How to dry clothes when it's humid

Why your clothes won't dry

Drying is just water moving from wet fabric into the air. When the air is already 80% full of moisture, it can't take any more. Your clothes sit there, soaking wet, looking sad.

This is the Sydney problem. The Singapore problem. The monsoon Mumbai problem. The "British summer" problem. The sun shining doesn't change it.

What actually dries clothes

Three things, in order of how much they matter:

1. Low humidity. Dry air can pull water out of fabric.
2. Wind. Moves the saturated air away and brings fresh dry air in.
3. Heat. Helps, but matters less than the other two.

You need at least two going for you, or your washing won't dry properly.

Things that work

A fan, indoors

Hang the clothes on a rack indoors. Point a pedestal fan at them. Open a window if you can. Most loads are dry in 6 to 8 hours. Electricity cost is under a dollar.

This is the most underrated solution. The fan does the work that wind would do outside.

Spin twice

Run a second spin-only cycle on your washing machine before you hang anything up. You'll get another 20 to 30% of the water out. Towels stop dripping. Drying time drops by hours.

Hang with space

Don't pile clothes on top of each other on the line. Each item needs air on both sides. Stuff jammed together takes twice as long.

Hang shirts on hangers instead of folding them over the line. The air gets inside the shirt, not just around it.

Dehumidifier in a closed room

This is the trick for genuinely humid places. Hang the washing in your bathroom or laundry. Shut the door. Run a 10 to 20 litre dehumidifier for 4 to 6 hours. The dehumidifier pulls water out of the air faster than the clothes can release it.

Costs about 30 to 50 cents in electricity per load. Works regardless of weather.

A heat-pump dryer

If you live somewhere with months of humidity every year, just buy one. They use 60% less power than the old vented kind, work in any weather, and stop being kind to your clothes only after about a decade. Worth the upfront cost.

Knowing if today is a drying day

Open Window Today has a "Dry laundry outside" card. It checks humidity, wind, rain forecast, and temperature, then tells you Yes, No, or Wait. With the reason. If it says No because of humidity, the sun won't save you. Bring out the fan.

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