Here's why:

- Householders don't want to put the heating on just to dry clothes: it's June, and it's expensive to heat the whole house just for clothes.

- Tumble dryers are one of the most energy hungry appliances in the home, using about 4 times as much energy as a washing machine.

- When the air is damp, clothes can take ages to dry on indoor clothes drying racks, or if hung over radiators and doors, and if they take too long to dry, they smell.

Here are 5 ways to dry your clothes:

1. Use a fan to move the air around a clothes drying rack – clothes can dry in as little as a few hours instead of a few days

2. A dehumidifier near the clothes rack helps. A dehumidifier uses electrical power to drive its compressor but it'll use less energy than heating devices. Dehumidifiers use about 750watts on average.

3. An extra spin cycle on your washing machine can reduce drying time considerably by squeezing out an extra few drops of water from your washing

4. Put your clothes drying rack outside - if it rains you just have to get that inside sharpish rather than lots of un-pegging from a washing line!

5. Thermostatic valves on radiators can isolate most of the central heating system leaving just the needed radiator.