
Chemical analysis and origin of the smell of line-dried laundry - bookofjoe
https://www.publish.csiro.au/en/EN19206
======
brudgers
Related popular article, [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/29/science/laundry-
smell-lin...](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/29/science/laundry-smell-
line.html)

~~~
neonate
[https://archive.md/mwSGw](https://archive.md/mwSGw)

------
throw0101a
In Ontario, Canada, some condo boards for town house developments (like home-
owner associations) didn't like people putting up laundry lines and so
prevented them since backyards were considered "common elements" and under
group jurisdiction.

So the provincial government had an existing law that prevented the use of
"renewable energy" systems from being blocked by local by-laws and such. So
they classified clothes lines as a renewable energy system so people could use
"solar power" to dry their clothes as a energy conservation mechanism.

> _" There's a whole generation of kids growing up today who think a
> clothesline is a wrestling move," [Premier] McGuinty said during his
> announcement._

* [https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-premier-lifts-outdoor-clo...](https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-premier-lifts-outdoor-clothesline-ban-1.290136)

The current Ford government repealed the law that allowed for this, so I'm not
sure what the legal status is now exactly.

~~~
bonoboTP
I have a similar clause in my rent contract in Germany, forbidding line
drying, and first I didn't really understand why people care about this (I
planned to use the communal dryer anyway).

But to be explicit, it's because the optics of visible laundry makes people
associate to poor people who have no other drying options. They don't want the
neighborhood to look like poor neighborhoods.

Maybe it will become one of those environment-conscious hip modern things and
then they will start allowing it again...

~~~
fiblye
Meanwhile, living in Japan, if you tell people you prefer to machine dry your
clothes, they’ll tell you outright that it’s wasteful. The assumption is that
it’s only used when rain makes it impossible.

~~~
Al-Khwarizmi
In Spain the attitude is similar, but for different reasons.

Environmental consciousness is sadly low in general, but cult to fashion and
looks is strong. Machine drying anything but towels and sheets would be
considered shabby by most, as it damages clothes.

When I was looking for housing, I visited some really luxury apartments (that
I could never afford, but visiting is free and I'm a curious person, so why
not) and having a good place to line dry clothes was always seen as a boasting
point, never associated to poverty in the slightest.

~~~
hombre_fatal
> Machine drying anything but towels and sheets would be considered shabby by
> most, as it damages clothes.

So does UV light.

~~~
fiblye
Your clothes get faded in the sun. A dryer quickly wears down the fabric and
makes holes.

~~~
jxramos
I remember reading somewhere where an author realized all that lint they
collected from their dryer was a result of their clothes literally falling
apart fiber by fiber. In other words all the mass of the lint didn't just
spontaneously form breaking some conservation of mass law but came from the
clothes shedding and abrading against each other.

------
ComputerGuru
I think it depends on where you live. Here in Chicago, if you leave wet
clothes out to dry on the line, they’ll stink of geosmin (to which the human
olfactory receptors are insanely sensitive, to the tune of being able to
detect a few parts per million) rather than smell nice and fresh thanks to the
humidity.

~~~
beervirus
Why is that chemical so prevalent in Chicago?

~~~
sukilot
Great Lakes

[https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-
xpm-1994-11-20-941120...](https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-
xpm-1994-11-20-9411200261-story.html)

~~~
ComputerGuru
Thanks for the link, I'm pretty sure it's talking about the exact thing I'm
referring to. I didn't realize Chicago was special in this regard; I thought
it was just a universal "water" thing.

> They may not be dangerous, but they are powerful in the effect they produce.
> Sensitive palates can taste geosmin and 2-MIB at concentrations as low as
> five parts per trillion.

I thought it was four per million, five parts per trillion is beyond
comprehension! And as far as "sensitive palates" go, I'm always the one
complaining to my wife who invariably responds with "it's just you,"
_grumble_.

------
WalterBright
When I lived in Arizona, I'd take the clothes out of the washer, step outside,
and put them on the line. When I finished pinning them up, I'd return to the
beginning of the line and take them down, perfectly dry and fresh.

Who needs a dryer :-)

~~~
Nursie
Same in Perth, Western Australia. Gotta love the desert climate for that.

~~~
NoPicklez
Same in Adelaide, South Australia. Although it has been raining a lot of
late...

------
derefr
I wonder whether the manufacturer of some existing artificial “fresh breeze”
scent happened to already stumble upon a formula that closely approximates the
chemical composition of the real thing, without knowing it. Do e.g. (scented)
detergents contain these particular hydrocarbons? Does any air freshener?

Also: is there any knowledge of these compounds’ effects on the human body?
Are they GRAS? I can imagine an evolutionary just-so story where our bodies
like the scent because it tells us that whatever’s emitting the smell has,
essentially, been UV-disinfected. But that doesn’t mean that breathing the
scent volatiles themselves is good for us. Humans think all sorts of bad-for-
us things smell/taste good, like ozone or antifreeze.

~~~
jasonv
Oh, that’s where the name comes from.

I hang dry most of my laundry in my own house still. I learned to appreciate
this after moving from a big city to a town of 13 people. Of course we all had
lots of space but my house had one of those circular drying line contraptions.
I enjoyed going out and hanging my laundry, even in the cold winters. Even in
the snow. The sun and dry air did their thing pretty quickly.

When I lived in Amsterdam my apartment came with a new combo washer/dryer
unit. As far as I could tell, it mostly succeeded in compressing the laundry
into a really tight, nearly inextricable ball.

In tighter quarters having lots of laundry drying between apartments could be
seen as less desirable. There are solutions for that too. But the noise and
dirt of lint coming from drying machines is a counter factor to consider.

~~~
NoSorryCannot
And the smell of tumble drying. I live in an apartment complex and the smell
coming out of the dryer vents is overwhelming. It's not intrinsic; there would
barely be any odor at all if people gave up dryer sheets and fabric softener,
but it seems like many have never heard anything so outlandish as that.

~~~
nitrogen
I spent a couple years living in high density highrises (putting my YIMBY
money where my mouth is, I guess) and the laundry exhaust (and other
ventilation problems) traveling into my apartment made the air nigh
unbreathable.

------
lukevp
I can’t remember a time I ever line dried laundry outside. How significant is
this smell, is it worth changing my laundry drying habits just to reproduce
it?

~~~
marton78
Yes. Nothing beats it. Also, drying laundry electrically is a waste of
resources, the sun will do it for free, as long as you live in a moderately
warm country.

~~~
tenpies
I am always disappointed that drying racks aren't more common in NA. Even in
an apartment, you can set it up overnight and wake up to dry clothing in the
morning. Better for the environment and your clothing.

~~~
dingaling
Not so good for the apartment though, unless you have dehumidifying air
conditioning.

~~~
Mediterraneo10
I have lived in socialist-era blocks which are notorious for humidity issues
and mold. But a mere drying rack placed next to the window will not produce
enough humidity to cause problems if you leave that window open.

------
jungletime
A frost would sometimes freeze the clothes stiff overnight. And dumb kid
curiosity, if you licked the clothes you would get a faint taste of detergent.

But the best small was fresh cut hay, sleeping on it in a barn

~~~
amelius
> But the best small was fresh cut hay, sleeping on it in a barn

I always wonder why nobody sells fragrances based on it. And also on freshly
cut grass. Or the scent one has after spending a day on the beach.

~~~
bookofjoe
[https://www.perfume.com/demeter/demeter-fresh-hay/women-
perf...](https://www.perfume.com/demeter/demeter-fresh-hay/women-perfume)

[https://demeterfragrance.com/grass.html](https://demeterfragrance.com/grass.html)

------
NoPicklez
I might be reading this incorrectly, but I always thought that the small came
from the detergent having not been fully washed off the clothes. Which is why
if you use too much detergent your clothes become stiff, due to the dried
detergent.

Then again, clothes seem to smell vastly different when they dry quickly out
in the open sun as opposed to when they dry slowly.

------
Animats
UV triggers the reaction. So, driers need a strong UV source. There are some
small UV driers, and sterilizers. Full-sized clothes driers with a strong UV
source, not yet.

~~~
joyj2nd
A UV dryer? You must be dreaming. Besides that it would bleach the clothes
(what may be beneficial to WHITE but ONLY to white clothes), I would be
skeptical about aging of the fibres. UV light is a bitch.

But I have heard about Japanese laundry machines using ultrasonic sound.

~~~
sbierwagen
Obviously a UV dryer wouldn't have higher UV flux than sunlight, if for no
other reason than cost.

Regarding photobleaching, survey the rest of this thread of people complaining
clothes dried on the line turning white and then crumbling to dust.

------
mocar
Would it work if I installed a UV light in my dryer?

------
lurker213
Good to see tax payer dollars are tackling the important questions.

------
greatgib
Awesome research in an unexpected field! I fucking love science!

------
jgalt212
Sunlight is the best disinfectant. /s and !/s

