2 Shake or Not 2 Shake - Your Clothes That is

I have a cold. Asthmatic bronchitis to be precise. So, I'm sick and tired and bored out of my gourd.
Idle hands are the devil's workshop - or so the saying goes. Because I was bored to tears, I did my best to channel that devilish energy to good use - by performing an expirement that I've been wanting to do.
I want to know if it does save energy to shake the clothes before you put them in the dryer. We have had this conversation multiple times amongst family members. Some of us shake the clothes coming out of the washer and before we fling them into the dryer and others just fling away.
You know how clothes are after they finish spinning - all squished up against the walls of the washer, coming out looking like steamroller had gone over them. Well, I shake them out before they go into the dryer so they look more like actual clothes.

I have 5 pairs of jeans from a friend (for use in my quilting) that I don't have to worry about shrinkage. The perfect material!

I had 3 ways of drying I wanted to test. I've become something of a fan of "dryer balls". It sounds like I'm emasculating my dryer! However, advertising suggests they save dryer time, reduce lint, abolish the need for fabric softener and reduce static. In our house, they've done all of the above - by about 10% drying time saved.
Why can't I be certain? Because our dryer is soooo old the moisture sensor and timer are shot. I know - it's time for a new one. Next time Mom's in the hospital, it shall become a reality! LOL

Back to the study at hand.

5 pairs of jeans. How long does it take to dry them when:
#1 Not shaken out and without dryer balls
#2 Shaken out, but without dryer balls
#3 Shaken out and with dryer balls.
#4 Using the Spin Dryer

Since we still have our ancient (but relatively accurate) baby scales, I used them to do all of the weighing.
And with our dryer being less than accurate with time or moisture sensing, I had to pick a random amount of time and weigh the jeans to determine how much moisture was out of them, rather than how much time it took each trial to dry. Inaccurate, I know. The new dryer will have this study run again.

Dry weight of all 5 pairs of jeans: 7 1/4 pounds

Wet weight for each trial (respectively).
#1 - 12 3/4 pounds
#2 - 12 9/16 pounds
#3 - 12 5/16 pounds
#4 - 10 1/8 pounds - using the brandy new spin dryer! That's nearly half the water left in the jeans after the regular spin cycle on the washer. The picture shows how much water was spun out of the jeans!

Time dried for each set - 30 minutes.

Weight following the 30 minute dry time
#1 - 9 5/16 pounds
#2 - 8 15/16 pounds
#3 - 9 pounds
#4 - 7 5/8 pounds - Only 3/8 of a pound of water left! WOW.

Taking the difference between the initial dry weight and the wet weight of each trial and dividing that into the difference in pre-dried wet weight and post-dried weight gave me a percentage of "dryness".
#1 - 62 1/2% Dry
#2 - 68 1/4% Dry
#3 - 65 1/2% Dry
#4 - 85% Dry

Looking at the results - it's what I expected and not at all what I expected simultaneously.

To have almost 6% less water in the "shaken" load, compared to the "unshaken" load is significant. I am unable to find a formula or graph that shows drying, but I know for certain it is not linear. I am sure that over the entire drying time, the savings is more substantial - as clothes dry faster at the end of the cycle than the beginning (once all water molecules reach evaporation temperature, they will all evaporate simultaneously, rather than in fits and starts as is the case at the beginning - where the clothes come into contact with a hot dry surface). I am hoping to prove this once I have the new dryer to play with.
(A study with graphs of an electric dryer, both normal function, and improper function)

Once I get the new dryer, I'll be able to give a far more accurate number on the savings - not just this little bit. Plus - so many say energy savings of 50% with a drying time of 40% less. Not sure how to figure that in to give a real energy savings number, but if someone else can, I'd be most appreciative.

I was very confident that trial #3 would bring a drier load - more water evaporated. But alas, it did not! My only thought is the balls were basically "deflating" the jeans as they tossed about in the dryer, making them much more like the "unshaken" load. So I'm not sure what to think about this finding. However, I tested it twice and the results were within a 1/4% of each other. All I can do is test this again over the entire length of the drying cycle to see if there is indeed a savings or not.

I obviously am not too concerned with significant digits or the like. I could, but it just isn't worth THAT much depth. This was to be fun with an educational outcome. If someone else wants to truly study this, I'll be more than thrilled to post the results.

The following are links to up and coming technologies and ways to improve your dryer as it sits in your home:

A retrofit tool for your electric dryer - coming this fall!

Make your dryer work more efficiently

And more efficiency

Counter-top Spin Dryer

Floor Model Spin Dryer

I just did some quick math and am picking my jaw off the floor. Our dyer is a full 10% of our electric bill. Gads! So - I just ordered the floor model spin dryer. I'm not liking there is no warranty that anyone can find - And some have had theirs work for years, others for months. I suspect it has a lot to do with overfilling it. The consistent thing in all of my reading is it reduces drying time by at least 60%, and sometimes 85%. If I could take the dryer from 10% of the bill to 4% of the bill - I'll consider that a huge success. HUGE.
I'll let you know!

As you can see, the spin dryer makes a huge difference. It's easy to use, LOUD, but only 3 minutes per half load of laundry, so the noise isn't that bad. Cutting drying time by at least 40% for jeans is more than enough reason to stand a little noise. Think about it - when was the last time you were able to dry jeans enough to wear in 30 minutes? The seams were wet when I pulled them out of the dryer, but I remember going to school with them at least that wet, if not worse - after 45 - 50 minutes of drying.