How to dry clothes in flats or on rainy days

As the UK slowly turns into one big nation of flats, drying clothes effectively indoors is a must.

Nigel’s Eco Store has put together a list of eight ways to dry clothes during rainy days, or inside.

1. Use a fan to move the air around a clothes drying rack – clothes can dry in as little as a few hours instead of a few days

2. A dehumidifier near the clothes rack helps. A dehumidifier uses electrical power to drive its compressor but it’ll use less energy than heating devices. Dehumidifers use about 750watts on average, which costs about 36p for 4 hours.

3. An extra spin cycle on your washing machine can reduce drying time considerably by squeezing out an extra few drops of water from your washing.

4. Put your clothes drying rack outside – if it rains you just have to get that inside sharpish rather than lots of unpegging from a washing line.

5. Thermostatic valves on radiators can isolate most of the central heating system leaving just the needed radiator.

6. Invest in a low energy tumble dryer – and make sure it has an automatic drying sensor function so it doesn’t over-dry clothes, but switches off when it senses the moisture level is low.

7. Invest in a Sheila Maid clothes drying rack. They can carry 8kg of laundry, hoisted out of the way by the ceiling and clothes dry faster on one because they’re in the warmest part of the room, even when the heating’s not on (because warm air rises). They’ve been part of British households for over 100 years, and are a great alternative to a tumble dryer, drying
clothes on radiators or floor level drying racks.

8. A 45 per cent of households own a tumble dryer, if you do use one, use Dry Cubes – they’ll save up to 30% on drying time and cost by distributing the heat better in the dryer.