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Life runs on tight schedules and waits of 45 minutes to an hour for a single drying cycle can throw off the routine for a whole day. When you’re standing in front of your dryer watching the minutes tick by, it can feel like the most frustrating obstacle between you and the rest of your day. Fortunately, there are a few hacks floating around the internet that promise to help speed up the laundry process, such as adding a dry towel to a dryer load to reduce drying time. But does putting a dry towel in the dryer help? We spoke to a few laundry experts to see if they support or debunk this popular hack.
Experts say it works, with some caveats
Household appliance pros agree that this trick can improve your laundry. “Adding a clean, dry towel to the dryer can help wet clothes dry faster because the towel absorbs moisture and helps separate the clothes as they tumble,” says Morgan LaLonde, senior brand manager at Whirlpool washing machine headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. As the cloth absorbs more moisture, the dryer requires less heat, meaning it can run more efficiently and quickly.
The towel also helps distribute the heat more evenly across the items in the load, ensuring they all dry at the same rate. Finally, the towel helps separate the clothes so they don’t stick together. This allows hot air to circulate more freely and evenly, improving overall efficiency.
However, it’s recommended to remove the newly damp cloth halfway through the cycle, about 5 to 10 minutes for small loads or 15 to 20 minutes for large loads, LaLonde says. “This is because the dryer will use extra energy to dry the cloth itself and potential energy savings comes from reducing the total drying time required for the entire load of laundry,” she says.
“If you forget to remove a towel that’s become damp, you’re only slowing down the drying process because now the dryer has to dry the towel as well—and that defeats the purpose,” adds Megan Dozer, owner and CEO of Doctor Fix It Plumbing, Heating, Cooling and Electrical in Denver, Colorado.
“By using the dry towel method correctly, you can cut about 5 to 10 minutes off your 60-minute drying cycle.”
– Megan Dozer, Doctor Fix It Plumbing, Heating, Cooling and Electrical
Save time, energy and money
A typical dry cycle takes about 45 minutes, but that time can vary depending on the cycle, heat setting and size of your load, LaLonde says. Adding a dry towel can help speed up the drying process, allowing you to optimize your laundry schedule and prioritize other activities. “The towel also helps prevent tangling of larger items, such as sheets, by helping these items separate as they spin, resulting in more efficient drying and less clumping.”
While there’s no significant industry data on how much drying time you can actually save, appliance repair expert Brooke Stafford, senior service manager at Appliance Protection Domestic and generalestimates that you’ll cut your laundry chore by a few minutes. “But the exact time saved depends on how big the load is, what’s being dried and how efficient the dryer is at venting,” notes Stafford.
In Doser’s experience, a dry cloth can reduce drying time by about 10 to 15 percent if you’re drying heavy items like jeans, coats, large towels, or hoodies. “By using the dry towel method correctly, you can cut about 5 to 10 minutes off your 60-minute drying cycle,” she says. “If you dry heavy items every day, using the dry towel method can reduce energy use from about 3 to 5 kWh to approximately 2.5 to 4.5 kWh per load and can reduce your energy bills by about $1 to $3 per month,” says Dozer.
Follow these tips for best results
You’ll want to keep the following suggestions in mind to maximize your savings with the dry towel trick:
- Clean the lint trap before each load so that your dryer operates as efficiently as possible.
- Use a regular cotton towel in the dryer with your wet laundry. “You don’t need to use fancy or expensive towels for this trick,” says LaLonde. You risk ruining expensive luxury towels as the fibers can become coarse during the drying process.
- If you are drying at full loadmake sure your dryer is not too packed. “A towel needs room to move and effectively absorb moisture, so it works best with medium-sized loads,” explains LaLonde.
- Avoid using this hack for small loads of laundry. “The dry towel method doesn’t make any difference if you’re using it on small amounts of light clothing like T-shirts, underwear, or thin workout clothes,” cautions Dozer.
- Do not throw away a dry towel with delicate items such as silk, lace or special sports materials. “Adding a towel to these loads would create more friction than necessary and could actually damage these items,” says Stafford. “Also, these delicate pieces can get caught in the cloth, preventing it from drying completely.”
The owner’s survival kit
