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Am I killing my Elementals?

Fulbri05Fulbri05
in Cloth Diapering

My whole stash is Elementals, plus some fitteds for night time. I LOVE them. Other than the fact that I live in the PNW where it's dark and damp from October to July. So it takes well over 36 hours for them to hang dry. More like 48+ hours, really. And that's even when it's sunny and I can hang them in front of a bright window. 

So am I forcing a slow death on them by machine drying each time? I have 20 of them now (plus 3 fitteds, but I'm less worried about them since they don't have the PUL). I would for sure have to buy a whole lot more to get by with line drying, or I can accept the fact that I might have to replace some down the line. WWYD?

FTR, I wanted to use the BG 4.0s but M can't handle the suedecloth, and I'm loving the ease of the AIO, with the added benefit of the organic fabric on her bum. And when I tried out CDing with my son I couldn't stand the Freetimes.  

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Re: Am I killing my Elementals?

  • steffanehsteffaneh member

    I got this from Celtics clothes wholesale:

     

    "Line drying will prolong the life of your cotton, hemp, or bamboo diapers.  We however dry everything in the dryer on high.  High heat is actually recommended for PUL fabric.  Should you choose to line dry, the sun is an excellent bleaching agent and should help remove any stains."

     

    I also read something somewhere a while back that PUL is meant to be able to autoclave, which basically means it is meant for high temperatures. I wouldn't leave them in there for too long though and would check them regularly when in the dryer to see how long they absolutely need to be in the dryer. 

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  • nanabanana06nanabanana06
    For the first year with DD I was drying all my inserts and covers in the dryer on high. Then I found out that was a no no. However, my dipes still looked brand new! So I dunno. I line dry now, but it's typically on drying squids in the house and it doesn't take all that long.
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  • MintBerryCrunchMintBerryCrunch member
    I've been machine drying my pockets and elementals on low for over a year with no issues.
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  • dairygirl19dairygirl19 member

    I only line dry in the summer. The rest of the time the weather is either awful/takes forever to dry because of humidity or I'm just out of time.

    I just dry on low and pull them out as soon as they're dry, then turn the heat up for the inserts.

    It's been 15 months and my diapers still look good. A little wear on the tab edges but it's been almost 1.5 years and I only have 20 diapers total so they're constantly in rotation. Not bad at all in my world and definitely not the dryer's fault.

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  • robinbirdazrobinbirdaz
    The only real threat to always drying in the machine on high heat is the elastic.  The more heat the elastic is exposed to, the quicker it will fail.  I have killed the elastic in 2 RaR and 2 Tots Bots by drying them in the dryer repeatedly.  My mom replaced the elastic in them for me, but they were never the same.  It sucks having a perfectly good diaper no longer useable because the elastic has worn out!
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  • Fulbri05Fulbri05

    Thanks everyone! Now I won't feel as bad drying them all the time. I will still worry about the elastic, but I don't think there's any way around it. My load that I washed yesterday was hung and also thrown in the dryer for 50 minutes, and I just checked and they're STILL damp after hanging again overnight. Oye. 

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  • robinbirdazrobinbirdaz
    imageFulbri05:

    Thanks everyone! Now I won't feel as bad drying them all the time. I will still worry about the elastic, but I don't think there's any way around it. My load that I washed yesterday was hung and also thrown in the dryer for 50 minutes, and I just checked and they're STILL damp after hanging again overnight. Oye. 

     

    I live in Phoenix, we are really lucky when it comes to line drying--my elemental dries in about 4 hours!

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  • Fulbri05Fulbri05
    imagerobinbirdaz:
    imageFulbri05:

    Thanks everyone! Now I won't feel as bad drying them all the time. I will still worry about the elastic, but I don't think there's any way around it. My load that I washed yesterday was hung and also thrown in the dryer for 50 minutes, and I just checked and they're STILL damp after hanging again overnight. Oye. 

     

    I live in Phoenix, we are really lucky when it comes to line drying--my elemental dries in about 4 hours!

    <----- Jealous. I can't wait to move out of this state, my bathroom towels and rugs are ALWAYS damp. It's so gross. I don't even want to think about all of the mold that's probably in this house's walls (we rent).  

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  • nanabanana06nanabanana06
    imageFulbri05:
    imagerobinbirdaz:
    imageFulbri05:

    Thanks everyone! Now I won't feel as bad drying them all the time. I will still worry about the elastic, but I don't think there's any way around it. My load that I washed yesterday was hung and also thrown in the dryer for 50 minutes, and I just checked and they're STILL damp after hanging again overnight. Oye. 

     

    I live in Phoenix, we are really lucky when it comes to line drying--my elemental dries in about 4 hours!

    <----- Jealous. I can't wait to move out of this state, my bathroom towels and rugs are ALWAYS damp. It's so gross. I don't even want to think about all of the mold that's probably in this house's walls (we rent).  

    Man, that is weird. I live just outside of Seattle. So I totally get what your talking about. However, I've never had issues with things taking forever to dry. I either throw it in the dryer or I line dry in the laundry room. Maybe I'm just lucky. It could have something to do with that fact that our house is temperature controlled (central air/heat).

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  • Fulbri05Fulbri05
    imageNana_Osaki06:
    imageFulbri05:
    imagerobinbirdaz:
    imageFulbri05:

    Thanks everyone! Now I won't feel as bad drying them all the time. I will still worry about the elastic, but I don't think there's any way around it. My load that I washed yesterday was hung and also thrown in the dryer for 50 minutes, and I just checked and they're STILL damp after hanging again overnight. Oye. 

     

    I live in Phoenix, we are really lucky when it comes to line drying--my elemental dries in about 4 hours!

    <----- Jealous. I can't wait to move out of this state, my bathroom towels and rugs are ALWAYS damp. It's so gross. I don't even want to think about all of the mold that's probably in this house's walls (we rent).  

    Man, that is weird. I live just outside of Seattle. So I totally get what your talking about. However, I've never had issues with things taking forever to dry. I either throw it in the dryer or I line dry in the laundry room. Maybe I'm just lucky. It could have something to do with that fact that our house is temperature controlled (central air/heat).

    Hmm. It could have something to do with the ollllllld military housing we're in. I'm in the process of an experiment: My diapers were out of the wash at 10:01 this morning, and I kept one out to hang, to see how long it will take to completely dry. I'll update in a couple of days, lol.  

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