Most Australian households dry washing indoors at some point. A wet week, an apartment with no line, a cold snap, a baby producing four loads a day.
It is a completely reasonable thing to do, and it has one consequence worth understanding. All the water in that washing has to go somewhere, and it goes into the air in your home. Here is how to manage that properly rather than discovering it as mould on a wall six months later.
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Where the water goes
A load of washing out of the machine is still holding a meaningful amount of water. As it dries, every drop of that evaporates into the room.
That is the entire mechanism. You have not removed water from your house, you have moved it from your towels into your air, and unless it then leaves the building it settles on the coldest surfaces available. Windows, external walls, the back of a wardrobe against an outside wall.
Note the second half of that sentence. The advice is not never do it. The advice is do it with ventilation.
Why it matters beyond the laundry
Worth being clear about the stakes, without being dramatic about them.
The same guidance makes a point people often miss, which is that cleaning visible mould without fixing the moisture source just means it comes back. If your washing is the moisture source, that is the thing to address.
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The setup that actually works
Households who have solved this almost all describe the same combination, and it is not a tumble dryer.
An airer plus a dehumidifier
Put the washing on a clothes airer in one room, close the door, and run a dehumidifier pointed at it. Condensing dehumidifiers work by cooling humid air so the water vapour condenses into liquid that collects in a tank or drains away, which means the moisture leaves your air rather than landing on your walls.
People who switch to this describe washing drying in roughly five hours rather than two days, and the musty towel problem disappearing entirely. It is the single most recommended fix among people who dry indoors regularly.
Two details that make it better
Do several loads at once and dry them together, since the dehumidifier is running either way. And if your unit has a drain hose connection, using it saves you emptying a tank that fills faster than you would expect.
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A side benefit nobody mentions
Worth knowing because it changes the cost calculation.
Drier air feels more comfortable at the same temperature. Thermal comfort depends on humidity as well as temperature, because humidity affects how readily the body loses heat by evaporation.
People running a dehumidifier through winter consistently report that rooms feel warmer and that they reach for the heater less. The effect is modest rather than magical, but when you were going to run the appliance anyway, it is a genuine bonus.
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What about a dryer
A fair question, and the answer has changed.
So the old wisdom that dryers are ruinously expensive to run applies to old vented dryers. A heat pump model costs more to buy and considerably less to run, and because it condenses the moisture rather than venting it into the room, it does not create the damp problem in the first place.
Most households end up with a hybrid approach. Towels, sheets and anything bulky go in the dryer because it is simply easier. Everything else goes on the airer.
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Quick comparison
|
Approach |
Works well when |
Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
|
Airer in a ventilated room |
Mild, dry weather with a window open |
Slow, and useless in humid weather |
|
Airer plus dehumidifier, door closed |
Almost always, including winter |
Needs somewhere to put the airer |
|
Airer near a heater, door closed, no ventilation |
Never, really |
This is the combination that causes mould |
|
Heat pump dryer |
Bulky items, time pressure, no outdoor space |
Higher purchase price |
|
Vented dryer in a closed laundry |
Only if it vents outside |
Venting into the room defeats the purpose |
That third row is worth sitting with. Warm, moist, still air is exactly the condition mould wants, so a heater and a closed door without ventilation or dehumidification is the worst of all options even though it feels like the most effective one.
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One myth to retire
Dehumidifier water is not distilled water. It is condensate collected off a cold coil, and it picks up whatever was in the air and on the coil along the way. It is not recommended for drinking.
It is perfectly good for watering plants that are not edible, or for rinsing things outside. Just do not fill the kettle with it.
In short
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Water in your washing does not disappear, it moves into your indoor air.
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It then condenses on the coldest surfaces in the room.
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Guidance says avoid drying indoors where possible, or ventilate when you cannot.
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NSW Health links indoor moisture to mould and mould to respiratory symptoms in some people.
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Cleaning mould without fixing the moisture means it returns.
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The best setup is an airer in one room with the door shut and a dehumidifier running.
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That typically dries a load in hours rather than days.
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Dry several loads together since the dehumidifier runs anyway.
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Use the drain hose if your unit has one.
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Lower humidity makes rooms feel more comfortable at the same temperature.
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Heat pump dryers use far less energy than conventional dryers.
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All dryers sold in Australia carry an energy rating label.
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A heater plus a closed door with no ventilation is the worst option.
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Only use a vented dryer if it actually vents outside.
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Dehumidifier water is condensate, not distilled, and is not for drinking.
The rule of thumb is simple enough. If you are drying indoors, either the air is moving or the water is being collected. Doing neither is what creates damp.
Our clothes airers and drying racks cover everything from compact to family sized, the laundry accessories range has the smaller pieces that make the routine easier, and laundry storage solutions help if the airer has nowhere to live between loads.
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