Works-For-Me-Wednesday: No More Static

If your house is anything like mine, winter brings dry air and static along with it. When you don’t want to touch your child for fear the electric shock he’ll receive might cause a heart arrhythmia, there’s a problem.

I run a humidifier in Caedmon’s room, but that’s not enough to de-static the entire house. And I don’t want to put humidifiers everywhere. So I found a different solution. I use my dryer to put moisture back into the air when I do laundry. Sounds weird, I know. But it works.

Note: I have an electric dryer. This may not be safe to do with a gas dryer because of carbon monoxide.

I took the dryer vent hose that goes outside off my dryer and sealed it off with a plastic bag to keep the cold air out.

I put a new dryer vent hose on the dryer and angled it out toward the laundry room, placing an old pair of panty hose over the end to prevent stray lint from blowing out.

When I run a load of laundry, the dryer is now venting in the house. The air that comes out is warm and moist. It not only increases the humidity in the house, it is like getting some free heat. And with the single-degree temperatures we’ve had, I’ll take any help I can get in heating the house. It also makes the house smell like clean laundry.

I’ve noticed that towels and jeans seem to really put off a lot of moisture. If I am having a big laundry day, sometimes it starts to feel a little humid in the house. But it’s easy to switch back to the outside vent if I need to or allow a little time between loads.

My brother works on heating & air units, and I asked him if this would have an adverse affect on my heater. He couldn’t see any reason why it would.

Also, just as an FYI, I’m still using my homemade laundry detergent and loving it. I’ve also updated my method for making it. You can read about it here.

So there it is. No more static and some free heat. It works for me. To see more Works-For-Me-Wednesday, head on over to We Are THAT Family.