Clothes Dryer

S-F · 02-28-13, 05:57 PM

I could see the attic air situation working well in the summer but if it's the summer why not just hang a clothes line? I guess rain can get in the way. In the winter it would be less useful than using indoor air because the attic should be the same temperature as the outside. If it's not then you have air leaks and poor insulation up there and you have bigger things to worry about than dryer efficiency. Also attics are generally dusty. And you would need a really good flapper of some kind or else the stack pressure going out that pipe when not in use would be tremendous. Most vent flappers are designed for out going air.

Which brings me to another point. My favorite perk of using a dryer is that is removes dust from clothing. It certainly also removes valuable constituents of the clothing itself, but it does a great job of removing cellulose!

About the fan to boost dryer efficiency. I started a thread about this a while back.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/applia...ryer-hose.html

elhigh · 03-05-13, 10:15 AM

Clothesline in summer is a good thing, but I strongly prefer the not-crispy feeling of tumbled clothes for certain things: underwear I strongly prefer be dried indoors. Call me a prude if you must, it's just a thing with me.

Both I and the wife strongly prefer towels dried on the clothesline. Pants are a tossup. Shirts and socks, however, really need to go through the dryer.

I don't know how well the attic-sourced air would work in the wintertime. I'm planning on seriously ramping up my maker skills this summer, and may install a large solar air heater and/or solar water heating (might just go with a DC element in the regular water heater for that last) once I get all the items on the Honey Do list knocked out.

AC_Hacker · 03-05-13, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elhigh

...I strongly prefer the not-crispy feeling of tumbled clothes for certain things: underwear I strongly prefer be dried indoors...

It's not the tumble drying that makes clothes more pliant, it's the tumbling.

So if you really have a thing for softer clothes, take the line-dried stuff and tumble it (no heat) for 20 minutes.

You'll save a bundle.

-AC

Ryland · 03-06-13, 09:36 PM

Furnace blowers can draw 600 watts if you get a regular sized one and for drying cloths you don't need that much air movement! a few little computer fans would speed up the dry time, I have a 20 watt solid state dehumidifier that I set under my cloths drying rack and it seems to help a lot, it moves a little air, makes 20 watts worth of heat and spits out dry air!

elhigh · 04-08-13, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AC_Hacker

So if you really have a thing for softer clothes, take the line-dried stuff and tumble it (no heat) for 20 minutes.

-AC

I've done that. At this house though, I have neighbors practically in my back pockets, and they smoke, which they step out of the house to do as a favor to their landlady (nice lady, go to church with her). The downside of that is the prevailing winds make me the first recipient of their secondhand smoke, and I don't want my clothes smelling like that. My wife is a "super smeller," and she'd rather I set the clothes on fire than bring them in smelling like cigarettes.

AC_Hacker · 04-08-13, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elhigh

...the prevailing winds make me the first recipient of their secondhand smoke...

I'm genuinely sorry to hear that.

-AC

where2 · 04-21-13, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AC_Hacker

I'm genuinely sorry to hear that.

^^^I second that thought, as my wife is severly allergic to smoke, she breaks out in hives.

I haven found that a 20W multi-crystalline PV panel can be coupled to quite a collection of surplus muffin fans. I recently acquired some muffin fans that move 120CFM while consuming 6W, and I am able to run 3 fans off one 20W PV panel. Works fine if you're home when it is sunny, but what if you work?

Put a 12V charge controller on the panel, charge a 12V 5Ah battery. Now you can run the system after the sun goes down. If you use a charge controller with a low voltage cut-off, your drier will stop before it damages the battery. I realize the 5Ah battery is rather small for the 20W panel, but you can parallel the batteries for more storage capacity, especially if you don't run the system daily.

03-05-13, 10:15 AM	#2
elhigh Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Tennessee Posts: 41 Thanks: 3 Thanked 5 Times in 4 Posts	Clothesline isn't right for everything Clothesline in summer is a good thing, but I strongly prefer the not-crispy feeling of tumbled clothes for certain things: underwear I strongly prefer be dried indoors. Call me a prude if you must, it's just a thing with me. Both I and the wife strongly prefer towels dried on the clothesline. Pants are a tossup. Shirts and socks, however, really need to go through the dryer. I don't know how well the attic-sourced air would work in the wintertime. I'm planning on seriously ramping up my maker skills this summer, and may install a large solar air heater and/or solar water heating (might just go with a DC element in the regular water heater for that last) once I get all the items on the Honey Do list knocked out.

03-06-13, 09:36 PM	#4
Ryland Master EcoRenovator Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Western Wisconsin. Posts: 913 Thanks: 127 Thanked 82 Times in 71 Posts	Furnace blowers can draw 600 watts if you get a regular sized one and for drying cloths you don't need that much air movement! a few little computer fans would speed up the dry time, I have a 20 watt solid state dehumidifier that I set under my cloths drying rack and it seems to help a lot, it moves a little air, makes 20 watts worth of heat and spits out dry air!