How to dry clothes when it's humid

Why your clothes won't dry

Drying is just water moving from wet fabric into the air. When the air is already 80% full of moisture, it can't take any more. Your clothes sit there, soaking wet, looking sad.

This is the Sydney problem. The Singapore problem. The monsoon Mumbai problem. The "British summer" problem. The sun shining doesn't change it.

What actually dries clothes

Three things, in order of how much they matter:

1. Low humidity. Dry air can pull water out of fabric.
2. Wind. Moves the saturated air away and brings fresh dry air in.
3. Heat. Helps, but matters less than the other two.

You need at least two going for you, or your washing won't dry properly.

Things that work

A fan, indoors

Hang the clothes on a rack indoors. Point a pedestal fan at them. Open a window if you can. Most loads are dry in 6 to 8 hours. Electricity cost is under a dollar.

This is the most underrated solution. The fan does the work that wind would do outside.

Spin twice

Run a second spin-only cycle on your washing machine before you hang anything up. You'll get another 20 to 30% of the water out. Towels stop dripping. Drying time drops by hours.

Hang with space

Don't pile clothes on top of each other on the line. Each item needs air on both sides. Stuff jammed together takes twice as long.

Hang shirts on hangers instead of folding them over the line. The air gets inside the shirt, not just around it.

Dehumidifier in a closed room

This is the trick for genuinely humid places. Hang the washing in your bathroom or laundry. Shut the door. Run a 10 to 20 litre dehumidifier for 4 to 6 hours. The dehumidifier pulls water out of the air faster than the clothes can release it.

Costs about 30 to 50 cents in electricity per load. Works regardless of weather.

A heat-pump dryer

If you live somewhere with months of humidity every year, just buy one. They use 60% less power than the old vented kind, work in any weather, and stop being kind to your clothes only after about a decade. Worth the upfront cost.

Knowing if today is a drying day

Open Window Today has a "Dry laundry outside" card. It checks humidity, wind, rain forecast, and temperature, then tells you Yes, No, or Wait. With the reason. If it says No because of humidity, the sun won't save you. Bring out the fan.

Why humidity, not heat, controls drying

Clothes dry when water evaporates from them into the surrounding air, and air can only absorb water until it is full. On a humid day the air is already close to saturated, so it has little room left to take on the moisture from your washing. This is why a warm but humid day can dry clothes more slowly than a cool but dry one. The number to watch is relative humidity: below about 60% and drying is easy, above 80% and outdoor drying becomes a losing battle.

Making the most of a humid day outdoors

If you must dry outside on a muggy day, airflow is your best friend. A breeze constantly replaces the saturated air sitting against the fabric with slightly drier air, which keeps evaporation going even when humidity is high. Hang washing in the most exposed, breeziest spot you have, space items well apart, and turn thick seams and waistbands outward where the air can reach them. Get it out early so it has the full day, and bring it in before the evening, when humidity climbs again and your nearly-dry clothes start reabsorbing moisture.

Indoor drying that does not wreck your walls

Indoors, the goal is to remove the moisture as fast as the clothes release it. A dehumidifier running in a closed room with the washing is the most effective approach by far; it pulls the evaporated water out of the air so the clothes can keep drying and your walls stay dry. Failing that, a fan aimed across the rack dramatically speeds things up by keeping the air moving. An extractor fan or a cracked window provides an escape route for the damp air. What you should not do is dry a full load in a small, sealed, unventilated room, because the humidity simply climbs until drying stops and condensation begins.

Frequently asked questions

Can clothes dry in high humidity?

Slowly, yes, but above roughly 80% humidity outdoor drying becomes very inefficient. A breeze helps a lot. Indoors, a dehumidifier or good ventilation is what makes drying possible in humid conditions.

Does a fan help dry clothes?

Considerably. A fan keeps moving fresh air across the fabric, replacing the saturated layer right next to the clothes and speeding evaporation. It is one of the cheapest ways to cut indoor drying time.

Why do my clothes smell musty after drying?

That smell means they dried too slowly and bacteria had time to grow on the damp fabric. Faster drying, with more airflow or a dehumidifier, prevents it. Rewashing and drying quickly usually clears the smell.

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