Monday, March 28, 2011

Spin drying of clothes

After washing/rinsing clothes in the washing machine we normally spin dry the clothes for our convenience so that we can fold and put clothes back in the wardrobe quickly.

Does spin drying really necessary in a country like Sri Lanka? I don't think so!

We have abundant solar thermal heat for drying clothes rather than just letting it spin in the machine (and later quick drying).

Why should we opted to less convenient drying method (drying under the sun)? Here is why...
  1. Durability of clothes - when you spin dry clothes it becomes shrink, less soft and fade (sometimes you may have experienced these).
  2. Durability of machine
  3. Energy saving - please see below for my experiment results
But drying under sun may not always be applicable. But it must be used whereever/whenever it is possible.

See below for my experiment results on spin drying and as you can see, the experiment results is a proof for 3rd point I mentioned above.

Washer make/model:LG/WF-S6061PC 6.0 kg
Power factor:0.56
Weight of clothes:2.0 kg [though the machine is 6.0 kg capable, 2.0 kg filled almost ~80% of tumbler :D]
Energy consumed for wash/rinse cycle:0.03 kWh
Energy consumed for Spinning:0.01 kWh

From the above facts 1/4th of total energy is used for spinning.


Please do dry clothes under Sun!