Clothes line

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Image:Hallig Hooge, Germany, view from the Backenswarft.jpg in northern Germany.]]

Image:Tripoli.JPG in northern Lebanon.]]

File:Pompeii_-_Fullonica_of_Veranius_Hypsaeus_1_-_MAN.jpg (laundry) in Pompeii, showing washing draped on a line without clothespins.]]

A clothes line, also spelled clothesline, also known as a wash line, is a device for hanging clothes on for the purpose of drying or airing out the articles. It is made of any type of rope, cord, wire, or twine that has been stretched between two points (e.g. two posts), outdoors or indoors, above ground level. Washing lines are attached either from a post or a wall, and are frequently located in back gardens, or on balconies. Longer washing lines often have props holding up the mid-section so the weight of the clothing does not pull the clothesline down to the ground.

Clothing that has recently been washed is hung over the line to dry. Nowadays it is held in place with clothespins, but until the 19th century laundry was simply draped over the line (and often blew away), as is visible in artistic depictions of clotheslines from earlier periods. The clothespin was not invented until 1809.{{cite news |title=The curious history of the clothespeg |url=https://medium.economist.com/the-curious-history-of-the-clothespeg-3f8615519c61 |access-date=8 May 2025 |work=Medium |publisher=The Economist |date=22 December 2016 |language=en}}

More elaborate rotary washing lines save space and are typically retractable and square or triangular in shape, with multiple lines being used (such as the Hills Hoist from Australia). Some can be folded up when not in use. The notable con man Steve Comisar once sold a solar powered clothes dryer advertised in national magazines as a scientifically proven, space age method of drying clothes using only the power of the sun. Customers received a length of clothesline. In Scotland, many tenement buildings have a "drying green", which is a communal area predominantly used for clothes lines. A "drying green" may also be used as a recreational space for tenants. The overhead clothes airer is an indoor version hung at ceiling level and also raised and lowered with pulleys.

Comparison with clothes dryer

Image:Clothes line.JPG, type of clothes line]]

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Both clothes lines and clothes dryers serve the same purpose: drying clothes that have been recently washed, or that are wet in general. A laundry line saves money and a clothes dryer emits (2 kg CO₂eq of greenhouse gas on average per load).{{Citation |title=Environmental impact of a clothes dryer and a clothes line |date=January 10, 2008 |url=http://ecofx.org/wiki/index.php?title=clothes_dryer |access-date=January 11, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206030605/http://ecofx.org/wiki/index.php?title=Clothes_dryer |archive-date=February 6, 2015 |url-status=dead |publisher=ecofx}} Dryers also cause more fabric wear than clotheslines.{{Citation | last=Aun | first=Leslie M. | title=Nature's Dryer Revisited | newspaper=The Washington Post | date=August 17, 2006 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/16/AR2006081600394.html}} Neighbors may find clotheslines aesthetically unpleasant.

Drying laundry indoors

File:Klestørk 3.jpg

Laundry may be dried indoors rather than outdoors for a variety of reasons including:

inclement weather
physical disability
lack of space for a line
reduce the damage to fabrics from sun's UV rays
legal restrictions{{ cite web | url=http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/20_right_to_dry_states_outlaw_clothesline_bans_is_yours_among_them | last=Neil | first=Martha | publisher=ABA Journal | date=August 14, 2013 | title=19 'right to dry' states outlaw clothesline bans; is yours among them? }}
to raise the humidity level indoors, and lower the air temperature indoors
convenience
to preserve privacy and as a safeguard against vandalism

Several types of devices are available for indoor drying. A clotheshorse can help save space in an apartment, or clothes lines can be strung in the basement during the winter. Small loads can simply be draped over furniture or a shower curtain pole. The drying time indoors will typically be longer than outdoor drying because of the lack of direct solar radiation and of the convective assistance of the wind.

The evaporation of the moisture from the clothes will cool the indoor air and increase the humidity level, which may or may not be desirable. In cold, dry weather, moderate increases in humidity make most people feel more comfortable. In warm weather, increased humidity makes most people feel even hotter. Increased humidity can also increase growth of fungi, which can cause health problems.

An average-sized wash load will convert approximately {{nowrap|4965 kilojoules}} of ambient heat into latent heat that is stored in the evaporated water, as follows. A typical 4 kg load of laundry can contain 2.2 kg of water, after being spun in a laundry machine.{{ cite web | url=http://www.explainthatstuff.com/how-clothes-tumble-dryers-work.html | title=How clothes dryers work {{!}} The science of drying clothes | first=Chris | last=Woodford |author1-link=Chris Woodford (author)| date=July 13, 2018 | publisher=ExplainThatStuff.com}} To determine how much heat has been converted in drying a load of laundry, weigh the clothes when they are wet and then again after the clothes have dried. The difference is the weight of the water that was evaporated from them. Multiply that weight in kg by 2,257 kJ/kg,{{Cite web|url=http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/fluids-evaporation-latent-heat-d_147.html|title=Fluids - Latent Heat of Evaporation}} which is the heat of vaporization per kilogram, to obtain the number of kilojoules that went into evaporating the water, or multiply by 0.6250 kWh/kg to get kilowatt-hours. If the moisture later condenses inside the house, the latent heat will return to ambient heat which could increase the temperature of the air in the room slightly.Diamond, Sheldon R. (1970). Fundamental Concepts of Modern Physics. USA: AMSCO School Publications, Inc. pp. 205. "During evaporation... The surroundings thereby become the ultimate source of the energy required to change the phase of [water] from liquid to gas." To obtain a good approximation of the effect this would have in a particular situation, the process can be traced on a psychrometric chart.

Factors that determine the drying duration

Various factors determine the duration of drying and can help to decide whether to use a drier or a clothes line

Placement of clothes line
The environmental temperature - increase of temperature decreases the drying duration
The environmental humidity - decrease of humidity will decrease the drying duration
Wind velocity - Sometimes people put a fan near the clothes when drying them indoors
Direct sun - usually only the external line will be exposed to direct sun, so usually people put the thickest clothes on the most external line.
Cloth thickness

Drying laundry in freezing conditions

Laundry may be dried outdoors when the temperature is well below the freezing point. First, the moisture in the laundry items will freeze and the clothing will become stiff. Then the frost on the clothes will sublimate into the air, leaving the items dry. It takes a long time and it is usually much quicker to dry them indoors, but indoor drying transfers heat from the air to water vapor, so it is a trade-off between speed and energy efficiency. The added humidity cancels out the reduction in air temperature to some extent.

North American controversy

Controversy surrounding the use of clothes lines has prompted many governments to pass "right-to-dry" laws allowing their use.{{Citation | last=Rosenthal | first=Elisabeth | title=A Line in the Yard: The Battle Over the Right to Dry Outside | newspaper=The New York Times | date=April 17, 2008 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/world/americas/17clothesline.html }} According to Ian Urbina, a reporter for The New York Times, "the majority of the 60 million people who now live in the [United States'] roughly 300,000 private communities" are forbidden from using outdoor clothes lines.{{Cite web | work=The New York Times | date=October 10, 2009 | first=Ian | last=Urbina | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/us/11clothesline.html | title=Debate Follows Bills to Remove Bans on Clotheslines }}

{{As of|2013|08}}, the states of Florida, Colorado,{{cite web|url=http://www.realestatejournal.com/homegarden/20070919-chaker.html |title=Real Estate News, Mortgage Rates, Buy, Sell or Rent a Home - Wall Street Journal - Wsj.com |publisher=Realestatejournal.com |date=October 3, 2002 |access-date=February 10, 2013}}Chaker, Anne Marie (September 18, 2007) [https://www.wsj.com/public/article/SB119007893529930697.html "The Right to Dry"], The Wall Street Journal.Colorado Governor's Energy Office [http://www.colorado.gov/energy/policy/hoa-bill-hb-08-1270.asp HOA Bill – HB 1270] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181201133427/https://www.colorado.gov/energyoffice |date=2018-12-01 }} Hawaii,{{cite web| title=Haw. Rev. Stat. § 196-8.5 | author=Hawaii State Legislature | url=http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol03_Ch0121-0200D/HRS0196/HRS_0196-0008_0005.htm | access-date=July 8, 2015}} Arizona, California, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin had passed laws forbidding bans on clothes lines, while Utah allows local jurisdictions to forbid such bans.{{cite news |first=Martha |last=Neil |url=http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/20_right_to_dry_states_outlaw_clothesline_bans_is_yours_among_them |title=19 'right to dry' states outlaw clothesline bans; is yours among them? |newspaper=ABA Journal |date=August 14, 2013 |access-date=August 23, 2016 }} At least eight states restrict homeowners' associations from forbidding the installation of solar-energy systems, and lawyers have debated whether or not those laws might apply to clothes lines. British filmmaker, Steven Lake, released a documentary in 2011 titled Drying for Freedom about the clothes-line controversy in the United States.{{cite web | url=https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1861318/ | title=Drying for Freedom (2011) - IMDb | website=IMDb }}

In Canada, the province of Nova Scotia's first NDP government passed An Act to Prevent Prohibitions on the Use of Clotheslines on December 10, 2010 to allow all homeowners in the province to use clotheslines, regardless of restrictive covenants.{{cite web|url=http://nslegislature.ca/legc/bills/61st_2nd/3rd_read/b113.htm |title=Nova Scotia legislature |publisher=Nslegislature.ca |access-date=February 10, 2013}} The province of Ontario lifted bans on clothes lines in 2008.{{cite web|url=https://gianphoithongminhhoaphat.com.vn/tin-tuc/thu-tuong-ontario-do-bo-lenh-cam-phoi-quan-ao-ngoai-troi-n4456.html |title=Ontario premier lifts outdoor-clothesline ban |publisher=Ctv.ca |date=April 18, 2008 |access-date=February 10, 2013}} Some affluent Canadian suburban municipalities such as Hampstead, Québec or Outremont, Québec prohibit clotheslines.{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}}

Gallery

Image:ClothespinsOnALine.jpg|Clothes pins (or pegs) on a clothes line

Image:Clothes line with pegs nearby.jpg|Pegs on a clothes line

Image:Washing Line, Iceland.jpg|Washing line in Iceland

Image:Clothesline.jpg|T clothes line

Image:PostcardMondayMorningInNewYorkCity1907.jpg|Clothes lines in New York City, from a 1904 postcard

Image:Back_to_backs_with_washing.jpg|Across-street line in Armley, Leeds, showing pulley operated at street level, July 2004.

Image:Clothesline-varal.JPG|Clotheslines fiber made with polyurethane

File:El-Jadida,Tor.jpg|Clothesline in El Jadida

File:Retractable clothes line 1.JPG|Retractable clothes line

File:Umbella-style clothesline.jpg|A folding umbrella-style clothes line

File:2015 06 27-13 29 30-IMG 007373 (19215607825).jpg|A clothes line as part of the art project Washing Lines in the Colors of the Rainbow