# Are clothes dryers ubiquitous in Southern California? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 18, 2009, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clothes-dryers-ubiquitous-in-southern-california/518071 "2009-11-18T21:14:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clothes-dryers-ubiquitous-in-southern-california/518071/41 "2009-11-19T08:16:36Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > I’d like to offer some defense or explanation, but I can’t, other than it just seems to me like that’s how it would happen. It’s especially silly because a moment’s thought points me at my bath towels, which dry perfectly well hanging on a hook. No, you’re right: the fibers in line-dried fabrics don’t get knocked around the way they do in the dryer, so they dry in a fixed position and are less soft and flexible immediately after drying. They soften up after a few minutes of wearing, though. If your bath towels got really sopping wet the way a load of laundry does, they would air-dry somewhat “crunchy” too. Some recommendations from laundry buffs for getting air-dried fabrics to be less stiff: - fluff them in the dryer for just a few minutes - hang them out on a windy day so they get shaken around a bit - shake them out while hanging them up - put some white vinegar in the wash and/or use less detergent (based on the idea that the stiffness comes partly from excess soapy residue) Laundry buffs also say that air-drying makes fabrics last longer precisely because the fibers aren’t getting beaten up in the heat and agitation of the dryer. I haven’t been able to find any details on the actual chemical/materials science phenomena involved here, though. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clothes-dryers-ubiquitous-in-southern-california/518071/42 "2009-11-19T08:24:47Z")
My mom still drys clothes outside. In NYC I believe clotheslines are only banned in your front yard. You are allowed to have clotheslines in your backyard. She can afford a drier, but she claims that drying them outside makes them smell fresher. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clothes-dryers-ubiquitous-in-southern-california/518071/43 "2009-11-19T08:35:21Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > - hang them out on a windy day so they get shaken around a bit Ah, maybe that’s the thing, I live in a wind tunnel. Plus, in Spain fabric softeners go in the washer, not the drier. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clothes-dryers-ubiquitous-in-southern-california/518071/44 "2009-11-19T09:44:48Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > And by the way, through which mechanism are the clothes supposed to be getting stiff? Do people with this belief think that clothes need to be “softened” by the movement of the dyer? I’ve had clothes that were washed with really hard water stiffen up when hung out on a line. I didn’t mind, but I could tell the difference between clothes hung out to dry vs dryer dried. I don’t have that problem now, but I still will use my dryer since it’s Oregon and will be rainy and damp for the next 9 months. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clothes-dryers-ubiquitous-in-southern-california/518071/45 "2009-11-19T09:50:11Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > How much is your time worth? Mine is worth far more than the $1.80-$2.40/hour I’d be saving by hanging clothes on a clothesline. Given that minimum wage is 3 times that amount, I’d guess that just about _everybody’s_ time is worth more than that. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t line dry clothes if you like it, or if it makes you feel warm and fuzzy for saving the planet (I ride my bike to the grocery store for that very reason, and for the exercise), but the economic argument is pretty weak. Well it’s not like you would be working instead of hanging clothes out to dry (sorry boss, have to go home 10 minutes early today so I can hang out the clothes.) Most people would otherwise be slothing out watching TV or something. So the economic argument does make a lot of sense when you compare using the time to do something that saves some money to using the time to do something that doesn’t save money. In both cases you’re not earning any extra money. > [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > In much of southern California, the land needed for a clothesline would cost more than years of running a dryer. Well no one would expect you to buy land just to have a clothesline, if you have the land use it, if not air your clothes inside, in the garage, in the laundry, or just use a clothes dryer. > [@Kingspades](#): > > There was an interesting interview some months back on Marketplace with the owners of an Australian firm that makes circular outdoor clothes drying racks. Apparently these things are ubiquitous down under, and indeed in many other parts of the world, but they’re having a devil of a time breaking the U.S. market. This made me laugh. It highlights the cultural difference nicely. Imagine you read someone say “there was an interesting interview some months back with the owners of an American firm that makes a motorised carriage. Apparently these things are ubiquitous in the US and in many other parts of the world, but they’re having a devil of a time breaking the Australian market.” ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clothes-dryers-ubiquitous-in-southern-california/518071/46 "2009-11-19T10:58:42Z")
> [@ruadh](#): > > The other thing to remember **An Gadaí** is that American clothes dryers actually _dry your clothes_, and in a pretty short time. They’re not like these miserable Irish/British ones that spend hours and hours guzzling up energy only to get your clothes from wet to moderately damp. You need a new dryer, mine works fine. 🙂 I had noticed though that US ones are bigger and faster. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clothes-dryers-ubiquitous-in-southern-california/518071/47 "2009-11-19T11:04:11Z")
> [@redtail23](#): > > I do dry a lot of stuff indoors on one of those folding racks. Anything heavy that’s going to take forever to dry, I tend to let air dry. And then I’ve got a lot of shirts that call for line-drying. > > FWIW, if you don’t like the feel of line-dried clothes, toss 'em in the dryer for a few minutes. The tumbling will soften them right up. In the winter I do socks undies and tshirts on a wooden rack in the living room, helps the dry air rehumidify [along with the pot of water on top of the woodstove] Larger stuff would be in the way given how much longer they take to dry. Except for the heated mattress pads, they need to be spread out to dry, but they don’t get washed as often as the rest of the linens. ---
**Author:** ![groo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecd19e/32.png) [@groo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groo)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clothes-dryers-ubiquitous-in-southern-california/518071/48 "2009-11-19T11:04:14Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > the difference in attitude between the US and Europe/Australia on this is pretty amazing. > > In the UK and Australia people would look down on you as being a lazy slob if you used a clothes drier on a warm summer day. Hanging on lines or indoor clothes racks is the normal default, even in winter. Washers? Dryers? I just hand my laundry over to a guy in a laundromat, come back the next day, and trade him $20 for my now-cleaned laundry. Does that make me seem lazy? Weekly pay: $X Waking, non-working, non-eating, non-sleeping hours per week: 52 Hours to do laundry: 3 minimum Value of three hours of my leisure time: $X\*3/52. It’s a number much larger than 20 ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clothes-dryers-ubiquitous-in-southern-california/518071/49 "2009-11-19T12:49:15Z")
> [@Kingspades](#): > > Apparently these things are ubiquitous down under, and indeed in many other parts of the world, but they’re having a devil of a time breaking the U.S. market. > > According to the interview, the biggest hurdle they had to overcome was perception. Drying clothes outdoors is perceived as something only poorer families do. This, in turn, leads many neighborhood associations to outright ban outdoor drying from a fear that it will lower property values. I moved from Australia where line drying was the norm to Seattle where line drying is all but impossible 9 months out of the year and I far, far, prefer line dried clothes. With clothes dryers, you’re essentially bashing the clothes around for an hour and I can’t see how that can be any good for them. The worst of the abuse seems to be meted out on the crotch of pants when each leg gets wrapped around a ball of clothing and is pulled apart. I’ve noticed pants wear out noticeably more quickly now in the US than before. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clothes-dryers-ubiquitous-in-southern-california/518071/50 "2009-11-19T12:58:19Z")
If you have the apparatus in your house, it doesn’t take three active hours of your time. It takes maybe thirty seconds every time you run back there and switch machines. ETA - that was for **groo**. ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clothes-dryers-ubiquitous-in-southern-california/518071/51 "2009-11-19T13:09:35Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > It is an interesting cultural difference. When I bought my current place I told the agent not to bother showing me anything that didn’t have a clothes line, or room for one. Same here. I live in the tropics and it astounds me how many upscale apartment complexes don’t have clothes hanging areas. Here at least it does make a huge difference to electricity bills. As for hanging clothes being unsightly, it is not too hard to find a simple solution. Where I lived in Israel the back balconies in most buildings had a recess between the balcony and the building facade so that clothes could hang without being visible from outside. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clothes-dryers-ubiquitous-in-southern-california/518071/52 "2009-11-19T13:10:31Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > If you have the apparatus in your house, it doesn’t take three active hours of your time. It takes maybe thirty seconds every time you run back there and switch machines. > > ETA - that was for **groo**. Ah yeah, it’s the sort of thing you can do in an ad break. Actually, it would take longer to take the clothes to the guy at the laundry. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clothes-dryers-ubiquitous-in-southern-california/518071/53 "2009-11-19T15:11:50Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I always wondered, when I was living in Florida (where people do have clothes dryers, although it’s important to remember that the rainy season isn’t so much “rainy” as “drenched”), how come that so many Americans have that idea - yet ads for fabric softener do show clothes drying on a line. > > I still don’t get it. On TV, white sheets and baby clothes waving on a clothesline are romantically homey and adorable and probably sorta Martha Stewart-y (does anyone know if she ever rhapsodized on line drying?). IRL, a lot of people see it as low-class. Yes, it is very stupid, but then I have a clothesline. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clothes-dryers-ubiquitous-in-southern-california/518071/54 "2009-11-19T15:14:47Z")
This article is on the front page of Yahoo right now. Seems like the topic is gaining some momentum. [http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091118/us\_nm/us\_usa\_laundry](http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091118/us_nm/us_usa_laundry) ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clothes-dryers-ubiquitous-in-southern-california/518071/55 "2009-11-19T15:49:52Z")
So many people have said “I wouldn’t want line-dried clothes as they’re all stiff”. Have they ever actually worn line-dried clothes, I wonder? They’re not stiff at all, and they generally feel much fresher than tumble-dried clothes. I have a tumble dryer but only use it in winter or if it’s chucking it down with rain all day. (I use it quite a lot 😉 ). If I possibly can, I will line-dry my clothes, simply because they feel nicer that way. Also, have you seen the amount of lint that comes off clothes each time you use the dryer? That’s wearing the fabric out, fast. As for “homeless people messing with your clothes” or “the neighbourhood thinks it’s unsightly”? Er, you don’t put a washing line in the _front_ garden - it goes in the back where nobody can reach it and only your next-door neighbours might be able to see it. ---
**Author:** ![Vihaga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Vihaga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vihaga)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clothes-dryers-ubiquitous-in-southern-california/518071/56 "2009-11-19T15:57:29Z")
Wow! I had kind of forgotten about line-drying! My mother (and I) always hung clothes out in the summer when I was a kid, but we stopped doing it as she started working full time and it seemed like we weren’t home as much when it was light out. Then, living in a city for several years in a small apartment, it wasn’t much of an option. Now I have a house and it never occurred to me to have a clothes line. I’m definitely putting one in. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clothes-dryers-ubiquitous-in-southern-california/518071/57 "2009-11-19T16:10:22Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > If you’re line-drying for the energy benefits, I don’t think you come out very well by hanging them inside in the winter. Evaporation requires heat, and the heat in your house is provided by your furnace. It’s probably a bit more efficient than a dryer, but I wouldn’t assume it’s a _lot_ more. Clothes will get dry even if it’s below zero, it just takes longer time. I once lived in a building with a washing machine and a room with clotheslines in the unheated attic. There never were any problems with getting the stuff dry. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clothes-dryers-ubiquitous-in-southern-california/518071/58 "2009-11-19T16:20:09Z")
I think in dry dusty pollutant laden cities, I would pass on solar drying. But heh instead of stone washed jeans you could have smog washed jeans. OTOH I do solar dry at my house in the spring summer fall, its a hobby. I love the exercise, fresh air, my view, the statement I am making, my green offering of a sun and air dried load of clothes in exchange for the jet contrail above me. I guess I kind of meditate or pray when I hang out my wash. All that bending over, finding my humble center seeking solidarity with my sisters at the river with the rocks. A wringer washer may be in my future…😉 ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clothes-dryers-ubiquitous-in-southern-california/518071/59 "2009-11-19T16:58:09Z")
Also, around here for a good part of the year everything would come in yellow with pollen, so there’s that. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clothes-dryers-ubiquitous-in-southern-california/518071/60 "2009-11-19T19:10:13Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > This article is on the front page of Yahoo right now. Seems like the topic is gaining some momentum. > > [http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091118/us\_nm/us\_usa\_laundry](http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091118/us_nm/us_usa_laundry) She’s hanging the laundry out the front of her house, I agree this is unsightly and is not something you’d often see here in Australia. Do you guys not have enclosed back yards? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clothes-dryers-ubiquitous-in-southern-california/518071.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clothes-dryers-ubiquitous-in-southern-california/518071.md?page=4)