Clothesline Hangers for Windy Conditions

Intro: Clothesline Hangers for Windy Conditions

Using a clothesline is easier than people think, and saves 100% of the substantial energy used in a dryer. In my previous instructable on this topic, I explained how using plastic hangers can make using a clothesline as easy as using a dryer. But at least one reader had trouble with hangers blowing off the line. I haven't had that problem, but for those of you that do here's a simple solution.

The simplest and cheapest is to use a rubber band, but I had trouble with the rubber bands breaking. The best solution I found (after experimenting with the options shown in the picture) turned out to be adding a tighter hook that grabs on the clothesline.

STEP 1: Materials

1) Plastic hanger (metal hangers rust and stain clothes).
2) 19 gauge or heavier stainless steel wire. Lower gauge numbers are heavier wire. It should be stainless, again so it won't rust and stain clothes.

STEP 2: Bend the Wire

Bend the wire as shown below. The part on the right helps keep it from flopping around. It's easiest to start in the center of the wire, make the hook part, and then attach it to the hanger.

STEP 3: Use It!

When you hang it on the line, use the new tight hook. Adjust the tightness as needed.

STEP 4: Another Option

Here's another kind I tried, but it's not as good. It allows the hanger to move around, even though it won't fall off. And even though it's designed not to look on a closet rod, sometimes it bends wrong and does hook on when it shouldn't.

Comments

[hjjusa]

Excellent. Would use this, but around here it gets so windy the chothes blow off the hanger. LOL

[totallyc]

Genius.

[Zelator]

We have used plastic clips with holes in them for decades, now down to the last two, and shops don't sell them. But I just found them online:
http://www.maidofshade.com.au/holey_peg.htm

[gwylan]

I use a dedicated clothesline with tight loops tied into it for shirts hung on hangers, which is similar to these clips. It works pretty well, though not when we get a serious blow. (I live on a sometimes very windy high desert plain). The wire hooks look like they would probably work better.

[oregoncrystal]

What about a clothespin on each side of the plastic hanger? Seems you could tighten it by sliding them in close enough to hold them securely. Should stabalize them from swinging around and getting thrown off too...

[dropkick]

Looks like a good idea.

Works better than what I do, using clothespins to hold the hangers on the line during windy days, as sometimes the clothespins pop off the plastic hangers and don't do any good.However it won't help me much.

My problem is that I'm a large man and they don't sell hangers wide enough to fit the shoulders of my shirts. If there is any wind this often causes the shirt to slide to one side and right off the hanger (occasionally I'll even have this problem in my closet).

On windy days I'm usually forced to just clothespin my clothes directly to the line.

[walthehippie]

Brilliant! but it looks like too much work. For shirts I started using two hangers, in opposing directions. Then I drop out the extra one when I take them inside. Also I try to hang in the late afternoon when the wind usually dies off.

[porcupinemamma]

Brilliant! :0)

[i_was_like_you]

With the number of spare hangers I have lying around (when one moves around a lot and a dozen plastic hangers tend to cost a buck or less, they eventually accumulate), this will probably be the option I go with. Thank you.

[matbh]

fantastic!

[LowEnergy]

That's a great idea!! Thanks for including a photo! I appreciate that it takes zero effort to make it.

[killerjackalope]

Nice job, we have one hung through our carport so we can dry clothes in the rain and the wind blows through there nicely, still have car space aswell...

[i_was_like_you]

At the place I'm living now, I've got my enclosed balcony (well, second floor porch) that works well. An on the go option, for those of us who still use the laundromat to wash the clothes, would be using the car laundry rods (meant for hanging drycleaning) and driving with the windows at least partially down. The heat from leaving your car parked with the windows up can further dry your clothes if you have more errands to run. For me, laundry day is take care of every errand day. Another added bonus is it leaves your car smelling laundry fresh. (Warning: an army anecdote follows) On a field problem in Alaska, I was driving our section sergeant around in our highback humvee. It's equipped with a crew as well as a rear compartment arctic heater which run directly off of the fuel. A couple of our guys had gotten their sleeping bags soaked due to the inclement weather. So we strung up some parachute (550) cord across the truck, unhooked the heater's vent hose (which resembles the same vent a household dryer uses) from the exit vent itself, and kicked on the heater. Result: Dry clothes and a truck that smelled Snuggle fresh. (Another army anecdote) Our humvees in Alaska were also equipped with a swingfire heater receptacle. It's used for when the fluids in the engine area freeze. Just plug in a swingfire heater to the conveniently mounted electrical port, insert, and it heats the engine's fluids back up. (The heater itself resembles an angry leaf-blower.) An additional feature of having this port in the side of the truck is that prior to rolling to a new position, we'd put our foil food packets from our MREs (Meals Ready to Eat or Mr. E or Mystery) into the receptacle. By the time we arrived on site, our meals would be, well, ready to eat. Works a lot better than the water activated heaters in which you have to lean it against "a rock or something", at least when you're truck mounted instead of on foot. A prank based on this would be to put popcorn kernels into the recptacle (in a container that could accommodate them popping without clogging the port or melting so that the kernals wouldn't fall into the wrong parts of the assembly). This would cause the crew to wonder just what that horrible popping sound was coming from the engine. If, and when, they checked the heater port, they'd be surprised to find popcorn.

[killerjackalope]

We used to cook all kinds of food on the engine of the truck... It was good, baked potatoes were especially interesting... I like the idea of laundry fresh cars, though at the minute I use to towel rail and have resorted to washing clothes in the bath, due to odd circumstances, it works well but one issue is ending up with a fluffy bath if you forget to give it a good rinse... I occasionally dry cloths in the basement, pegging them to the mesh fence between the boiler and the door, unfortunately the boiler has a tiny little hole in the exhaust so clothes tend to smell a bit kerosene-ish...

[worldzend]

I find that simply putting a clothespin on both sides of the hanger hook works well. You have to put them right by the hanger, so they snug it. It's not a 100% solution, more like 90%. Also, you can hang towels or jeans or something inbetween the stuff on hangers, using the close-by pinning method, and that seems to help by keeping the stuff on hangars from blowing too freely.

[TheScientist]

1. that's really cool, i probably would never have thought of something like this 2. couldn't you just peg the clothes to the line directly? (although if you don't have pegs, i can see that you're still likely to have hangers and paperclips/rubber bands lying around..)

[LowEnergy]

You totally could do that (clothespin the hangers to the line). In fact someone suggested that in the comments on my lazy line dry instructable. I should have included that as an option here, and in the picture. The advantage of what I show here is that it's a little faster when you are hanging stuff up, and there are fewer pieces to keep track of.

[CameronSS]

Clever! I like! We have wood mulch under the clothesline, so any clothes that fall off due to old clothespins are instantly covered in wood chips.

Coincidently, half of the Midwest is under a wind advisory from the National Weather Service...It's also cloudy and misty, just like a horror movie.

[LinuxH4x0r]

Great idea! I should try this