Does a dehumidifier really cheaper for drying clothes?

StarBright01

Anybody any experience here with this?

Borrowed one last night from my mum, so put them in a room on a clothes horse, put on the dehumidifier & closed the door. after roughly 14-18 hours clothes half dry and still had to put them dryer to finish them all.

Just wondering given the length of time it was on for if it’s really worth all the fuss people make of them drying clothes on the cheap?

GreeBo

How wet were the clothes?
The spin rate on your washing machine makes the most difference to how quickly you can dry clothes indoors.

byte

What was the ambient temperature like in the room? For example, if the room was quite cold, then the dehumidifier might not do a lot.

StarBright01

Two good points here thanks! Room was definitely not warm and not sure of spin cycle as it’s a new machine. Thanks! Was wondering if the dehumidifier was a bit crap given it was taking so long.

dudara

I will hang out clothes to dry in a room just as the heating is on or due to come on. Then turn on the dehumidifier and close the door. Clothes will dry in less than 12 hours. I do think the key point is that the room itself is warm.

hatchman

Buy a good dehumidifier which only runs when humidity is above what you set it at. Mine set to 45 and I never unplug it. Clothes will dry in 6 to 8 hours room temp is key I have under floor heating and room never goes below 21 degrees Celsius. I have no tumble dryer so cost of running dehumidifier I believe is less than tumble dryer.

fret_wimp2

Works really well in the hotpress.
Room is very warm due to hot water cylinder being there, and it's a small room.

We kitted it out with lots of drying racks and got a very good dehumidifier, meaco 20L which is supposedly very efficient.

Can dry two loads @ the same time in about 6 - 8 hours often having to empty the 5l tank mid way. haven't noticed the electricity bill being outrageously higher but should probably track it over a few months.

hatchman

fret_wimp2 wrote:

We kitted it out with lots of drying racks and got a very good dehumidifier, meaco 20L which is supposedly very efficient.

I have the same one find it brilliant. No more smells of damp clothes in house and prior to dehumidifier there was a lot of damp in attic scary the amount over time would cause a lot of issues.

CJhaughey

DH units use a lot less power than a dryer.

Calahonda52

The key to the DH working most efficiently is the RH in the room: the lower the RH, the better it will work.
http://www.dpcalc.org/
[dew point temperature is the temperature (varying according to pressure and humidity) below which water droplets begin to condense and dew can form.]

The higher the air temperature, and the lower the RH, the quicker the water will evaporate from the clothes and then be available for the DH to do its stuff and remove the water vapour.

eg at 21C/RH 70% the DP is 16C
where as at 21C/RH 45 the DP is 9C

Good air movement is important as well so closely hung clothes on a horse will have poor circulation.

In the cases above where the rooms are already heated, this heat is a sunk cost so does not come into the cost calc.
The DH listed pulls 255 Watts or 0.255 kW, so maybe 5 cents a hr to run.
A TD will pull about 8-10 times that.

However a TD will dry clothes whatever the air temperature/RH
A DH will not.

StarBright01

Thanks all for above really informative, I’ve a few different things to tweak by the sounds of it. Much appreciated thanks

Polar wizard adventure

A fan to keep the air moving also helps alot to speed things up.

Henryhill2

Would be more convenient to just use a dryer than have fans and dehumidifiers and central heating going

Not to mention the time it takes

Wildly Boaring

Henryhill2 wrote: »

Would be more convenient to just use a dryer than have fans and dehumidifiers and central heating going

Not to mention the time it takes

Don't need the fan.
Young kids in house so have heat on anyway.

Often use tumble dryer. If plenty washes or in a rush or if get clothes nearly dry on line

Wildly Boaring

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

Don't need the fan.
Young kids in house so have heat on anyway.

Often use tumble dryer. If plenty washes or in a rush or if get clothes nearly dry on line

Also our dehumidifier only runs when roomover certain humidity so essentially stops itself when clothes dry.

We'd be running it in house down by the bedrooms regardless for a bit during winter anyway

fret_wimp2

Henryhill2 wrote: »

Would be more convenient to just use a dryer than have fans and dehumidifiers and central heating going

Not to mention the time it takes

Depends. Even when I had a dryer I wouldnt use dryers for anything other than towels and sheets. They have a habit of shrinking most things so still had a problem of drying wet clothes quickly.

Dehumidifier won't cause any damage to clothes but will still help dry them much quicker, and in my family, clothes are defo the priority, not towels and sheets.

I have a decent hotpress so it's just a case of putting the dehumidifier in there, but it's not much hassle to put a fan in a room if it's needed.

Central heat is only on when necessary to heat the house, wouldn't put it on to dry clothes.