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October 6, 2006 12:03 AM
Broken: Dryer rack
Jem Stone submits a picture taken in Brighton, UK:
I spotted this clothes dryer rack at the UK branch of Habitat.
The label for this clothes dryer rack reads:
"Do not put wet clothes on this airer. It is suitable for the airing of dry clothes only- not the drying of wet clothes.
Some colour may transfer from the wood if wet items are placed on it"
Who uses an a clothes dryer rack for clothes that aren't damp or wet? Why would you want to air out clothes that are already dry?
Besides that, the clothes dryer...uh, airer...is bare unpainted wood. Just what color would transfer from it, exactly? And if that is even an issue, just how much trouble would it be to spray on about 3c worth of laquer or something to make the darn thing waterproof?
Yep, broken.
Ah, I think they probably mean colour will transfer from the clothes to the rack...not vice versa. But yes a quick coat of some sort of waterproof varnish really would solve the problem very rapidly. Though to be honest why anyone would bother to purchase such a porrly designed product in the first place to have to do such a thing is a source of complete wonderment.
Who says it's a dryer rack in the first place. Why is it broken. Maybe it's just a rack to put your clothes on and to put it outside so they can get fresh.
I'm just glad they put a large sign on it in the store rather than a small print paper inside the box that you read after you get the 'dryer' home.
Not broken. This is not a dryer. It's an airer. As in, you take your less-than-fresh clothes, drape it over the rack, and sit it outside. The poster misinterprets the nature of the item. The text on the tag is quite clear about all of this. "To air" != "To dry"
>sophym:"Ah, I think they probably mean colour will transfer from the clothes to the rack...not vice versa."
Then their grammar is broken to, as it clearly states "Some colour may transfer FROM THE WOOD if wet items are placed on it."
>Fastolfe:"Not broken. This is not a dryer. It's an airer...The poster misinterprets the nature of the item."
Ah. So it looks like a horse, sounds like a horse, acts like a horse but it's not what people have identified as a horse for centuries, it's a monochrome zebra. Right.
Clothes drying racks have been around for ages. Making a drying rack that can't handle wet clothes and renaming it an "airer" is like making a hotpot that can't boil water and marketing it as a "water warmer." Whether an "airer" that looks like a dryer but can't dry clothes or a "water warmer" that looks like a hotpot but can't boil water, the product doesn't just allow but actively invites misinterpretation, and that makes it BROKEN.
Besides the obvious question of "who needs this?" this is definitely broken as well. Everything about the design suggests "drying rack". Simply slapping a warning sign on there is not enough.
Not broken. An airer is something you use to get the smell of smoke out of your clothes after a night out at a pub or nightclub. Or to get the smell of food out of your clothes after cooking.
Everybody who thinks this is broken is either not a Usability Specialist or has forgotten Usability rule #1 and #2.
1. KNOW YOUR USERS.
2. KNOW YOUR USERS' GOALS.
Has it occurred to you that airers have been around for a long time and likely have a lot of people who know what they are and DO use them?
The product is tailored to its users, not to its non-users.
Who airs out clothes on a rack? I usually them out for a walk around the neighborhood, 7 or 8 hangers in each hand.
And if they are a little damp, you can run for a while.
I must admit that while unusual to some people, this rack is not broken. It performs the reasonable task that it is labeled to do exactly as it is supposed to. If one wants a rack on which to dry clothes, he should buy a unit marked as a drying rack. But if you want a rack to hang clothes on to remove a smoke smell, this is perfect. Not broken.
True, but how hard would it be to make it waterproof so it can accomplish more than one function? I agree than an airing rack is a legitimate item, but why not make it so you can both dry and air clothes out?
I hope all those people that think this is not broken don't use their clothes dryer to air them as well.
>DavesBrain:"Has it occurred to you that airers have been around for a long time and likely have a lot of people who know what they are and DO use them?"
Yeah, about that: Ask Google. Search using keywords 'clothes dryer rack' and you get 1,380,000 hits. Search using keywords 'clothes airer rack' and you only get 24,100. Besides the fact you get more than 57 times more hits for a dryer rack, you'll find that the results look remarkably similar. More telling still is that virtually all the "airer" racks also tout themselves as "dryer" racks or state they can be used to dry clothes.
This not only begs the question why you would buy an "airer" you couldn't dry clothes on when you could buy a "dryer" that you could also air clothes on, but why someone would even bother producing an "airer" that couldn't perform the function of an otherwise IDENTICAL product.
I would think it would be self evident that the very need for a sign to point this out would be ample proof that the concept is indeed broken.
This will end the argument. It isn't a "airer rack". It is a clotheshorse. Prove me wrong.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clotheshorse
It is the same as a drying rack (not called a dryer rack). Also, they should put water proof varnish on it, but it might be for whites only.
It is supposed to dry it to.
If someone notices that I post stuff 2 times in a row, I usually have something to add that I forgot.
"Not broken. This is not a dryer. It's an airer. As in, you take your less-than-fresh clothes, drape it over the rack, and sit it outside."
Yes, but since this is in Brighton UK, the clothes you put outside to air will soon get wet. Then what will become of your rack? :-)
I had one of these things.
It's not designed to hold the weight of wet clothes.
If you put your "can't put in the electric dryer" wet sweaters and such on it - it will collapse and then you get wet sweaters covered in basement floor dust and cat litter.
Yuccchh. Buy a metal drying rack instead I say.
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umm yea. you can start with dry clothes and a hose and get them wet and its ok
Posted by: n1nj4 at October 6, 2006 01:01 AM