What kind of fanatic gives much attention to how laundry is hung out to dry?
MY Kind! And I’m not ashamed.
The key things I’ve noticed that affect how your laundry dries on the line are:
Sun – Your friend and enemy
Wind – Making the most of circulation makes all the difference
Gravity – “Gravity?” Yep, the often-overlooked impact on how soon you bring the wash in
A few general pointers to start:
- In my opinion wooden pegs are superior to plastic (and more appealing). They draw moisture away from the garment at the point they are pinching it, which is usually the most difficult part to dry. And when they’re finally discarded, they are biodegradable!
- When first pulling shirts out of the wash, a few quick shakes lets them dry with fewer creases making them easier to iron later.
- If you’re pressed for space, hang the bigger items up first and then put the smaller stuff up around them.
- Peg marks are minimised if they are placed on the seams, also generally a stronger area.
It can all be explained with Maths
The boffins down at the Met Service will tell you the laundry variables can be calculated in The Penman-Monteith equation:
Where EVT is the hourly evaporation, Rn is the net radiation, G is the soil heat flux, es is the saturated vapour pressure of the air, and ea is the vapour pressure of the air at its current relative humidity. ρa is the mean air density at constant pressure, cp is the specific heat of the air, Δ represents the slope of the saturation vapour pressure temperature relationship, γ is the psychrometric constant, and rs and ra are the (bulk) surface and aerodynamic resistances.
Got that? Simple! …or, alternatively, you could quickly run your eye over The Dadsplainer’s tips…
Coming up next: Maximising the Sun in your drying
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