WASHER'S BUT NO DRYER
Jan 31st, 2009, 10:18 AM
#1
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WASHER'S BUT NO DRYER
While search many websites for apartments in Paris and Amsterdam for our trip this fall, I find many have washers but no dryers.
I know I will rent an apt with a dryer, I am just curious if anyone knows why they wouldnt offer a dryer?
In places like France and Holland were it doesnt get that warm, how would you get your clothes dry?
In photos it doesnt look like it is set up to hang the laundry out the window to dry
In Italy I have dried a pair of jeans in one day without a dryer, but I cant see that happening at the end of Sept. in Holland.
I know I will rent an apt with a dryer, I am just curious if anyone knows why they wouldnt offer a dryer?
In places like France and Holland were it doesnt get that warm, how would you get your clothes dry?
In photos it doesnt look like it is set up to hang the laundry out the window to dry
In Italy I have dried a pair of jeans in one day without a dryer, but I cant see that happening at the end of Sept. in Holland.
Jan 31st, 2009, 10:23 AM
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The apartment will have a foldable rack that you hang clothes on. The dryers I've used in Europe aren't like American dryers and take forever anyway. Hanging seems to work just fine even in northern countries.
Jan 31st, 2009, 10:26 AM
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Last May, we rented an apartment in Paris for the month. There was a washer-dryer (one appliance that did both functions) in the kitchen. I never was able to figure out how to work that dadgum thing! Either the clothes would never dry, or they ended up crunchy-dry and ruined. I would have really appreciated a folding rack so I could hang my clothes to air-dry. I get the impression that Europeans aren't as into dryers as we Americans are. I know my British relatives have washers in their homes, but they insist on hanging up their clothes (indoors, mostly, given the weather) to dry.
Jan 31st, 2009, 10:45 AM
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Just another reason to do the sensible thing and only bring along easy-wash and quick-dry garments.
The new microfibers resist odor, wick perspiration and seem to last forever. Your travel life will change when a nightly rinse with a bit of shampoo becomes a habit, in a few hours things are dry.
if you only take two of everything, from undies to shirt/blouses to pants, you'll love it, that's really travelling light, and using even a washing machine suddenly seems silly and a waste of time and money.
Look to the smart things they sell at places like
www.duluthtrading.com
www.travelsmith.com
www.exofficio.com
and many others - mix'n-match wardrobes with practical multi-pocket designs that help you look smart and guard against pickpockets - what's not to like?
The new microfibers resist odor, wick perspiration and seem to last forever. Your travel life will change when a nightly rinse with a bit of shampoo becomes a habit, in a few hours things are dry.
if you only take two of everything, from undies to shirt/blouses to pants, you'll love it, that's really travelling light, and using even a washing machine suddenly seems silly and a waste of time and money.
Look to the smart things they sell at places like
www.duluthtrading.com
www.travelsmith.com
www.exofficio.com
and many others - mix'n-match wardrobes with practical multi-pocket designs that help you look smart and guard against pickpockets - what's not to like?
Jan 31st, 2009, 11:19 AM
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Its not the same everywhere, that's one of the reasons we travel! They wouldn't offer a dryer because they likely don't have one and don't see the need for one. When we came to France 14 years ago virtually no one had a dryer.
In many European countries there is not enough room for two machines, and a dryer is less useful than a washer. Many people here hang their laundry rather than put it in a machine. Air dries clothes pretty well, and has done so for a long time.
Machines do exist that will wash and dry - not very quickly, but it does offer the possibility of drying clothes.
You do need to remember however that they will normally dry only half a load - most dry by extraction, rather than by venting the air outside. The water goes into a drawer, which must then be emptied. If you're in an apartment or a small house venting to the outside is not always an option.
Also you probably want to set the spin option as high as your clothes will accept. My washer spins up to 1200 turns a minute, which means they come out pretty dry. Hang them up and they're dry quite quickly.
In many European countries there is not enough room for two machines, and a dryer is less useful than a washer. Many people here hang their laundry rather than put it in a machine. Air dries clothes pretty well, and has done so for a long time.
Machines do exist that will wash and dry - not very quickly, but it does offer the possibility of drying clothes.
You do need to remember however that they will normally dry only half a load - most dry by extraction, rather than by venting the air outside. The water goes into a drawer, which must then be emptied. If you're in an apartment or a small house venting to the outside is not always an option.
Also you probably want to set the spin option as high as your clothes will accept. My washer spins up to 1200 turns a minute, which means they come out pretty dry. Hang them up and they're dry quite quickly.
Jan 31st, 2009, 11:23 AM
#10
I've just hung up my fourth load of laundry today. I have a downstairs room just for washing and hanging up laundry. A "dehumidifier" sucks out the humidity and dries the clothes hung up on the line.
Much of our clothes are made for hot dryers.
Much of our clothes are made for hot dryers.
Jan 31st, 2009, 11:35 AM
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I have a utility room with washer, dryer and drying racks.
If the weather is fine, I dry my washing outside and just put things like towels and underwear in the dryer to fluff them up and get them really dry.
A fast spin gets things iron dry.
I use my dryer far less than I used to.
Our village is trying to be carbon neutral and dryers are very hungry beasts.
Our electricity bills are much smaller since I cut down on its use.
If the weather is fine, I dry my washing outside and just put things like towels and underwear in the dryer to fluff them up and get them really dry.
A fast spin gets things iron dry.
I use my dryer far less than I used to.
Our village is trying to be carbon neutral and dryers are very hungry beasts.
Our electricity bills are much smaller since I cut down on its use.
Jan 31st, 2009, 11:47 AM
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almost all american homes have been wired and equipped for venting dryers for more than 50 years. not so here in europe. we are just discovering this 'luxury'.
for example, here in england, we have 'airing cupboards'....useless cupboards that are meant to dry clothing on shelves. these should be called 'moulding cupboards' instead. locking wet clothing into a small cupboad only makes mould and does not dry anything. but we are thick and have not yet figured this out. these idiotic and archaic cupboards are commonly in houses that are quite new, believe it or not.
and the romantic notions about air drying clothing are silly. we have serious moisture problems...our country is very damp. it rains nearly every day and outside is not an option. inside we already have too much damp.
aparatuses that try to wash AND dry are competely useless.
we are living in the stone age. pity us.
for example, here in england, we have 'airing cupboards'....useless cupboards that are meant to dry clothing on shelves. these should be called 'moulding cupboards' instead. locking wet clothing into a small cupboad only makes mould and does not dry anything. but we are thick and have not yet figured this out. these idiotic and archaic cupboards are commonly in houses that are quite new, believe it or not.
and the romantic notions about air drying clothing are silly. we have serious moisture problems...our country is very damp. it rains nearly every day and outside is not an option. inside we already have too much damp.
aparatuses that try to wash AND dry are competely useless.
we are living in the stone age. pity us.
Jan 31st, 2009, 11:53 AM
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Either the washing machine will be a washer dryer or there will be a rack to hang clothes on.
I have a washer and a separate dryer. The dryer only gets used when I have to get things dry in a hurry. Usually I hang my washing outside, even in winter. If it is raining I don't wash. If we run out then I will do a wash and put it in the dryer.
When the kids were home it was a different matter, but even then when I could hang washing out I did. My washing machine spins at a high rate (1400rpm) which gets things pretty dry anyway - shirts and the like can be ironed and just hung to finish off.
The only thing that always goes in the tumble dryer, for a very short time are towels, just to fluff them up.
My mother didn't even have a washing machine, just a copper boiler, but managed to produce clean dry ironed shirts for my four brothers and my father every day. The weather was no better then I can can assure you, and the clothes were hung up literally dripping wet. Sometimes the shirts would come in frozen stiff as boards, but she coped. She was so thrilled to get a "twin-tub" eventually, and only a couple of years before she died finally a modern front loading machine. She never owned a dryer.
We are spoiled nowadays.
I have a washer and a separate dryer. The dryer only gets used when I have to get things dry in a hurry. Usually I hang my washing outside, even in winter. If it is raining I don't wash. If we run out then I will do a wash and put it in the dryer.
When the kids were home it was a different matter, but even then when I could hang washing out I did. My washing machine spins at a high rate (1400rpm) which gets things pretty dry anyway - shirts and the like can be ironed and just hung to finish off.
The only thing that always goes in the tumble dryer, for a very short time are towels, just to fluff them up.
My mother didn't even have a washing machine, just a copper boiler, but managed to produce clean dry ironed shirts for my four brothers and my father every day. The weather was no better then I can can assure you, and the clothes were hung up literally dripping wet. Sometimes the shirts would come in frozen stiff as boards, but she coped. She was so thrilled to get a "twin-tub" eventually, and only a couple of years before she died finally a modern front loading machine. She never owned a dryer.
We are spoiled nowadays.
Jan 31st, 2009, 12:06 PM
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There is a clothes line on my balcony where I put up everything in summer and the big pieces in winter. Washing is done when the weather allows. Sweaters and shirts are dried on hangers indoors in winter, smaller pieces on a rack, the socks on the central heating.
I have never owned a dryer and don't want one. I consider dryers an unnecessary waste of money and energy.
I have never owned a dryer and don't want one. I consider dryers an unnecessary waste of money and energy.
Jan 31st, 2009, 12:09 PM
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You'd have to be very thick to put <i>wet</i> clothes into an airing cupboard. That's not what it's there for.
And as for walkinaround's idea that air-drying clothes is a "romantic" notion - well, really, what else did our foremothers do for centuries?
And as for walkinaround's idea that air-drying clothes is a "romantic" notion - well, really, what else did our foremothers do for centuries?
Jan 31st, 2009, 12:15 PM
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I completely understand the space issue, but I honestly don't get the "we are spoiled" thing. I don't know about you, but I have way better things to do with my limited free time than hang and iron laundry! Do those of you who think driers are unnecessary only communicate in person (not using telephones or, heaven forbid, computers)? Do you walk everywhere, or ride your horse? Progress!
Jan 31st, 2009, 12:45 PM
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sf3707 - that kind of progress is wasteful, and why would you want to iron travel clothing when the right kind dries just fine and looks OK? Ten minutes at the most before you go to bed for a quick handwash, and by doing it you waste no electricity, cause no noise (running appliances late is frowned upon in many European buildings), create no heat that needs to be vented... Now that's progress!
Jan 31st, 2009, 01:01 PM
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We've mastered the art of turning rental accommodation into a Chinese laundry with washed clothes draped over every chair etc, including the heated towel rails. By the time we return at the end of the day the clothes are dry and can be tidied away in a few minutes.
Other posters are correct that you will probably find the washer is also a dryer. Not my favourite appliance I must admit.
Just as an aside, it's still very common here in Australia to use a clothes line in the back garden to dry the washing, which is a very ecologically sound practice. It's so hot here at the moment that lighter items are dry in about 1/2 hour!!
Other posters are correct that you will probably find the washer is also a dryer. Not my favourite appliance I must admit.
Just as an aside, it's still very common here in Australia to use a clothes line in the back garden to dry the washing, which is a very ecologically sound practice. It's so hot here at the moment that lighter items are dry in about 1/2 hour!!
Jan 31st, 2009, 01:01 PM
#20
"Do those of you who think driers are unnecessary only communicate in person (not using telephones or, heaven forbid, computers)? Do you walk everywhere, or ride your horse? Progress!"
What's a computer?
What's a computer?
