Drying modern cloth nappies

Once reusable nappies are washed, the next step is to dry them. As modern cloth nappy inserts typically have multiple layers (three, four or five layers), they take longer to dry than other household laundry. Combined with the amount of laundry that small children generate, it might feel like you are constantly drying, folding and putting away cloth nappies. 

The first step in drying your nappies happens at the end of the wash cycle, during the spin component. Choose the highest spin speed to remove more water from nappies and means they come out of the machine drier.

Use the highest spin cycle on your machine

The faster your machine spins, the more water gets pulled out of your nappies; the difference adds up fast. Even a small increase in spin speed can make a big difference in how dry they come out. Let your washing machine do the hard work for you before the nappies even leave the drum.

At the end of the spin cycle, items are pressed evenly around the edge of the drum. Sometimes you need to peel them off the sides and top. This is because during the spin cycle, your nappies aren’t tossed around like they are during the wash cycle. Instead, they are held firmly against the drum by centripetal and centrifugal force. Water is forced out through the perforations in the drum walls.

A higher spin speed has multiple benefits: 

• In first wash, it removes excess water, so nappies are damp rather than wet, waiting for the main wash.
  • It also removes as much dirty water as possible, so items go into the main wash cleaner and are easier to wash.
• For main wash, it uses less energy for drying
  • If you use a clothes dryer, you will save power as your nappies will take less time to dry.
  • If you are air-drying, your drying time is significantly reduced. With a smaller stash, this might be the difference between continuing with cloth during winter and needing to reach for disposables!

You might have read that you should ‘never spin cloth nappies above 800 RPM.’ This long-standing myth does not stand up to science.

Damage is more likely to occur during the wash phase when items are tumbling and rubbing against each other. Common culprits are an overloaded machine and snags from items catching on open zippers and Velcro tabs. This is more of a risk in traditional top loaders, where items may get wrapped around the agitator or tangled into a ball. However, top loaders also tend to have lower spin speeds than front loaders, so this is not an effect of the spin speed itself.

The most common damage to items is during the wash component of the cycle (not the spin component) and is from overloading your machine.

Spin speeds are typically much higher in front loaders compared to top loaders. This means that items come out much drier in front loaders. An advantage of this is that items washed in a front loader, using a high spin speed take less time to dry than if they were washed in a top loader. A disadvantage is that items that come out quite dry from the wash load can dry feeling “crispy” if they are dried outside on a still day.

Drying laundry outdoors

The most cost-effective way to dry laundry is outside, using the sun. However, with inclement weather, space limitations and busy schedules, this is not always possible.

I used cloth nappies for four consecutive years. I found it easiest to hang inserts to dry on a few small airers. I would do this inside while getting ready in the morning, and move the airers outside to our undercover patio during the day.

~ Katie, Australia

Drying PUL items outdoors

Non-absorbent polyurethane laminate (PUL) items such as covers and wet bags air-dry very quickly, even in cold climates. Avoid putting PUL in direct sun as it can cause the laminate layer to crack.

Drying laundry indoors

Another option is drying items inside on a clothes airer. Be aware that all the evaporating water needs to go somewhere. If the room has limited ventilation the extra moisture from drying laundry can lead to condensation. This is important to avoid if your house is prone to dampness and mould.

Activities like cooking, bathing or drying clothes create moisture. To remove this from the house, open windows and use any extractor fans.

~ TenancyServices

Use a dehumidifier for confined spaces, or open windows/doors for ventilation.

Do not dry nappies or clothing closer than 1m from a radiator, heater or fireplace. Drying items close to a heat source is a fire risk.

Keep everything one metre away from your heater.

~ Fire and Rescue NSW

Drying laundry using a dryer

Multilayered natural fibre inserts (bamboo, cotton and hemp) take longer to dry than synthetic fibre inserts, and much longer than single-layer clothing items. Inserts may need an additional drying cycle after the rest of your laundry has dried. Check your dryer manual for bedding, extra dry or similar cycles.

There are several types of dryers: vented dryers, condenser dryers and heat pump dryers. These work in slightly different ways and have different combinations of speed of drying and energy efficiency. Vented dryers can cause condensation; they need to be vented to the outside or have a door or window left open. Regardless of dryer type, all of them will give you dry laundry.

To save electricity use consider air drying laundry until it is almost dry and then finishing it off in the dryer.

Drying PUL items in the dryer

PUL items can be dried in the dryer on a short cycle with low heat. To prevent damage to the elastics, wait until the covers have cooled before putting the nappies together.

Switching to faster-drying inserts

If you’re having trouble getting your multilayered inserts to dry, consider switching to different types of nappies that dry faster. Flats (single-layer terry towelling), trifolds and prefolds are all great options. Since they are just one layer of fabric, they dry much more quickly than thick, multilayered inserts. This is especially helpful if you’re line-drying and don’t have a lot of sun.

Downloads

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• Clean Cloth Nappies guide – cloth nappy care (wash routine overview) (992.52 KB)
• Clean Cloth Nappies guide – soiled nappy storage (222.46 KB)
• Clean Cloth Nappies guide – the first wash (formerly prewash) (919.01 KB)
• Clean Cloth Nappies guide – the main wash (308.83 KB)
• Clean Cloth Nappies guide – optimal loading (942.61 KB)