drying cabinets

a few companies sell big cupboards with what appears to have the non-tumbling innerds of a tumble drier within them, such as https://www.mould-stop.co.uk/collections/drying-cabinets – Peko, electrolux and asko appear to be the big vendors.

They seem like a good solution for an outdoorsy family – an ability to get all the kit dry, even stuff you can’t pop into the tumble drier (wetsuits, boots etc) – but they seem disproportionately expensive – for £1200 or so you just get a vented one (that simply warms up the air and lets it blow out) and for double that you get a heat-pump model – both at least 5x the price of a tumble drier. The extra efficiency of the latter appears (with domestic use) not to have a great ROI.

I’d seen them mentioned on here before, and I’m tempted by one (we have some space I can use), but I don’t want to blow lots of cash then find out they’re a bit useless, so thought I’d see if anyone has real-world experience?

I don’t, but have a friend in Estonia who swears by theirs…

We’ve got a couple of the 4 grand “Peko DC6-8 Drying Cabinet”  at work, they’re bloody fantastic. They get absolutely filled with wet kit in the morning and by home time they’re dry as a bone, even the boots that get left in the bottom.

Never seen one of those but £1200!!!

If was putting one in a garage or similar I’d knock one up pretty easily from an old tall fridge or freezer (insulated so pretty efficient) with some vents in the top, a heat pad in the bottom connected to an external wifi switch and a Pi or ESP8266 fitted with a temperature and humidity sensor switching it on and off via IFTTT.

Actually I’m quite tempted to give it a go!  What temperature do they run at?

Or just make the equivalent of a Youth Hostel drying room in as big a cabinet (wardrobe?) as you need – with an appropriately sized electric pipe-type heater?

Dimplex 40W Electric Wall-Mounted Tube Heater – Screwfix

Yeah, a tube heater would be better than a heat pad.

Just thinking out loud…

If it’s a large thing you want for hanging clothes in etc.. It’s going to be expensive for a ready made solution.

If you already have an enclosed space or alcove to do it in..like a wardrobe type scenario..

A heater and an extraction fan to dispel damp air is what you want.

well this is why I wanted feedback – I figured I could knock up an old cupboard with a heater/dehumidifier in the bottom for under £500 but presumably these work a bit better? maybe not..

I used to have an airing cupboard, but it’s now got my central heating system inside, so Joey used a folding airing stand thing that sits on the landing, which worked ok, but took time, but then I discovered Lidl did a heated version with a cover, cost about £50-ish, and is a life saver when the weather’s crap – apart from bedding, I can get a machine load of washing on it, put the cover on and turn it on and leave it. I’ll turn it off overnight, so maybe a couple of days to dry a month or so’s worth of laundry.

Dehumidifier and a clothes horse/rail dries most of my washing in 4-5 hours and cost less than £120

well this is why I wanted feedback – I figured I could knock up an old cupboard with a heater/dehumidifier in the bottom for under £500 but presumably these work a bit better? maybe not..

Same principal I guess..

You just need an enclosed space with an extractor fan and a heat source.. Preferably both controllable so you can balance the extraction speed of the damp air with the heater.

Buy a £100-£200 Dessicant type dehumidier and turn any room in the house you fancy into a drying room?

(Like @pothead, it works perfectly).

Thinking outside the box.. You could buy a tent, something like this :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/205027923366?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&campid=5338690639&toolid=20006&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1QOHubICNRi-uxnkRCfm05A7%26customid%3Ds%253AGS%253Bgc%253Ab411e9dbc7c6186e2b748e8b55136a5e%253Bpt%253A1%253Bchoc%253A1&customid=s%3AGS%3Bgc%3Ab411e9dbc7c6186e2b748e8b55136a5e%3Bpt%3A1%3Bchoc%3A2

And then just buy a suitable extractor fan, and suitable heat source 😉

30 years ago when I was a photographer at the MOD I commandeered one of the film drying cabinets for my cycling kit. Not just great when I arrived wet but brilliant to give everything a quick heat up before riding home in the winter.

The Peko drying cabinets are great pieces of kit. We’ve had one for a few years and it gets used a lot at this time of year for cycling kit and motorbike kit after commutes.

They’re not cheap but are a game changer for us.

Dehumidifier and a clothes horse/rail dries most of my washing in 4-5 hours and cost less than £120

In our old flat we had a Molly maid rack that hung from our hall ceiling. If it was raining we hung washing on that then ran the meaco dehumidifier below it. Dried everything really quickly.

Plus you’ll have a dehumidifier for other duties eg in the car

Can’t you just turn your heating on in your house ?

Can’t you just turn your heating on in your house

That would increase the relative humidity for the whole house.

Comfortable and healthy relative humidity is considered to be between 50% – 60%.

In the past I have been tempted to dry my cycling gear in one of these at work. Simply set it at 50°C and the humidity down low.

https://www.zoro.co.uk/shop/laboratory-equipment/lab-incubators/stability-chamber-kbflqc720-700l/p/ZT2911655S?utm_source=google&utm_campaign=pla%2B%7C%2BLaboratory%20Equipment&utm_term=ZT2911655S&utm_medium=pla_css_3&targetid=pla-1409374323014&loc_physical_ms=9046783&dev=c&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAmMC6BhA6EiwAdN5iLTK3603yLj-Z9075Vw52h8faDV1W2BOj4XroU7rLpNZkipwvT-De2BoC1LcQAvD_BwE

Can’t you just turn your heating on in your house ?

a wetsuit or proper pair of boots will take 3-4 days to dry out in a warm house, as will a thick kids coat that fell in a puddle (along with the kid). Looking for a solution that’s faster than that.

Seems like those who’ve tried one love it, they come up used on ebay every so often, so maybe that’s the path forwards.

We could turn the whole utility room into a drying room, but it’ll have a fair amount of foot traffic so I’m not sure that’ll work too well. We don’t need a dehumidifier for anything else.

I’m drunk but we purposed wig dryers from the theatre

Try to remember to add details tomorrow.

At work, we have had something like this for the last 10 years for the whole academic building

https://sciquip.co.uk/leec-drying-cabinets.html?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAmMC6BhA6EiwAdN5iLcTW20OUOeG3Icbo-Aqlq8L8ARHTLywfLjeUS3F4qjelPixzMeRUOhoCh3QQAvD_BwE

It has 4 shelves. I compact my gear to one shelf (shorts, trousers, base, top, gloves etc), but there are folk who spread their gear out over two, then say – oh loads of room, like this morning. Do not get me started on the folk that don’t regularly wash their towels – oh the pong is bad.  I leave my kit on the bottom, it’s all washed every night.   I think I’m going to have to leave a note about laundering towels, as the smell is getting bad – eye singe opening the door.

It’s grim. That’s all we have for loads of staff. Can’t dry gear in office.

Our boiler cupboard fits a clothes rack and a dehumidifier with a timer.

Cost is much less than £1200

What about a wardrobe with a vent and a dehumidifier?

We had one the size of a typical tall fridge freezer once, a good few years ago.

Worked well until i dropped it when movin and wrecked the door.

The main thing is venting it to outside and its was quite noisey from memory.

We had it in an outside shed.

Its was quite small really, a room is more practical if u have the space.

I would not get one again

Charity shop used wardrobe, cut a hole near the base and point a fan heater at it? Maybe drill some vent holes towards the top?

Pop it out in the garage… For when it bursts into flames.