Drying cloth diapers

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OldIron

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  1. Diaper Lover
Does anyone have any advice on reliably getting cloth diapers dry?
The dry sensor thing on my dryer, which works well for everything else, doesn't seem to work with my cloth diapers. I've tried adding towels(including every one in the house), and they come out still feeling a bit damp.
The cloth diapers I have right now are the Rearz Omutsu. I'm actually looking at getting some prefolds as during the summer, any fabric goods that aren't fully dry quickly mold and mildew.
 
Most dryers have a timed option along with the dry sensor option. If you learn how much time it takes, you can just set it there. Otherwise, run them again if you think they are not dry. Multi-layer diapers, like prefolds and liners, take more time and effort to dry.
 
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I use my clothes line but that may not be a option for a lot of people
 
The sensor does not work for me, like BlueGray says, use the timer, 2 x if you have to .

Oh yeah, when was the last time you had your dryer vent cleaned out? If that is getting clogged up with lint your dryer will not dry as well and can also lead to fires. Mine has to be done professionally. We do it about every 2 years. So if your dryer is just not getting things dry, that could be part of your issue.
 
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Agreed, Moosey. Mine got so clogged that it tripped the heat fuse on my dryer and had to do repair. I rerouted the line so I can replace it yearly.
 
I give my cloth diapers two runs of 60 minutes each to dry them. I wear night weight pre-folds and they take a lot of time and energy to dry.
 
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Bluegrey and Moosey, I wish more people knew about that discharge line needing regular cleaning. I ran rigid pipe for mine to help avoid any buildup, still check it every year though.
I'll give the 2 runs of 60 minutes like Dogboy recommended a try.
 
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I tend to let mine air dry on a clothes rack/clothes line for as long as possible, normally a day or two. Once they’re dry, I’ll set them to tumble in my dryer to freshen them up!
 
BlueGrey said:
Agreed, Moosey. Mine got so clogged that it tripped the heat fuse on my dryer and had to do repair. I rerouted the line so I can replace it yearly.
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I just took our dryer apart to clean out the lint a couple of days ago and the wife freaked out about the lint that was built up inside.
 
Since I don't have access to a dryer I let mother nature dry mine.
With sun and a little breeze they dry in as little as 4 hrs, otherwise
they're fully dry overnight.
 
My dryer allows me to turn it up for Extra Dry but lacking that, I'd just put it on the timed cycle.

Nothing like putting on a warm diaper straight out of the dryer.
 
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Having had use of the tumble drier for my Nappies then finding all the filters bunged up with Nappy fluff I now only let them air dry inside the house on a clothes horse, if we have visitors on a laundry/drying day then the whole lot lives upstairs and out of site, cannot use mother nature outside as our garden is so exposed the whole town would know one or both us wear and use cloth Nappies 😠
I only use Cloth as extra protection as my night time disposables always leak badly and the cloth wicks up the excess.
 
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willnotwill said:
My dryer allows me to turn it up for Extra Dry but lacking that, I'd just put it on the timed cycle.

Nothing like putting on a warm diaper straight out of the dryer.
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Thats the best!
 
I always use the timer on my dryer for my cloth prefolds and cloth inserts. The sensor never lets the dryer stay on long enough. Sometimes if my load is too big, I might divide the drying in half to get my diapers fully dry. Of course they don't stay dry for long once I pin one on.:) Sort of wish I had a clothes line in the back where I could hang my diapers out to dry in the sun. It'd be like the old days when everyone could see ones diapers on the line and know which house had kids still wearing diapers like I did when we were kids. Mom was still hanging my diapers out on the clothes line when I was 17 and still wetting my bed.
 
My Dryer has a sanitize button. If I use that, it stays on like five extra minutes on hi heat. My cloth diapers always come out dry on that setting, and it kills any bacteria, so I almost never have any odor.
 
We have two sets of washers and dryers in our house (long story, but it is convenient at times). Both have the sanitize feature. The one we don't use so much (that i do my diapers and stuff in) has both a "Sanitize" and a "Babywear" option on it. I chuckle everytime I run a load of onesies or whatever on Babywear
 
willnotwill said:
We have two sets of washers and dryers in our house (long story, but it is convenient at times). Both have the sanitize feature. The one we don't use so much (that i do my diapers and stuff in) has both a "Sanitize" and a "Babywear" option on it. I chuckle everytime I run a load of onesies or whatever on Babywear
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Haha....I would too.
 
Cool. Is the baby wear setting gentle? Or more intense? Our washer has a sanitize setting as well. It gets extra hot after the wash. I rarely use this setting because it takes a long time
 
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