# Euro Dopers, a little help with my dryer if you please! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 26, 2007, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/euro-dopers-a-little-help-with-my-dryer-if-you-please/416988 "2007-08-26T15:11:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2007, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/euro-dopers-a-little-help-with-my-dryer-if-you-please/416988/1 "2007-08-26T15:11:24Z")
So for the past two years I’ve been using a European style condenser dryer. And for the past two years, not _ **once** _ have I been able to have my sheets come out anything other than a tightly rolled, still damp, horrendously wrinkled ball of bedding that takes 10 minutes to unwrap. Is there some secret trick that you’re withholding from us foreigners?? What do **you** do to get your sheets to come out fluffy and dry? ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2007, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/euro-dopers-a-little-help-with-my-dryer-if-you-please/416988/2 "2007-08-26T15:39:56Z")
I have no idea why your dryer does that but you shouldn’t need any secret trick. The settings are the same as for other dryers and if it works correctly the results are the same, too. From the user’s perspective there shouldn’t be any difference (except for emptying the water tank if it isn’t connected to a waste pipe of course.) Does it dry other things correctly? ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2007, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/euro-dopers-a-little-help-with-my-dryer-if-you-please/416988/3 "2007-08-26T15:41:43Z")
Yep. It’s only the sheets that get all balled up. Of course, none of my clothing is as large as my bedsheets… ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2007, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/euro-dopers-a-little-help-with-my-dryer-if-you-please/416988/4 "2007-08-26T15:56:30Z")
From my trips to Europe, my guess would be, “Hanging it up outside.” ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/euro-dopers-a-little-help-with-my-dryer-if-you-please/416988/5 "2007-08-26T19:19:34Z")
This is tumble dryer, right? Stick them back in the machine for another hour. And make sure you’re not overloading the machine. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2007, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/euro-dopers-a-little-help-with-my-dryer-if-you-please/416988/6 "2007-08-26T22:37:28Z")
The only time this happens to me is when the dryer is overloaded. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/euro-dopers-a-little-help-with-my-dryer-if-you-please/416988/7 "2007-08-27T05:59:19Z")
Unfortunately, it happens even when I put only one sheet in. It’s a German conspiracy, I tell you!! ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/euro-dopers-a-little-help-with-my-dryer-if-you-please/416988/8 "2007-08-27T10:13:11Z")
It’s simple. Condenser driers are crap. Either get a proper vented drier, or hang your laundry outside (much more environmentaaly friendly plus you end up with much fresher laundry!) (BTW, a question for Americans - why does everybody use tumble driers in the USA? I mean, large parts of the country are baking hot in summer, and your laundry would dry in about 10 minutes flat if you hung it out, so why use power-hungry appliances to dry stuff?) ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/euro-dopers-a-little-help-with-my-dryer-if-you-please/416988/9 "2007-08-27T10:38:40Z")
I’ve got a condenser dryer that works fine with sheets, blankets, duvet covers etc. Are the sheets properly spun-dried before you put them in or are they really wet? Or maybe your sheets are too big? Or perhaps there’s a level of sheet drying perfection that us Euro-weenies don’t take as read. But yeah, better would be to hang them up to dry. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/euro-dopers-a-little-help-with-my-dryer-if-you-please/416988/10 "2007-08-27T11:00:19Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] BTW, a question for Americans - why does everybody use tumble driers in the USA? I mean, large parts of the country are baking hot in summer, and your laundry would dry in about 10 minutes flat if you hung it out, so why use power-hungry appliances to dry stuff?) [/QUOTE] Because it’s hot outside so going out, let alone spending several minutes hanging stuff, would be uncomfortable, while as it only takes 2 seconds to move it from the washing machine to the dryer and then forget about it till it beeps. **Involvement** time and comfort matters more than **process** time. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/euro-dopers-a-little-help-with-my-dryer-if-you-please/416988/11 "2007-08-27T11:19:50Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] **Involvement** time and comfort matters more than **process** time. [/QUOTE] Maybe. My mother always used to go on about how tumble driers are sooo expensive to run and that it’s madness to use them. It obviously imbued me with some kind of morbid fear that if I so much as threw a few towels in the drier for 40 minutes on a wet day, the electric bill would somehow multiply by a factor of 10… I still prefer the smell and feel of line-dried clothes, though, so I only use the drier if the weather’s bad. (I.e. most of the time, this summer.) ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/euro-dopers-a-little-help-with-my-dryer-if-you-please/416988/12 "2007-08-27T11:26:27Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] Because it’s hot outside so going out, let alone spending several minutes hanging stuff, would be uncomfortable, while as it only takes 2 seconds to move it from the washing machine to the dryer and then forget about it till it beeps. **Involvement** time and comfort matters more than **process** time. [/QUOTE] [enviromental voice ON]Tssk! Tssk! Use Solar Power. 🆒 A post like yours means you will be hung out to dry. 🙂 [enviromental voice OFF] ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/euro-dopers-a-little-help-with-my-dryer-if-you-please/416988/13 "2007-08-27T11:28:51Z")
No place to hang the sheets where I live. Plus I have really bad hay fever and hanging the sheets outside to collect billions of evil little pollenses of death would be a very bad idea. Could be the sheets are too big - they’re American queen size. But still - one, albeit large, sheet in a dryer should not end up in a tightly rolled sheet sausage! ---
**Author:** ![Magret](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b782af/32.png) [@Magret](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magret)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/euro-dopers-a-little-help-with-my-dryer-if-you-please/416988/14 "2007-08-27T20:09:56Z")
I’ve found that drying JUST a sheet causes the problem, it needs something to knock against. Maybe a pillowcase, or some socks, teatowels. I think it can’t wind itself up so much if there’s something else in there. My combined washer/dryer’s drum is too small to dry a full set of sheets, but I could do it in two loads (one sheet, two pillowcases in each) I might be remembering wrong; these days, I usually wash my bedding at my mum’s, she has a proper tumble dryer, and a back court for line-drying. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2007, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/euro-dopers-a-little-help-with-my-dryer-if-you-please/416988/15 "2007-08-28T08:25:09Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] It obviously imbued me with some kind of morbid fear that if I so much as threw a few towels in the drier for 40 minutes on a wet day, the electric bill would somehow multiply by a factor of 10… [/QUOTE] I suspect that most households spend more money on alcohol than they do on their dryer. _…does some googling…_ According to [this page](http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2007/05/01/americans-spend-more-on-electronics-annually-than-alcohol-and-tobacco-combined/), your average American spends $450 on alcohol a year. And according to [this one](http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/dryers.html) (and assuming one load per a week), you’ll spend a total of $20.28 on drying your clothes. [This recent thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=434100) places a bottle of Maker’s Mark at ~$40, so essentially you’ll save more money by giving up a single bottle of Maker’s Mark every year than entirely foregoing using a dryer. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2007, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/euro-dopers-a-little-help-with-my-dryer-if-you-please/416988/16 "2007-08-28T10:34:41Z")
[QUOTE=Magret] I might be remembering wrong; these days, I usually wash my bedding at my mum’s, she has a proper tumble dryer, and a back court for line-drying. [/QUOTE] Do you think your mum would mind if I brought my laundry round?? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2007, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/euro-dopers-a-little-help-with-my-dryer-if-you-please/416988/17 "2007-08-28T23:10:44Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] (BTW, a question for Americans - why does everybody use tumble driers in the USA? I mean, large parts of the country are baking hot in summer, and your laundry would dry in about 10 minutes flat if you hung it out, so why use power-hungry appliances to dry stuff?) [/QUOTE] Several reasons. And this is coming from a woman who still hangs her sheets out to dry in the summer, and all her clothes out in Colorado in the summer when we didn’t have a dryer. 1. Not everyone is home during the day to do laundry. Some of us do our laundry at night. Late. 2. Not everyone lives in a house with a yard where they can have a clothesline or pole. Some housing developments do not allow clotheslines or poles. 3. A tumble drier does a better job of keeping modern synthetics wrinkle-free and dryer softener sheets keep them soft…line dried clothes tend to be stiffer and scratchier, and in need of ironing. 4. Allergens and pollutants are a problem for some people. Lifting wet clothes above your head and securing them with clothepins is difficult for the elderly. 5. Very few places here are pleasant all year round, and laundry tends to freeze solid on the line in Ohio in the winter