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The presenter, Mavis Ackerley, recommended placing a dry towel in a tumble dryer in order to reduce the time taken to dry clothes by taking out excess moisture, and that when using a heated airer a similar effect could be achieved by putting a dry towel over the clothes.  In the complainant’s view the amount of water to be extracted would remain exactly the same but in both cases the towel would reduce the air flow, increasing the amount of energy required for drying.

The ECU understood the programme-makers relied on articles published by Good Housekeeping and Ovo Energy which indicated adding a dry towel to a tumble dryer load could reduce the time it takes to dry clothes.  It noted viewers were also told not to overload their dryers which addressed the complainant’s concern about “air flowâ€�.  The available evidence did appear to suggest the tip is most effective if the towel is removed after a quarter of an hour or so, once it has absorbed some of the moisture from the damp items, and in the ECU’s opinion it would have been preferable if this had been mentioned.  But the absence of such information did not lead to a breach of the Â鶹ԼÅÄ’s standards for due accuracy.

In the second aspect of the complaint the evidence appeared to confirm the benefit of covering clothes on a heated rack or dryer as the covering traps warm air which has the potential to hold a greater number of water molecules than colder air.  In theory, what the cover is made from is irrelevant, since the purpose is to increase the capacity of the air to hold water vapour (rather than to absorb moisture itself).  Ms Ackerley also suggested providing ventilation, which addressed a concern the complainant raised about condensation and mould.  The ECU could not therefore agree her explanation, although brief, was likely to leave viewers with a misleading impression of the potential benefits of covering a heated dryer.
Not Upheld