When you need to get your clothes dry, not everyone has this luxury of tossing them into a tumble dryer. Maybe you don’t have the space for one, are concerned about their power consumption, or simply worry about damage to cloths from excessive tumble drying.
Yes, some tumble dryers can actually damage your clothes over time, so alternatives are a good idea if you want to get the most wear out of your favourite laundry. Don’t believe us? One study with towels tells us an interesting story.
In a test with your average 150-degree tumble-driver, some brand-new towels were run through 20 cycles and the results were fairly telling. They had about 50% of their tensile strength. Needless to say, that lint that you are always seeing in the dryer filter tells you everything that you need to know. As handy as these appliances are, if you don’t invest in a fabric-friendly tumble dryer, you could seriously reduce the lifespan of your laundry.
Whatever your reason for drying clothing without a tumble dryer at home, here are some great alternative drying methods.
The Best Alternatives to Tumble Drying
Thankfully there are a number of alternatives that are not only cost-effective but will get your clothes dry without beating them to pieces at high temperatures. We’ve collected a few of the best so that you can get an idea of how they work and decide which tumble-dryer alternative is going to be the best fit for you.
Those clothes cost a lot of money, so you want to take care of them – and here are some of the ways to do that.
1. Easylife 3-Tier Heated Airer with Timer
Easylife’s 3-tiered Heated Airer is an excellent option. This attractive rack will hold up to 15kg/33lbs of laundry, spaced on 3 large racks. The rails from the racks generate heat, much like a radiator does so that your clothes dry gently over time without all that roughhousing that you get from a dryer.
The electricity used is less than as dryer as well and you’ve got a bit of a space-saving bonus, as this rack may be put away by folding it up when you’ve got your clothes dried. A simply illuminated switch lets you know when it’s off or on and has a timer for 2 or 4 hours of drying time. This model has wheels just in case you need to move it around from room to room.
2. KASYDoFF Electric Clothes Drying Fan System
The KASYDoFF 1500 watt Heated-Electric Portable Clothes dryer is another approach for gently drying your clothes so that you can keep your favourites for longer. This foldable design does exactly that, allowing you to take advantage of 3 tiers inside where you can hang or drape clothing, which is enclosed inside the outer walls and then blown dry lightly with internal fans and heated PTC inside.
These fans have variable speed settings and your get some antibacterial action through the application of negative ions while the clothing is drying. Everything dries on a timer and this dryer even comes with a remote, which makes it easy to use and which also makes it a great option for the elderly or mobility challenged.
The construction is durable, employing a steel framework that allows you to hang a good bit of laundry. The Innotic is designed to hold up to 30kg/66lbs so you can actually get a good amount of laundry dried in a gentle, sanitary way.
3. AMOS Heated Clothes Rack
The AMOS Folding Electric Clothing dryer is similar to the Black and Decker, in that you get heated rails to slowly dry your clothing to perfection. Rather than the 3-tier system, this folding dryer rack has sides that fold out giving you a gentle curve on which to place the drying clothes.
While this doesn’t hold as much as the Black and Decker, it will hold 10kg/22lb of clothing and if you keep your clothes washed regularly then this generally won’t be an issue. When you don’t need it, you can fold the AMOS up easily and put it away and the effort is quite minimal, as this rack is only 3.3lbs of durable aluminium alloy.
4. HISOME Indoor Retractable Washing Line
HISOME Drying lines are not your old-timey-lines to be sure. These wall-mounted units have durable stainless steel strings which you can take out when you need and simply move back into place when the line is not in use. If you don’t have a dryer at home, these are also quite convenient to install nearby, so that you can take out clothing that isn’t safe for the dryer.
The 304 stainless steel line that comes with this unit is waterproof and rustproof and it’s also got some great tensile strength to it, with the ability to hold up to 19.95kg/44lbs of wet clothing that you need to dry. The line extends to a full length of 13.8 feet so it should be sufficient for most indoor needs.
It’s a great space saver and probably the most cost-effective of the bunch. So, if you are not in a hurry to get those clothes dried right away then the HISOME might be a perfect fit for you.
In the UK (particularly Scotland), it was common to see clothes drying in the kitchen, hung from a rack attached to the ceiling and linked to a pulley. Of course, the traditional method of indoor clothes drying has died off as modern homes prioritise interior styling.
Nowadays, clothes are dried outdoors on a modern-looking clothes airer or tumbled dried – until now – as we move to method five, you can see there are more ways to dry laundry than you might have thought.
5. HyFive Clothes Airing Rack
Our final entry is another simple solution that gets the job done without having to be fancy about it. The HyFive Clothes Airing Drying Rack has 3 extra-large, folding stainless steel racks that are ready to help you to get up to 15kg/30 pounds of wet clothing dry.
The unit has caster wheels so you can bring it with you to the laundromat if you aren’t using it at home and it has a braking system so that you can lock it into place when you’ve got it where you want it. The extra-wide design helps to get your clothes dried quickly and like the HISOME this solution is simple, cost-effective, and will get the job done for you.
A little patience can get you a lot of savings on your electric bill, so it’s certainly something to consider.
Some farewell Advice
To enhance these methods of clothes drying, apply with the following:
- Fast Spin: When washing your cloths, set your washing machine to the fastest spin possible. This will thoroughly squeeze out excess water, making cloths much quicker and easier to dry.
- Position: If using a heated or freestanding cloths drying rack, place them next to a heater and a slightly open window to let moisture escape. If you’re using a room with poor ventilation, then run a dehumidifier to draw the dampness out of the air. This is why condenser tumble dryers are so good, because they lock away all the water from cloths in a tank. Remember, the water in your cloths has to go somewhere.
- Breathing Space: Ensure cloths are spread out when drying – clumps, folds, and wrinkles will leave damp patches. Make sure fabrics are well spread out, and never pile cloths on top of each other – let them breathe to speed drying.
Today we’ve discussed some of the best ways to dry your clothes indoors without the need for a tumble dryer – of any kind. Remember, those dryers can reduce the life of your clothes substantially after as few as 20 cycles – if not used correctly. If time is a factor, one of the heated-racks options that we have listed can do the trick and you’ll hardly notice the difference.
Dryers come and go but your favourite clothes need a little tender, loving care. Give them the best with these tumble dryer alternatives and they’ll be around for a good, long time. You can count on it!
