A surprisingly cheap way to dry indoors

WITH a constant pile of laundry and little fine weather to do your drying on the washing line, just what is the best-value way to dry those clothes?

A tumble-dryer habit looks like an expensive luxury as energy prices are at record highs, so here are a few alternatives for drying the washing when the weather rules out the clothesline.

With electricity now costing 43.27c/kWh – a large hike on the price a year ago, we’re all trying to keep an eye on our energy-hungry appliances at the moment.

With the fine weather of last summer a distant memory, we’ve had to resort to the tumble dryer, one of the most energy-hungry appliances in our homes.

But what’s the alternative? A clothes airer can take so long to dry the laundry that it can end up smelling musty.

Totting up the cheapest solution isn’t as straightforward as you might expect. While, in theory, if you know the wattage of the device – usually printed on a label on the back, or in the instruction manual – and how long it will be running for, you can do a simple sum to work out how much it will cost.

Say, for example, a tumble dryer has a maximum power of 2.6kW. The drying cycle usually used says it takes a maximum of two hours and 24 minutes (or 2.4 hours), so you can calculate that the total number of kWh a drying cycle will use is 2.6 x 2.4 or 6.24kWh, which at 43c per kWh means it will cost €2.68 per load.

And how to make the same calculation for a 300w electric airer, or 330w humidifier when you don’t know how long they will take to dry the clothes?

Three appliances were put to the test thanks to a new mum with her demanding laundry list: one a mix of clothes, baby muslins and bibs, and the other four pillow cases, a super kingsize duvet cover and a super kingsize fitted sheet. All three drying methods were given the same load after a wash.

TUMBLE DRYER

The clothes load took 90 minutes to dry and used 2.543kWh at a cost of €1.10. The linen load took two hours, 16 minutes to dry and used 1.988kWh at a cost of 86c.

ELECTRIC AIRER

The clothes load took nine-plus hours to dry and used 2.896kWh at a cost of €1.15. The linen load took seven-plus hours and used 2.340kWh, costing €1.01.

DEHUMIDIFIER

The clothes load took 12+ hours to dry and used 2.725kWh at a cost of 93c. The linen load took nine-plus hours to dry and used 2.131kWh at a cost of 92c.

You’ll be surprised, then, to learn that the tumble dryer seems to be the most efficient way to dry your laundry, particularly if time is an issue.

Maybe there’s a knack to hanging things on the electric airer, or maybe it comes into its own if you’ve done a load of shirts and you can hang them and nothing else. It’s possible that you could work out the best way to arrange clothes for both the airer and the dehumidifier. And maybe if your house is less humid, a dehumidifier would be more effective.

But for now, the science has spoken – surprisingly, the tumble dryer is the frugal winner.