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• #122802
Been to bocas del toro twice, had a lot of fun there but that was nearly 20 years ago when I was also fun. Some nice quiet beaches and I remember some jazzy looking frogs but no other wildlife.. Other than that just a few messy nights in bars. Don’t remember the main bit having a huge amount to entertain a family but that could have changed, or could be available on a different budget to what I had then.
Went to a couple of other places in Panama but nothing I’d recommend.
Costa Rica did have more wildlife and nicer beaches on the pacific side and would be a better bet if you’re really set on Central America. But yeah more expensive.
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• #122803
Does anyone have any recommendations for good cafes/spaces where I might be able to do a Teams call from - central(ish) London tomorrow afternoon?
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• #122804
Cheers. That's really helpful.
Maybe saving and doing CR properly when our youngest is a bit older is a better bet. The Caribbean coast in general appeals more as I think the water would be safer.
Everywhere else I seem to run into cost or safety issues.
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• #122805
Colon was a hole
vg
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• #122806
À heat pump dryer is basically a big dehumidifier but in a closed loop and all self contained, a dehumidifier is doing the same job but in a room.
A good heat pump dryer will always be more efficient but will cost a lot more than a dehumidifier but you also don't lose a room to drying clothes.
I used a dehumidifier for years but after having a heat pump dryer I'd never use a dehumidifier for drying clothes over one given the choice.
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• #122807
Royal festival hall if you can find a quiet corner. Someone else might have a better suggestion.
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• #122808
I used to dry my clothes on a rack with a dehumidifier. Bought a heat pump drier. It’s a lot quicker, more convenient and uses less energy. I also had one of those heater racks which was very good at drying the exact line on the clothes where they where hanging.
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• #122809
I got a heat pump dryer for winter/rainy drying of clothes. Otherwise we use a plain drying rack or we used to use the big dryers up at the laundrette.
I guess the key thing to bear in mind is the dryer has a habit of shrinking your clothes (no matter the heat) and rolls up shirt sleeves into like a tight concertina which is difficult to iron out. So although we really need to use the dryer during colder months to stop the house getting damp, I’m a bit picky about what goes into it because it quickly ruins some clothes.
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• #122810
Hey guys 👋 the key part of James' requirement is part b.
leaving them in a state where they can simply be folded rather than needing ironing
I can only comment on old school dryers. To which the answer is if you want the easy folding then you have to compromise and take out early before they're fully dry, then neatly hang to finishing drying (or for sheets you can half fold and air for a bit before putting away without them smelling....now I think about this how is that possible? Because they're so large?)
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• #122811
Anyone know what type of female clip this is from a Tom Bihn bag, and where I can find the male counterpart?
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• #122812
Actually something higher and more important on my tdl...
What are good sites to look for last min holiday deals?
Google is just a deluge of sponsored ads I don't trust.
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• #122813
There isn't a male part. It's a clip designed to clamp onto that black strap.
You pinch the top two prongs together and pull it towards you (it pivots from the bottom) and it'll open. The strap then slots behind that bit of plastic. Clip back to secure.
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• #122814
No way! All these years I've assumed something slides into the middle , but you're absolutely correct.
Cheers.
So I guess I open it and clamp some thing else to keep it floating inside.
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• #122815
It's called an annex clip, it allows you to attach things to webbing/a MOLLE system and is (sort of) quick release compared to other attachment methods.
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• #122816
I can only comment on old school dryers
Heat pump dryers operate at a lower temperature, because they can alter the absolute humidity rather than just cheating the relative humidity down by raising the temperature. This feature at least partially solves the creasing issue.
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• #122817
We have a toilet room that is not needed. It’s one of those small cupboard rooms and doesn’t even have a sink, and it’s next door to the bathroom which has a sink and toilet.
Currently clothes are dried on a clothes airer on the landing. But the airer isn’t wide enough to allow my T-shirts to lay across the racks fully so they always dry a little bit creased. Also it can take towels a couple of days to air dry. Our garden is pretty heavily shaded by trees so drying outdoors isn’t a great option- compounded by some of the wettest weather in years.
So the plan is to remove the toilet and cap the pipes (in case it ever needs to revert to being a toilet). Put in some racks or retractable lines for hanging washing on and a small dehumidifier.
This then means clothes are drying on the same floor as where clothes are stored, they can be hung up smoothly on the line until dry and then be folded. It looks like this will cost less than buying a heat pump drier though operating costs may be a little higher.
If we got a heat pump drier it would be in the bootroom which is a muddy place but we wouldn’t want a tumble drier upstairs churning around when we are trying to sleep.
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• #122818
a small dehumidifier.
Get a big one, the tank on a small one will be full before you've dried one shirt. Some of the multi-room sized dehumidifiers even have a connection to allow you to drain into your waste pipe rather than a tank, which is even better.
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• #122819
Was looking at this one https://uk.trotec.com/shop/comfort-dehumidifier-ttk-33-e.html
Would you suggest biggerer?
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• #122820
I have one of these
https://www.meaco.com/products/meacodry-abc-range-12l-dehumidifier
Which seems to be the same extraction rate but a bigger tank (2.6l vs 1.5l) and quieter.Anecdotally, if I set if going in a room with 2 loads of washing overnight the clothes will be dry the next morning and the tank full.
Although if it is going in a room that used to be a toilet you might have somewhere to just drain direct via a hose (which they both seem to do).
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• #122821
T-shirts to lay across the racks fully
How come you don't hang them on hangers? Does it misshape them or something?
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• #122822
Yep, rounded shoulders and I don’t have hanging space to hang all T shirts once cleaned.
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• #122823
racks or retractable lines
We used to live in a flat with one of these in the bathroom. It was brilliant. The wood also absorbs moisture to aid drying.
While searching for that image I came across this:
Which is a poor application of a good concept, that I think you could improve on. Basically turn the whole room into a drying rack with full width folding down racks.Of all the forum projects that have come and gone I think I am most envious of this one.
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• #122824
Have you got a link for the diy airer?
Yes, most of the decent ones. The fundamental principle of a refrigerant cycle dehumidifier is that it's a heat pump, moving latent heat of vaporisation from the condensate to the ambient air. The Trotec TTK series are good. As heat pumps, they have an efficiency of about 2 (e.g. 250W electricity in, 500W thermal out), although that obviously varies depending on the initial ambient humidity and the target humidity.