# Solar running the clothes dryer
**URL:** http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/solar-running-the-clothes-dryer/8637
**Category:** Off Topic
**Created:** [July 13, 2026, 12:02am UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/solar-running-the-clothes-dryer/8637 "2026-07-13T00:02:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mart85](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/mart85)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2026, 12:02am UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/solar-running-the-clothes-dryer/8637/1 "2026-07-13T00:02:02Z")
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fCx8LTxLP4)
What I like about this video is the ardrino controls… I imagine any heat source could be used and it would compensate.
Clothes dryer testing at the end of video..
But I was thinking all kinds of heat sources could be used for this.
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### Author:  [@mart85](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/mart85)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2026, 11:16am UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/solar-running-the-clothes-dryer/8637/2 "2026-07-13T11:16:31Z")
I was looking at this setup, and I was thinking… it seems one could connect this to the heat of a gasifier, or a generator, or a campfire… I was even thinking of using direct from my solar panels to a heater…
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### Author:  [@madflower69](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/madflower69)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2026, 8:56pm UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/solar-running-the-clothes-dryer/8637/3 "2026-07-13T20:56:16Z")
It would be a lot cheaper, and easier to just hang a rope between two trees and hang your clothes on it.
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### Author:  [@mart85](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/mart85)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2026, 9:08pm UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/solar-running-the-clothes-dryer/8637/4 "2026-07-13T21:08:35Z")
Agreed… but this could also dehydrate food… And could use about any heat source… I was wondering how fast it would dry with a powerful fan with no heat… I have done that with all the rain we have had.
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### Author:  [@machinemaker](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/machinemaker)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2026, 10:55pm UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/solar-running-the-clothes-dryer/8637/5 "2026-07-13T22:55:48Z")
It is interesting to see a different application. We have an umbrella style clothes line that we can mount on out deck when we do not have rainy weather. During the winter we have a drying rack near our wood stove that hangs from pullies from the ceiling. we load it up, hoist it up and the stove dries the clothes in a couple of hours. my wife is big on the idea of saving electricity and not using our electric drier. kent
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### Author:  [@ForbiddenTuna](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/ForbiddenTuna)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2026, 11:41pm UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/solar-running-the-clothes-dryer/8637/6 "2026-07-13T23:41:26Z")
Last time our dryer was on the fritz we hung up some lines in the guest bathroom and I hooked in a standalone dehumidifier, the kind that doesn’t double as an air conditioner and just blows out dry air. We have a side loader washer so it spin dries halfway decent and the dehumidifier just finished them off.
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### Author:  [@mart85](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/mart85)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2026, 12:50pm UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/solar-running-the-clothes-dryer/8637/7 "2026-07-14T12:50:02Z")
Yeah when it is rainy outside, I will just lay out my clothes in the bathtub with the large fan blowing on the clothes, the I turn them about every 4 hours. I also run the de humidifier in the small bathroom which helps. takes about 5-8 hours for my clothes to dry this way, since I am off grid it is easier to do this instead of running my dryer…
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### Author:  [@abreaks](http://forum.driveonwood.com/u/abreaks)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2026, 1:06pm UTC](http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/solar-running-the-clothes-dryer/8637/8 "2026-07-14T13:06:54Z")
Drying benefits greatly from a counterflow heat exchanger, basically an HRV (not an ERV which would humidify the incoming air - bad for a dryer).
Exhaust air pre heats incoming air. This raises the maximum temperature in the dryer and creates very low relative humidity, perfect for drying.
It’s tough to do counterflow with a traditional clothes dryer because lint in the forced air exhaust will gum up the works. But you could also just hang clothes in a hot dry space and not have lint carryover into the exhaust- hang dry but much faster.
Counterflow is great for a wood dryer and much easier… no lint!