Reasons You Should Air Dry Your Clothes

Introduction

Dryers are an amazing invention. They save time, add convenience, and are a welcome appliance in your busy schedule. However, the disadvantages of a dryer from a long list and that’s why more people are opting to air dry their clothes instead. If your dryer gets damaged, you can get a pro to look at it by searching for “dryer repair near me”. Meanwhile, you can air-dry your clothes. Let’s check out a few reasons you should air dry your clothes:

The Reasons

  1. Save energy and money – Whether you have a tumble clothes dryer or any other kind, all of them are power-hungry beasts. Even the most efficient one will consume around 1.5 kWh of electricity on every load and power-hungry models can consume as much as 4kWh on every load. So, if you run your dryer every day, you may have to pay more than $100 every year on your energy bill. The same holds in terms of utility bills if you use a gas dryer. Households that abandon their dryer can save hundreds of dollars in both electricity and maintenance costs every year. On the other hand, a clothesline is extremely cheap and can be used anywhere on your property for air-drying your clothes.
  1. It is environmentally friendly – As mentioned above air drying clothes saves electricity, lots of it. It’s very good for the environment, especially if you move away from a gas-powered dryer that burns hydrocarbons in the dryer and creates emissions right outside your home. Even if you use an electric dryer that gets its power from renewable sources of energy, it still has a much larger carbon footprint than air-drying your clothes.

The United States alone has over 90 million dryers. Getting rid of them can help you cut down carbon emissions by a massive amount, around 2400 pounds every year from each household. Scientists estimate that the country can shave off over 3 percent of carbon dioxide emissions by air drying their clothes.

  1. Air drying is kind on your clothes – Your clothes are thrown around in a dryer in cyclic motions and handle a lot of abuse. This creates stress on the seams of the fabric and also causes snags from the zippers and buttons. Moreover, dryers can run very hot, and the intense temperature can ruin delicate fabrics and destroy your expensive designer clothes. Air dryers don’t have any of those issues. You can easily air dry any fabric on a clothesline with some clip hangers and after a few hours, the job is done by nature. Apart from sweaters and other knitted fabric that can stretch due to the water weight, all clothing and fabrics can be air-dried in your home.
  1. Get rid of odor – When you put fabrics in the dryer you also need to add special fresheners and chemical agents to get rid of the musty smell. To solve that problem some companies also include UV light in their dryer to kill odor creating germs. However, there’s no need to invest in such chemical agents or break the bank for dryers with advanced technology. Air drying is a simpler solution. When you air-dry clothes out in the sun, it isn’t in a closed space. The breeze takes away all odors from the fabric and the UV rays from the sun kill all germs. So, they smell fresh every time.
  1. Promotes weight loss – Hanging your clothes on a clothesline is a physical activity that can be done both inside the home or outside. You usually spend around 10 to 15 minutes doing the activity and it can burn as many as 70 calories. If you’re on a diet, those calorie savings can be utilized for an evening snack of a bowl of olives or even a few small candy bars.
  1. Increase indoor humidity – During the winter months, the air can become very dry inside the home due to the warm air from the furnace or individual room heaters. While the human body doesn’t like high humidity, it doesn’t do well with low humidity either. It makes your nasal passages dry and can invite all sorts of flu and cold viruses. That’s why many people have started using a humidifier in dry climates and during the winter season. However, there’s a cheaper and efficient solution. You can just air dry your clothes inside your home in the cold months and the moisture from the fabrics add to the humidity inside the room.
  1. Whiten your clothes and sheets – As mentioned above, the ultraviolet rays of the sun are great at killing most germs on fabrics and can easily disinfect your clothes while you hang them dry. Apart from that your white sheets, clothing, and towels also get bleached for a more prominent shade of white. No need to go to the dry cleaners and pay expensive bills. however, you should be careful of drying dark clothes under the sun. They can lose color and get faded due to long exposure to the sun. That’s why you should only air-dry dark clothes in the shade.
  1. Mitigate fire risks – Dryers accumulate a lot of lint in the filters that are dry and very flammable. They are one spark away from burning your house down if not serviced regularly. Dryers account for as many as 15,000 fires each year and account for around 400 injuries and many deaths in the same period. The financial loss in damages can also range anywhere from tens of thousands of dollars to millions. Air drying your clothes is much safer and buying an indoor drying rack allows you to dry your clothes even in bad weather.

Conclusion

Now that you know all about the benefits of air drying your clothes, you have an excuse to opt for it instead of throwing them in the dryer. It’s also an environmentally conscious choice. If you still want to keep using the old dryer, you should get it repaired by searching for “dryer repair near me”.

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