The majority of us probably do it, but is it what they are meant for? Well clearly radiators of all descriptions are for heating our properties. But there cannot be many of us who haven’t resorted to hanging washing on them during the winter, when it can be hard to get it dry any other way.
It is better than using the tumble dryer – for those of us who actually have one – as tumble dryers are notoriously expensive to run. And if it is cold and you have the heating on anyway, why not make use of it?
The problem is that it isn’t quite that simple. When clothing is wet and you put it on a hot radiator, it basically sends steam into the air. This can be enormously damaging to the surroundings over a longer period of time. If you have damp or mould in your bathroom for example, you will know what we mean. This occurs because of the damp atmosphere that is evident in our bathrooms whenever we have a shower or a bath. The steam creates it.
If you use your radiators all the time to hang washing on, you will eventually notice the wallpaper peeling off the walls behind them. Even if you have painted walls the same thing can occur. And peeling paint does not look good at all.
In theory it is better if we can let the steam escape. After you use the bathroom you would generally open a window to let it out and to get rid of that humidity. But in the winter, when you are trying to dry clothes, the last thing you want to do is to let the heat out of the room and the cold back in.
So are there any solutions?
The best bet is not to hang washing on your radiators at all. When it comes to designer radiators they look very good, so you won’t want to cover them up. You may be able to get drying racks that hook over them though, on which you can hang a few items to get them dry. Check the design of your radiator before you buy though – they won’t work for everything.
In addition to this you should think about getting larger racks to stand in front of a radiator. It will take the washing longer to dry but it will still get the benefit of the heat being expelled, without any of the humidity. Be sure to turn the rack around every now and then to get the best drying ability from it.
It just goes to show the long term damage that you can cause, just from trying to dry one or two items on your radiators. Designer ones are harder to do this with, because of the way they look. Quite often the style will prohibit it anyway.
So try and find an alternative and make sure you keep your home looking good at all times.