Consider your dryer only as a drying appliance for really wet weather.
Even better, avoid washing altogether on rainy days. If you can, use clothes horses or airing racks and lines inside to fully or partly dry your washing.
When you do need to use your dryer, follow these power saving tips to lower your power use and impact on our environment:
- use correct temperature settings to minimise the amount of electricity consumed
- don't overload your dryer – it takes longer to dry your clothes and uses more power
- use residual heat – if you've got several loads, dry them one after the other
- use your washer's spin cycle to make sure clothes aren't soaking wet when you put them in the dryer
- clean the lint filter on the dryer after every load to maximise drying efficiency, maintain full airflow, and minimise fire risk
- create airflow in the laundry by opening doors and windows to prevent humidity forming which slows down drying time
- don't mix heavyweight and lightweight articles in the same load
- share the load, finish drying or partly hang the items outdoors or in the sun