Bad homesteader! ... I have a dryer or TWO.

[cindyc]

I confess. I have a clothes dryer. Two in fact. You could argue three. Well, that was an accident. I bought a gas dryer for Habitat for Humanity Re-Store. It didn't work! So I decided to buy a new one. At Sears, there was one of those dryers with the cabinet on top for drying hanging clothes and sweaters, and the regular dryer on the bottom. They had marked it down to 500, but it was still WAY out of my price range. Long story short, I got it for 200.00.
However, by the time I got home with it, a friend who was here working on the house had fixed the other one. It wouldn't spin b/c for some reason it had Guinea feathers stuck in the back of it!
The house does not have CH&A, or a wood stove either. It only has heaters at all on the first floor. They are gas, but it cost less to run the dryers. SO, I left the big dryer down stairs, Put a knee high over the end of the vent, and let it vent back into the house. We now have heat downstairs, and we keep the laundry done all winter. :baby04: Smells nice in here too! (We did this in our old house too.) The other one is still in the laundry room UP stairs, and we did the same thing to it with the vent... now we have a heater on the second floor where there wasn't one before.
So, I confess to being a bad homesteader, and having not one, but TWO dryers that I run almost all the time in the winter. From a cost perspective, it is cheaper than the alternative, and since this is not my house, I cannot alter it by putting in a wood stove. The house HAD a wood stove when the people who own it bought it, and they tore it out and put in these really inefficient gas heaters.
In the summer time, the clothes go on the line outside. There, maybe I have redeemed myself?
Cindyc.

[Jim S.]

Got no prob with the 2 dryers. I do think you ought to think twice about venting carbon monoxide back into your house. There are dryer heat exchangers you can get that will keep the heat but not vent CO into your home.

As far as your inefficient heaters, you could use the gas taps to run unvented gas heaters that sit on the floor (no alteration to the building). They are much better about CO emissions than those dryers are.

Hate for ya to die in bed some night.

[Phantomfyre]

I'm guilty, too: I have a dryer. It gets used in the winter only, and I, too vent it back into the house. Ours is electric ($$$ to run) but I feel better knowing the electricity is doing double-duty. Triple, really, because we don't have to run the humidifier on the furnace. But please be careful about venting gas dryers into the house. It can be dangerous, and if you ever sell your home, you may have to get them vented properly because in some areas, it's against building codes to vent dryers (esp. gas) into the house. My parents' old farmhouse had the dryer vented inside, and after some extensive remodeling, they had to have a home inspector come and check for code compliance, and he saw that dryer vent and had a fit.

I'm guilty of owning an automatic washing machine as well. *Gasp!* Oh, the horror... I do catch the water from it with a VERY makeshift graywater system (big trash can, a little submersible pump and a garden hose), so I redeem it a little that way.

[DocM]

I have had as many as 7 teens at a time living in my house in the past few years. I have two dryers. Winters in the PNW, hanging clothes to dry, even inside, is futile. Jeans take days, if not weeks, to dry. Carhartts take a month. The other things I do to reduce my carbon footprint more than make up for the two (energy star) dryers. I don't feel guilty for a second.

[Jim S.]

Originally Posted by Phantomfyre

It can be dangerous, and if you ever sell your home, you may have to get them vented properly because in some areas, it's against building codes to vent dryers (esp. gas) into the house. My parents' old farmhouse had the dryer vented inside, and after some extensive remodeling, they had to have a home inspector come and check for code compliance, and he saw that dryer vent and had a fit.

Installation must conform with local codes, or in the absence of local codes, with the International Residential Coide.

Here's the code...it makes no exceptions for electric dryers, though there are lint trap kits to vent ELECTRIC dryers into a home. That still would violate the IRC...

CLOTHES DRYERS EXHAUST
M1501.1 General.
Dryer exhaust systems shall be independent of all other systems, shall convey the moisture to the outdoors and shall terminate on the outside of the building. Exhaust duct terminations shall be in accordance with the dryer manufacturer's installation instructions. Screens shall not be installed at the duct termination. Exhaust ducts shall not be connected with sheet-metal screws or fastening means which extend into the duct. Exhaust ducts shall be equipped with a backdraft damper. Exhaust ducts shall be constructed of minimum 0.016-inch-thick (0.406 mm) rigid metal ducts, having smooth interior surfaces with joints running in the direction of air flow.

Flexible transition ducts used to connect the dryer to the exhaust duct system shall be limited to single lengths, not to exceed 8 feet (2438 mm) in length and shall be listed and labeled in accordance with UL 2158A. Transition ducts shall not be concealed within construction.
Exception: This section shall not apply to listed and labeled condensing (ductless) clothes dryers.

[Mr.Hoppes]

BUt neither work

One is only a few years old, and is a over the washer kind ( washer doesn't work either)

The other was a given and doesn't heat, just turns.

The clothes lines work fine for now, But SOON one of the dryers will have to be fixed.

The temps are going down every week now.

One day soon I am sure my wife will be asking me how to get frozen clothes off the line...

Both are electric so we need not worry about exaust.
We have no Gas on the property at all.

[BlueHeronFarm]

Can't talk--my dryer just buzzed...

[Michael W. Smith]

What homesteading rule says you aren't allowed to have a dryer?

There is a wide diversity of people here on the board - and some of state of the art appliances and such and still live the homesteading life (and have the money to do it). Some here have the bare basics either due to choice or income level and are homesteaders as well.

There are no "income guidelines" rules saying whether or not one is a homesteader or not. Neither are there rules stating how primitive or how up to date you can be to be a homesteader either!

While using the heat from the dryer is truly a frugal homesteader's approach, there are two concerns here. #1 is how much moisture it's letting in to the house. If you have an older house or one not sealed up too tightly, you should be fine there. The other concern and of more importance is the carbon monoxide your dryer is putting off.

I'm not sure what "inefficient" heaters you are talking about, but for a couple hundered bucks, you can get a ventless free natural gas heater where 100% of the gas is used for heating (and as a plus) they have an oxygen sensor that if the oxygen level gets too low in your home, they shut off automatically.

At any rate, unless you have a monster family, I can't see where the clothes dryers would actually be running all that much. (And if you are just running them for the heat value - a ventless heater will be alot more efficient as well as safer.)

[edcopp]

I just bought two brand new clothes dryers (some assembly required) at Family Dollar. 100 feet of clothesline + two packs of snap type clothespins. Total cost $4.28 even includes $.28 extorted by the state of Ohio in the form of sales tax.

My two dryers use NO gas, NO electric, and do NOT need a building to be located in. One may get installed inside near the wood burning stove on a temporary bases from time to time.

No oil/gas wells will be needed to keep this one (2) going and NO coal mines will be needed either. I saved a lot on auto gas too I only drove 7 miles to get this set up, all at one location. There was no installer needed, I did it my self. There was no delivery truck/trucker needed. I did that myself too.

Now it was difficult but I was able to pay cash fot this clothes dryer (2). I did not need a loan, and I did not have to pay interest, or pay for a credit check. So by this prudent activity I will be able to afford soap.

Just doing my part to save the planet.

[Rick]

Originally Posted by cindyc

I confess. I have a clothes dryer. Two in fact. You could argue three. Well, that was an accident. I bought a gas dryer for Habitat for Humanity Re-Store. It didn't work! So I decided to buy a new one. At Sears, there was one of those dryers with the cabinet on top for drying hanging clothes and sweaters, and the regular dryer on the bottom. They had marked it down to 500, but it was still WAY out of my price range. Long story short, I got it for 200.00.
However, by the time I got home with it, a friend who was here working on the house had fixed the other one. It wouldn't spin b/c for some reason it had Guinea feathers stuck in the back of it!
The house does not have CH&A, or a wood stove either. It only has heaters at all on the first floor. They are gas, but it cost less to run the dryers. SO, I left the big dryer down stairs, Put a knee high over the end of the vent, and let it vent back into the house. We now have heat downstairs, and we keep the laundry done all winter. :baby04: Smells nice in here too! (We did this in our old house too.) The other one is still in the laundry room UP stairs, and we did the same thing to it with the vent... now we have a heater on the second floor where there wasn't one before.
So, I confess to being a bad homesteader, and having not one, but TWO dryers that I run almost all the time in the winter. From a cost perspective, it is cheaper than the alternative, and since this is not my house, I cannot alter it by putting in a wood stove. The house HAD a wood stove when the people who own it bought it, and they tore it out and put in these really inefficient gas heaters.
In the summer time, the clothes go on the line outside. There, maybe I have redeemed myself?
Cindyc.

You should take in Laundry!!

(and purcase a CO2 alarm with some of the profits)

Rick

[Jim S.]

Originally Posted by Michael W. Smith

I'm not sure what "inefficient" heaters you are talking about, but for a couple hundered bucks, you can get a ventless free natural gas heater where 100% of the gas is used for heating (and as a plus) they have an oxygen sensor that if the oxygen level gets too low in your home, they shut off automatically.

I use one of those heaters part-time in my shop. My MIL uses several as the sole heaters in her house. Her windows do get a film on the inside of them after a heating season, so they are putting out stuff that folks in her house are breathing. They have upgraded over the years; all the ventless heaters make the same film (just in case someone was thinking it was something wrong with her heaters). As long as you are cool with that, ventless is fine.

The most efficient gas heater I ever had was one of those boxy freestanding heaters with the ceramic inserts and the flame behind the glass in front. That was in Illinois, and it kept that house cozy in -40 degrees very cheaply.

[cindyc]

My dh spoke with gas company after the above alarming posts and they are not concerned under certain conditions, which our dryers meet. I DO have a "monster family" (if by that you mean large...) There are 7 of us - five kids. If the dryers ever show signs of not meeting those conditions, we will switch over to the heaters. AND, we will get a carbon monoxide alarm as well, so that we aren't throwing caution to the wind. The house is old and drafty, and not AT ALL sealed tight, which also relieves my mind.

Notice: The above story was meant to simply amuse... Worry not... I hold no one to any standard in homesteading whatsoever.

Cindyc.

[RedneckPete]

Originally Posted by rose2005

Ours will be used for emergency only.

Only until you get used to it!

Pete

[texican]

I would really love to be able to dry clothes outside.

I have free range chickens.

That can fly.

And do. Often.

Get the picture???

So I have a dryer.

[boonieman]

EdCopp:

That was one awesome post!!!! Made my belly hurt from laughing, although there is a serious message to it.

[Phantomfyre]

Originally Posted by Jim S.

Here's the code...it makes no exceptions for electric dryers, though there are lint trap kits to vent ELECTRIC dryers into a home. That still would violate the IRC...

Thanks, Jim, good info. I guess we're in violation, technically, because he have one of those "heat saver" deals that installs in the exhaust line that you can switch from outside to inside venting, depending on need and season. So, note to self: if we ever go to sell this place, remove the heat saver before listing the house!

Originally Posted by Michael W. Smith

While using the heat from the dryer is truly a frugal homesteader's approach, there are two concerns here. #1 is how much moisture it's letting in to the house. If you have an older house or one not sealed up too tightly, you should be fine there. The other concern and of more importance is the carbon monoxide your dryer is putting off.

We thought about those things, Michael, but decided to try it because we have an electric dryer, so no CO to worry about. And, as described above, I can just flip a switch/flap to vent outside as needed. We monitored the humidity levels in the house carefully last winter to make sure we weren't overdoing the humidity, and it was fine. However, there are only 2 of us here, so not a lot of laundry.

A few people have mentioned getting lazy or "used to" owning/using a dryer. Well, I have a dryer AND I still use the clothesline as early as I can stand handling wet laundry with bare hands in the spring and as late into the fall/early winter as I can, too. I hate having to stop using the line when the time comes every year. (Yeah, I know clothes will dry in below-freezing temps, but somehow, the idea of having wet clothes freeze to my fingers when it's 10 below just doesn't seem very bright. Frostbite ain't fun.)