviews and attending Buck House.
- peterwwillis 8y agoI haven't needed to iron in a long time and I use dryers. Wash on medium and dry on permanent press. Remove immediately and hang or fold. As long as you don't pack the dryer with heavy items, clothes come out wrinkle-free.
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y agoPresumably with this in mind you make sure to keep them well covered every time you go outside wearing them?
- saiya-jin 8y ago+1 for vinegar, I would add that it helps a lot with sporty clothing that you sweat through and through often. Especially with synthetic, they tend to get some nasty stench that doesn't go away with normal washing. Vinegar helps with that
- petre 8y agoDoesn't vinegar destroy your washing machine?
- dsfyu404ed 8y agoIt will accelerate corrosion and rust. Modern, higher end machines are probably going to use stainless for all the affected parts but I wouldn't risk it on an expensive newer machine. Older machines are more likely to have non-stainless parts and if you've got an older machines you probably don't want to accelerate its demise.
- dashundchen 8y agoMaybe on some models - I've been doing it for years and I have no issue. I don't put a ton in, and I imagine most of it is neutralized by leftover soap residue and a relatively hard water supply.
- Grazester 8y agoWouldn't chlorine bleach also have the same effect on your washing machine since it is quite the oxidizing agent?
- veidr 8y agoTrue, but for me, all of those things are outweighed (and then some) by one simple fact: it takes me 20 seconds to move the entire load of wet clothes into the dryer. I can’t even get to the line in 20 seconds, much less hang all the clothes… Gigantic gas-powered clothes dryer is one of the only things I miss about life in USA.
- Juliate 8y agoWhen the weather permits, I'd rather take 5 minutes to hang clothes to dry, and then other 5 minutes to fold them. A lot like cooking food, that's a time to let your mind wander and breathe.
- brokenmachine 8y agoI'm the opposite. Hanging up clothes is probably my least favorite thing to do. But I still do it because it seems wasteful to use a dryer, and damages the clothes as well.
- pbhjpbhj 8y agoDeath of the World is just so convenient.
- addicted 8y agoWe have a washer/dryer in our apartment. We still hang dry over 50% of our clothes because the effort involved is really minuscule, the chances of the clothes getting destroyed are significantly lower, they last significantly longer, some clothes run a risk of catching fire if the temperature is too high, and finally the clothes just feel so much nicer to wear.
- tunap 8y agoBonus, especially if electric dryer, you save a ton of cash not running it several hours a week. In AZ, it may take clothes less time to dry, IDK, I don't own/use a dryer.
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
- caf 8y agoIf you're worried about items fading, just hang them inside-out.
- kseistrup 8y agoAnd one more reason: Line-dried clothes and beddings smell wonderful (even if you use detergents and softeners that don't contain perfume) after hanging out to dry.
- mercutio2 8y agoThat’s funny. The main reason I don’t line dry my clothes is because I dislike the way they smell after being line dried. To each his/her own!