Celticspirit

When I look at apartments in the UK, I see advertised " washer/dryer as one appliance. Is the drying part not effective?

dunroving

I don't have one, but my understanding is that they aren't as efficient as dedicated dryers - and of course, you can't use it as a washer while you are drying, so it takes twice as long to wash and dry a load. They are handy for very limited spaces (though a stacked pair takes up the same footprint) and/or for people who have to have a dryer (such as families) but don't have room for both.

Celticspirit

Thanks for the info. I was wondering if one lived in a high rise how to dry large items like bath towels and sheets without a garden washing line.

Sally Redux

My Mum has one, the problem is that you can't just dry the whole load of washing, it only takes about half of it at a time.

Mind you, she loves to 'peg out' so doesn't really use that feature anyway.

jasper123

:
Mike I just had a thought maybe your neighbour is not well ------ or even worse, if it were me I would be knocking on her door to make sure she is safe and well.

jasper123

Yes dunroving I must agree with you there, in winter we put our damp clothes on the horse and stick it in front of the radiator in the conservatory,
I must say that when I was living in Vegas I never had to use my dryer there either, straight from the washing machine to the horse and everything even thick bath towels would be bone dry in a few hours ----- cause the air is always so dry all through the year,

Mummy in the foothills

Has anyone thought of buying a dehumidifier?
I was reading on UK yankees that some US transplants have tried them and had great results, washing dried faster indoors in winter and they had to turn the heat down as it made the hose feel so much warmer. I think we'll get one as there will be more laundry to do than my mother does on her own and she hates it all drying for days.

Jerseygirl

It acts a little like AC and sucks all the moisture out of the air...and clothes. . They are good for damp rooms ie bathrooms etc. Have to be careful when using if you have radiator central heating as that tends to dry the air up anyway.

mikelincs

Ohh no they are well enough to be blasting out music at all times of the day and evening with windows open and the volume set at Very very high, especially the bass. They have already been threatened with the police etc if they don't keep it down, music that loud till 5am just isn't on. The noise situation does seem to have improved, not as loud now, and, being Autumn, they can't have the windows open all the time. I saw the 'lady' of the house a couple of days ago in their conservatory, which is nearest our apartment.

dunroving

Sorry to hear that - it would do my head in completely to have those noisy neighbours. The house three doors down have maybe 3-5 really loud parties each summer that go on past midnight, and they have the outside back floodlights on. Because I live on a small crescent on a steep hill, it's like an auditorium - the whole "neighbourhood" (crescent) is bathed in light and the frankly awful music just booms and echoes off the other houses. Luckily, the police come around at midnight or so and tell them to turn it off. It's quite amusing to hear it go from full volume to quiet as a church mouse.

I don't mind this too much because it's a weekend night and it's just people having fun (albiet a very rowdy fun). I just look at it as people blowing off steam because it's summer and the weather is nice. Other neighbours have outdoor BBQ's and kids' parties that are quite "noisy", but again I can't find any reason to object to hearing people having innocent fun (especially kids). I know my neighbour on the other side is always complaining about the three girls shouting and laughing when they are bouncing on the trampoline (all evening! ) but she is a real Grinch.

I'm glad I'm not surrounded by ASBO families. There are some real rogues here but not the vicious or objectionable kind. Do you like apartment living? Or do you plan to move to a house at some point? Apartment living does mean you have a lot more neighbours, increasing the likelihood some of your near neighbours will be antisocial. Hope the silence continues for you.

mikelincs

The thing with their washing pegged out is routine, never seen it out less than 6 days, same washing, I think they just forget about it..

jasper123

thats funny in the southern Nevada hot dry desert people buy a humidifier, and that makes sense cause dry air is very bad for your health and it dries out your skin,
but a dehumidifier to me makes no sense at all, because humidity is good, and especially good for your skin, ------- good unless of course you live in Florida or Thailand where the heat would be 90f. and the humidity would also be 90% but when your living in the U.K. its very humid most of the time (BUT) without the extreme heat, so everyone benefits from the humidity here without being unbearable, as most summers here are a lovely 60 or 70 plus degrees ----- with of course the odd hot spells when it can be over 90 and humid too, but we are lucky here cause if that rare occurence happens then its normally over very quickly in a few days

jasper123

Yes Mike there washing being pegged outside for a week is very strange indeed, but I suppose if its in the back garden not so bad, but still very strange,
Whenever I take the bus down to the city center it passes by a lot of high rise council flats with these real tiny balconies in front, maybe big enough to put one small straight back chair to sit on ---- but dont try and swing a cat
anyway most days I see a lot of the balconies with all there washing hanging out pegged to a little line or two, so now Im thinking that in there case it wouldn't be a very nice sight to see all that washing left there for a week

Bevm

Wonder why they have so few clothes and go out to buy more?

On drying clothes, anyone remember the racks in the kitchen that went up and down on pulleys? They were great, and I got one made when we were in our first house in Canada with a baby and no dryer. Hung it over a hot air vent and it worked a treat. Even in winter I could hang out the nappies, and the freezing solid dried them quite a bit. Then inside, thaw, and on the rack. A few other people copied it.

Now I wonder a bit about grease getting on the clothes, but perhaps grease doesn't rise? I don't know. I never noticed a problem. I think they should look at bringing them back as a "green initiative."

Bev

Bevm

But too much humidity encourages mold, and that'll make you sick. I think the ideal is about 50%.

Dry air is bad. When we lived in cold places in Canada like Montreal and Ottawa it was a struggle to keep it at 40%, which the doctor said was the minimum for health. Forced hot air heating dries things out in no time. If we used the dryer, we covered the hose with a mesh and fed it into the house, and tried to remember to leave the water in the bath to cool down. A bit more moisture, and the heat in the house instead of down the drain.

Another green initiative!

Bev