Drying in HOT

[RosieCheeks]

Question, if anyone knows. I dry my AIO's, pockets, everything on high heat in the dryer. When I mention to someone that it's ok to dry PUL products in the dryer on high, some have told me, "It's not the PUL I'm worried about, it's the elastic."

anyone know the scoop on the long-term effect of drying elastic, specifically Lastin, on hot? My personal opinion is that it's fine, but I have no data to back that up.

TIA!

[StrawHatBrat]

Hmmm... never thought of that.
I'd think it would be fine. I use polybraid elastic, not lastin, and I've only had about 2 months worth of washing on even my oldest CD.... but I can't tell a difference.
Maybe I'll just start drying on medium??

[LeosMama]

I don't know about this, but I have heard this. I dry my stuff on low b/c I don't want the fibers or the elastic to wear out. It means it takes longer (1.5 hours of tumbling), but everything is in great shape after 1 year of cloth diapering with all the same dipes.
If you keep doing hot, please let us know in another year or so how things go. Sorry, don't mean to make you the guinea pig, but if you're going to do it anyway...

[boscopup]

I've heard the thing about the elastic too, although some people say the danger is more if you stretch the elastic while it's fresh out of the hot dryer? Supposedly, THAT will cause it to break. I don't know about long term hot drying effects on the elastic without stretching it. I'll admit that often times, my Fuzzi Bunz end up getting dried on medium or hot along with the inserts. But I've only been using them since the end of August.

[judybean]

PUL actually benefits from being dried on hot, but I bet that elastic *does* break down over time after being washed and dried on hot. It's just the nature of certain materials (which is why some prefer a complete stash of flats or prefods or even contours -- no worries about elastic, snaps, aplix, etc).

But I wash everything (diaper-related) in hot water and then more often than not (except for the summertime -- then I'm ALL about drying on the line!) it gets tossed into the dryer. On hot. Everything.

[RosieCheeks]

Originally Posted by LeosMama

If you keep doing hot, please let us know in another year or so how things go. Sorry, don't mean to make you the guinea pig, but if you're going to do it anyway...

LOL, I'll let you know in a year or so, hehe! So far in 7 months of drying on high heat (which is how long we've CD'd) I haven't had any elastic issues, but I haven't been using the same diapers for all the 7 months. But I have seen moms who say they have dried on hot for years with the same diapers and they are in great shape.

It does seem logical that the elastic would wear down over time, but I'm wondering if anyone has actually seen that happen.....

[RosieCheeks]

Ok, thinking about it some more..... what do you dry your undies in? Your pajamas? Sweats? I have clothes w/ elastic waists that I've been drying on hot for probably 10 years or more and not a single item has worn-out elastic. Would "diaper elastic" be any different?

[LeosMama]

yeah, you're too smart for me.

[jnmom]

I think the pp is right and... we baby our diapers too much. I have some ancient bras that have taken mucho bleach/hot drying abuse and they last pretty long and I don't even was them 2x a week

and hey, it has to be done.. so what other choice do you really have? Life's too short, I say!

[boscopup]

I agree that we probably baby our diapers too much, although there *are* some differences that could have an effect possibly.

1) Diapers tend to be used more often than other clothes, and thus washed more often. So a year's worth of diaper use might be equal to 2-3 years use of underwear (and frankly, my underwear has to be replaced every year to year and half, but that's because I use cheapo Hanes Her Way).
2) While polybraid elastic in diapers is the same as the elastic often used in other clothes, Lastin used in the legs of many diapers is not the same. And I'm thinking it might be Lastin that is more prone to breakage? But that may be mostly an issue of stretching it fresh out of the dryer, so don't do that.

Btw, I dry all my clothes on medium, not hot.

Anyway, I dry my diapers on medium or hot, elastic and all. My hemp requires two dryer cycles, so I usually do one cycle of medium, take out the covers/AIO shells, and run the inserts alone on hot. Sometimes I forget and do it all on hot. I'll let you know in a year if all my elastic is shot.

[judybean]

Yes, I think there is ENTIRELY too much 'babying' of diapers... I mean, they're *diapers* for crying out loud!! Poopcatchers at best!

Plus, like boscopup pointed out, diapers usually see a *lot* more washing (on hot, dried on hot) than underwear does. So, it's bound to wear out faster.

And I think some of the concern with elastic wearing out is because elastic is Very Important in diapering!! I mean, if your undies don't have quite that same 'spring' in the leg openings, it doesn't mean you're going to end up with wet pants, whereas if the elastic wears out in dipes it could cause some major (smelly, messy!) problems!

[michellerene]

judybean--

Get to work!

[cheeseRjedi]

lol Michelle..I was going to say that too

I haven;t been cd'ing for long, but I dry all my regular clothes with elastic on hot everytime and it hasn't seem to have worn out the stretchiness at all.

But my main reason for posting on this thread is to compliment Strawhatbrat on her dipes!! Those are soooooo beautiful. Do you sew/knit all the patterns in yourself or do you get the fabric like that? I would love to make diapers that nice but I'd feel bad that I was using such beautiful things to catch my baby's poop! Anyways - good job, they are gorgeous!

[michellerene]

Not quite the same, but I thought of this thread a few days ago when I pulled out a card of 1/8" elastic that I had picked up at a garage sale years ago-- it was old then-- anywhere from the 50's to the 70's, judging from the packaging. It's still stretchy as can be, so... if 30+ years of oxidation doesn't break down elastic, I don't think there's much we can do to it that's going to hurt it!

Wash your doggone diapers! If they get ruined, you have an excuse to make more!

[judybean]

Originally Posted by michellerene

judybean--

Get to work!

I'm about to!! But if only you mamas would stop posting all about your diaper-making ventures and such I wouldn't have anything to keep me glued to the screen

(but really, I *do* have to get going... I have a few cut-outs that NEED to be sewn up -- or else pieces of dipes start floating around the house once either Madeline or Katherine get near them!)!