Wood burner clothes dryer, post around here somewhere on it
My dryer of course
Basically use wood heat for the house and sit the dryer nearby. Run a duct work to pull clean hot air from around the woodburner and connect that to the air intake on the dryer. Disconnect the heating coil from an electric dryer or just don't connect the gas for a gas dryer. When the motor runs the drum the fan sucks in the hot air same as it normally would cold air, you just don't need to heat it
Electric dryers are porbably the easiest to connect a duct to, they have a duct in the rear normally that holds the heater element, just connect to the bottom of that. Problem is they are 220V connection to the power, you only need 110V though for the motor and timer, how to change that would be the trick to run off a 110V inverter.
No wiring problem with a gas dryer. Everything is 110V already. The duct connection may be more work though. Mine was pretty easy. I cut a coffee can bottom out and it was the perfect size to cover the air inlet from the gas burner which was at the bottom and drawed air from the front. I had to cut the duct in the rear and remove part since it had a small opening for cold air to mix with the hot burner air as it was drawn into the dryer, about 50/50 mix. I used the other part of the coffee can, cut the open end so I could bend 2 tabs upwards and have an open slot the depth of the duct and as wide. These tabs slide up into the dryers duct and held the can in place, then it's simply cut a hole the size of your duct pipe and stick it into the can.
My dryer has an air only cycle that runs without heating the air normally, so I use this cycle and did not need to bother with any wires on the burner. First time I run it I was going to remove the wires because it kept clicking tryng to light the burner that had no gas, but then I saw I had air only cycle so I didn't have to do that.
How long it takes to dry clothes will vary with how hot a fire you have going at the time. We also often hang clothes near the woodburner but a safe distance of course for just air drying. If you have a seperate room you use for the woodburner and duct the heat to the rest of the house that would make a good place to hang clothes to dry too if you can safely.
When I build a new house I plan to do that too. Large room for the woodburner and dryer and plenty of room to hang clothes on a line with a small fan to move the air. The moisture is a plus when static shock is a problem since it humidifies the dry air. Hardly got a zap at all this winter, normally got a static shock several times a day in previous years. A big worry for me with 4 computers in the house!
As for venting out the dryer, I just vent it into the house for the humidity myself. Lint has not been a problem. I think the lower heat used this way may be letting the lint stay a bit moister and it collects better in the dryer filter then it normally would when ran HOT on gas or electric. I have a Nylon stocking on the end of my vent pipe to catche the extra lint that does escape and I empty that as needed checking it often. But it has not been getting filled very fast for us so it's not emptied alot.
I just pull it off, turn inside out, brush off well, rinse in running water, put it back on, when ever I do need to clean it.
Of course you could vent it outside as normal or however you like anyway.
I am also wondering if the lower heat I am drying with this way might be better for the clothes also compared to the much higher heat when used normally. I can't say for sure, but I think the clothes themselfs may last longer, and for certian my jeans are not shrinking as bad either!!
Been lot's of other things posted here too. Like maybe using copper tubing and hot water coiled inside a duct running to a dryer to heat the air as it passes through the duct.
I had thought about a solar dryer also. Make a thin room outside where the sun shines well. Black inside and glass front. Run a clothes line on pullies, open the side door hang clothes and feed into the room. When the sun is shinning the clothes are sun dried and the black walls also heat well where the sun gets past the hanging clothes.
How to vent out the moisture would be the question without letting in the cold air. Maybe just a metal duct out the top and down the back to condense it back to water and recirulate the dried air? Could be built any size depending how much clothes you need dried.
If not wanting to use a glass front, build a simlar room maybe and use the sun to heat black duct or plastic and pipe it into the room. Should work well anytime the sun is shineing bright and no power needed, just all convection. Suck the cooler air from the bottom of the room and return the heated air near the top.
Many ways to dry clothes without gas or electric for heat, just depends what works best for your situation.
I know someone that ran clothes lines on pullies up the side of their house. They have black plastic outside to collect heat. They have the downstairs window open and hang clothes acrossed the 2 lines and feed them upwards. A knot in the line stops when it hits the top pulley. The upstairs window is also opened. I don't know how well this is actually working for them. Supposedly the air from downstairs enters the black plastic area outside, heats up, rises, dries the clothes, re-enters the house at the top window as hot air, and the cooler air upstairs flows back downstairs through the house. Solar heat for the house and dry clothes at the same time, on theory, but like I say I don't know how well it really works for them yet. It does help heat the house on sunny days they say. As for the clothes I hadn't heard much, but they are still doing it so I geuss it works??
I don't think I would want to do that myself though.
