My dad's plug-in energy monitor is a grey brick with a tiny screen and a button that has to be pressed twice, and on Thursday afternoon, after a full eight-hour run, it told me that one load of washing on our heated airer had used 2.4 kWh. I did the sum on the back of an envelope, standing in the lounge in my socks. At 27p a unit, that's 65p a load. I've been calling it the 65p question ever since, because I still don't know whether the answer is "worth it" or "bit steep", and the answer changes depending on the day.
The heating has been on since 12 October, the line is away until April, and the airer is back in its place in the dining end of the lounge. Nine loads a week is a lot of wet washing for a 1930s semi. So I borrowed Dad's monitor, which he used on his freezer in about 2012, and measured the three things we use or have been offered.
What the monitor said
- Heated airer, 300 watts for about eight hours, one full load: 2.4 kWh, or 65p
- 12-litre dehumidifier, about 190 watts for six hours: 1.14 kWh, or 31p
- Mum's old vented tumble dryer, one load: about 4.5 kWh, or £1.22
The last one needs explaining. Mum offered us her old dryer last winter, a vented one that had lived in the garage in Bramley since she and Dad got a newer machine. I said no, because our kitchen is a galley with a washing machine under the counter and nowhere to put anything, but I never knew what I was saying no to. So on Saturday afternoon I took a wet load over to Bramley in a laundry bag, put the monitor on the plug and let it run. The answer was £1.22. Mum took it personally, in a good way, and sent me home with a tin of shortbread.
A real week, not a good week
In a typical October week, two of our nine loads still go on the line on the dry days. The other seven go on the airer, which is £4.55. The dehumidifier runs on about five evenings, which is another £1.55. That's £6.10 a week for drying clothes indoors, and about £26 a month. For comparison, the same seven loads in Mum's dryer would be £8.54 a week, with the extra bonus of a hose out of a window.
From 1 November, on the fix, the electricity price will be 24.6p a unit, which brings an airer load down to 59p and the dehumidifier to 28p. Same week: £5.53. It is a small number, and it comes round 25 times.
A newer heat pump dryer would use much less than Mum's old one, I'm told. I haven't measured one and I'm not going to claim anything about them. I'm only comparing what's actually in front of me, which is a heated airer I can fold up in a minute and a dryer that would need its own room.
Why the dehumidifier is part of the answer
You can't judge the airer without the dehumidifier. Nine loads of wet washing put a lot of water into the air, and our bedroom windows already run with condensation on cold mornings. The bathroom grew black mould over the shower back in February, and I'm in no hurry to repeat it downstairs. The dehumidifier sits next to the airer with its low hum, like a fridge that has opinions, and fills a tank about twice a day. I tip the water down the sink and, if I'm honest, there is a certain satisfaction in seeing it.
The airer gets dry washing out of wet in about eight hours. Towels take a bit longer and school polo shirts less. It smells of warm cotton, which is a nice smell, and of wet wool when I put the coats on, which is not. Mabel likes it. She sleeps on the warm towels as soon as the cycle ends, and I've stopped moving her.
What I've decided
The 65p question has a boring answer. Yes, most weeks, reluctantly. Towels, uniform and Rob's work things go on the airer. Sheets wait for a dry day and the line, even in October, and the flimsy things go on a clothes horse by a radiator. The airer is going on a timer plug so it switches itself off when its eight hours are up.
That is also why we still don't own a tumble dryer. There's no room for one, and even Mum's free one would cost nearly double per load, before I'd put a hose out of the back window. I do keep imagining what 65p buys elsewhere, which is roughly a pint of milk and a banana. But then I picture the lounge without it, with the washing draped over every radiator, and the windows streaming, and I think of the mould spray at £4.50, and I plug the airer back in.
