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by ergothus 3350 days ago
For apartment goers (or those that live in uncooperative climates) the reliability of such a system is a bigger problem than the speed.

But for those that can use it, it is indeed a great system.

4 comments

One day we'll invent a technology device to answer the age old question: "Still wet or just cold?"
Perfect, of course this exists. It even has a FUN button for when waiting for the clothes to dry gets too boring.
What really struck me as remarkable was this bit: "Digital display with back light gives exact and clearly reading although you stay at the somber conditions"

I wish my TV could do that...

4.47$ shipping, and it's not even next day? Pass! /s
Yeah I'll wait for the ETEKCITY version for $16 with prime shipping.
I press it to my face to answer that question. Somehow my face is much more reliable at telling the difference between cold and wet than my hands.
I just mentioned the "wet or cold" problem to someone else and they said "just use your face"! So it's not just you. Something to try this winter...
Lips or tongue are even more sensitive for this IME. I test vitrification of pottery by putting my tongue on it. I use my lips to test washing for cold vs. damp, but we sparsely use an eco friendly washing liquid, YMMV.
Doesn't work so well if you have a beard.
Doesn't using your tongue, which is usually wet, increase the chance of a false positive?
I live in a tiny flat in Austria. The vast majority of my washing dries overnight provided I actually get it done around lunch time... even when it's raining. I don't even put it outside most of the time.

If I'm in a major hurry, mostly due to self inflicted procrastination, I'll point a regular fan at the rack as it dries.

I used to hang my clothes indoors when I was living in Europe (some apartments had clever retractable hangers built above the bathtub), and even when raining they would dry in less than a day.
Can you put your clothes on a fire escape? Or in your bathroom (works great if you have a bathroom with a window).
Every apartment complex I've lived in has had rules banning hanging clothes (no idea about enforcement). Also, for any group larger than 2 I imagine the clothes would not dry fast enough to keep up.

And most bathrooms are small and often without a window.

Not a complaint, just pointing out that sun-drying is often not a real choice. Often it is.

Many management types will attempt to tell you that you can't hang clothes on a line. In nineteen states, such rules are explicitly prohibited by state law: http://www.sightline.org/2012/02/21/clothesline-bans-void-in... . They have the cheeky name of "right to dry states".

A related thing often banned is external over-the-air antennas, protected by US federal law.

Well, the focus in that particular article is on HOA bans, not apartment ones. For instance, the Hawaii law (the first one I clicked on that seemed particularly cut-and-dried) is restricted to single-family homes and townhomes.

"The purpose of this Act is to prohibit real estate contracts, agreements, and rules from precluding or rendering ineffective the use of clotheslines on the premises of [b]single-family dwellings or townhouses[/b]." [0] http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2009/bills/SB1338_CD1_....

Living in Beijing, we never dried our clothes outside the apartment. We had racks in the kitchen for that. I don't think management companies can ban drying inside! It sounds unenforceable.
Alternatively, a clothes rack on a balcony or receiving direct sunlight through a window or glass sliding door, with both slightly ajar works well.

One benefit of this is that your clothes last much longer.

In the winter, I find they dry quite quickly if I just put the clothes rack indoors near a radiator.
However never hang clothes on a radiator to dry, this is the least efficient method of using your radiators.
If you have city central radiated heating, then making the radiators less effective is just a bonus of getting your clothes to dry a bit faster.
I'm not sure how common that is, the only place I have heard of it is in some Scandinavian countries but if you know otherwise i would love to hear about it.
It's considered reasonable to endanger lives to dry washing? (I don't live in the US).
Well obviously don't be stupid where you put the clothes, (I.e. don't block egress).