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I can’t remember a time I ever line dried laundry outside. How significant is this smell, is it worth changing my laundry drying habits just to reproduce it?
by lukevp 6y ago
I can’t remember a time I ever line dried laundry outside. How significant is this smell, is it worth changing my laundry drying habits just to reproduce it?
- marton78 6y agoYes. Nothing beats it. Also, drying laundry electrically is a waste of resources, the sun will do it for free, as long as you live in a moderately warm country.
- tenpies 6y agoI am always disappointed that drying racks aren't more common in NA. Even in an apartment, you can set it up overnight and wake up to dry clothing in the morning. Better for the environment and your clothing.
- dingaling 6y agoNot so good for the apartment though, unless you have dehumidifying air conditioning.
- Mediterraneo10 6y agoI have lived in socialist-era blocks which are notorious for humidity issues and mold. But a mere drying rack placed next to the window will not produce enough humidity to cause problems if you leave that window open.
- scatters 6y agoModern portable dehumidifiers are small, unobtrusive (about the size of a cereal box) and whisper quiet (they use Peltier cooling). Every house in a maritime climate should use them.
- draw_down 6y agoWell, sure, I do this for my laundry that I don’t want to be shrunk in the dryer. But this business of making it smell good, I don’t understand. Air drying doesn’t impart a smell at all.
- cortesoft 6y agoI guess it is a matter of taste.. I really don't like the smell of line dried clothes, and I also don't like the feeling clothes have after being line dried. Probably because of what I grew up being used to.
- S_A_P 6y agoI have done line drying and it ended up smelling not so great. Like someone who went outside on a hot day. I wonder if you need a low humidity environment for line drying to “work”.
- jiofih 6y agoYou need sun the most. In most of the northern hemisphere it will only be viable for a couple months in the summer.
- SECProto 6y ago> In most of the northern hemisphere it will only be viable for a couple months in the summer. This is not correct. I've done line drying year-round, doesn't work great when it's below zero (freezes) but otherwise works fine. I think low relative humidity is important so the moisture in the clothing has somewhere to go.
- RobinL 6y agoI live just outside London and manage to line dry laundry for about 6 months a year (April to Octoberish). Save energy, smells better, and sunlight seems to result in better stain removal/whiter whites. It's a bit marginal in Apr and Oct but I line dry close to 100% of washes May to Sept. Even most days in winter if it's sunny it works pretty well.
- mauvehaus 6y agoMy sister in law doesn't own a dryer, and lives in New Hampshire. You can line dry all year long, at least at her lattitude.
- clomond 6y agoThe smell can be rather significant / roughly equivalent to what you get with a dryer with scented sheets at its strongest. I rather question how “nice” the smell actually is, at best it’s “interesting and not bad” from my experience. I find that sometimes line dryer laundry can pick up a “clumpy”, rougher but yet distinctively line dried texture when compared to the machine or hang dried inside.
- itronitron 6y agoAlso, a normal drier pulls out a lot of the fabric lint so if you line dry a lot the clothes will accumulate lint and that adds to the weird rougher texture.
- SECProto 6y agoI think it's worth trying if you have the availability (somewhere to set up a line or a rack, and low-ish relative humidity helps them dry quickly). As for whether it's worth changing your habits: that's up to you. Give it a try, see how they smell, consider the lower environmental impact of line drying, consider the lower wear-and-tear on your clothes (tumble drying wears clothes out faster), and make a decision!
- 1bc29b36f623ba8 6y agoDefinitely. It affects then entire experience to such an extent that you want to go to bed early in order to lie between freshly dried sheets.
- griffinkelly 6y agoAs soon as the weather got nice out (from Chicago), my grandmother would immediately start drying clothes outside.
- Mary-Jane 6y agoThere's two things I remember about line drying from when I was a kid: * Clothes having a slightly "rubbery" smell (similar to if you open a box of old RCA cables) * The clothes were somewhat stiff. I remember enjoying "breaking the stiffness" off of them by shaking them around :D
- itronitron 6y agoI personally can't stand the smell of line-dried laundry. It's not worth changing your habits to reproduce it.