The 350 W dehumidifier that dries laundry overnight

The dehumidifier that retires the tumble dryer at 350 watts

Hang the laundry before going to bed and find it dry in the morning. No tumble dryer. No drama. That's the scene described by someone who, after two years of forced cohabitation with the appliance his vvife imposed on him, discovered that an empty room with a cross-shaped drying rack from Lidl did the same job while he slept. The savings on electricity, he says, are considerable. The fine print appeared in the second reply: the dehumidifier. That was the trick.

The real find wasn't the drying rack, it was the appliance next to it. A dehumidifier with a maximum consumption of 350 watts, so quiet as to be imperceptible according to those who use it daily, which dries the air so that the air carries away the moisture from the clothes. In a small, warm room, the laundry disappears within hours. The same appliance that fights sweaty walls, relieves the heavy coastal air and serves as backup heating when the butane heater acts up.

How much a dehumidifier uses compared to a tumble dryer

The calculation doing the rounds in the conversation is rough but gives an idea: 350 watts of maximum power versus the more than 2,000 a conventional tumble dryer can swallow. Some add that the appliance doesn't just waste the heat from condensation but returns it to the room, so in winter the cost is partly offset by the heating you don't need to turn on. The tumble dryer, on the other hand, expels that heat through a hose or dissipates it in a spinning drum.

The comparison has its fans and its critics. A tumble dryer dries in an hour; the dehumidifier needs the whole night. That's the real gap. Whoever hangs the laundry at eleven and takes it in at seven has won; whoever needs the shirt at eight in the morning to rush out the door, hasn't. There are also those who point out that air-dried clothes come out like a crumpled mess while dryer laundry comes out fluffy. Matter of taste.

The noise, the tank and the moisture you have too much or too little of

The practical doubts are not minor. Does the tank overflow with a full load? How much water does it collect? Is it noisy at night? The most repeated answer is that the appliance is practically inaudible and that the tank easily holds a full load, though it's best to empty it. The resulting water, distilled, ends up watering plants or filling the iron. Homemade circular economy.

Geography rules. On Spain's northern Cantabrian coast, where ambient humidity is a flatmate, the dehumidifier holds its own: it improves comfort, reduces the feeling of cold and keeps mould from growing on the walls. In the middle of the peninsula, however, some argue the opposite: with the heating drying out the air, the moisture from hanging laundry is even welcome. A five-euro hygrometer and a ceramic humidifier on the radiator solve the other end of the problem.

The tumble dryer isn't dead: it has its fans

Not everyone can afford the experiment. Some have no spare room, some live in a flat with no outdoor drying space, and some simply don't want to give up the convenience. Also those who bought the tumble dryer to escape the fried-food smell rising from the inner courtyard and the neighbour who shook out her mop at odd hours. And those who argue the tumble dryer saves on ironing, which is another way of counting the cost.

The consensus, if there is one, is modest: the dehumidifier is a multi-purpose appliance that dries clothes, removes moisture from walls and improves the air. The tumble dryer is an expensive monoculture that does one single thing very fast. For those who can wait, the maths works out. For those who can't, it works out too.

The prediction, with reservations: if electricity prices keep pulling stunts, more than one person will look at that Lidl drying rack with new eyes. And more than two will realise the real invention wasn't the drying rack.