You spin me right round baby right round, like a record baby right round, round round! (Brabantia 4 Arm 50m Lift O Matic Rotary Dryer)

Member Name: apuskiduski

Product:	Brabantia 4 Arm 50m Lift O Matic Rotary Dryer
Date:	18/04/09 (901 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Compact, great price, solidly reliable, massive drying area, good for those with mobility problems

Disadvantages: None

You may know from visiting my profile or from reading my reviews that I have three daughters. You may also know, or be able to imagine, how much washing said three daughters might create. Well, triple that and you could be somewhere near the amount of laundry I get in a lather over every week.

It has decreased somewhat since I enforced the pyjama rule, however. This rule involves the changing of school uniform into pyjama - type clothing as soon as the little monsters put their feet on the welcome mat. Well, almost.

I don't mind them lounging around, like the Royle family, in their slobby gear as it means they can do it a few days on the trot and because no one irons Royle family clothes, I also have less ironing to do too! Hurray!!

However, my laundry woes used to be far more intense when the little nippers were really little nippers. I would say my peak period for washing was when they were five, three and two as a whole new lot of school uniform had just been introduced and, ever the house-proud housewife working full time as a teacher myself, wanted my daughter to attend school with the whitest shirt and neatest pinafore imaginable. As you do.

So I have experienced a lot of washing over the years. On top of the kids' wash- baskets, my husband produces five shirts - all on a similar blue stripy theme I have to say - every week and there's also my washing which at one time used to be horrendous. Read my Sweaty Betty review to learn how I managed to go through fifteen tops every week!

But through all the trials and tribulations of the laundry kind, my trusty Brabantia Rotary Airer AKA Billy Brabantia has been a solid, faithful and reliable companion. He has stood through all weathers, temperatures and garden upheavals for 21 years in September. In fact he will be having a celebration on the 5th to mark the day he was first 'planted' in the first soil that we ever (nearly) owned. We've had two small gardens at our houses, so we had to have a compact, space-saving washing line. Little did we know the action Billy was going to see!

~~~~WHAT IS THIS TRUSTY DEVICE? I HEAR YOU ASK~~~
A rotary airer or dryer, when fully extended, is like a giant spider web strung between four equidistant 'arms' on a central pole for want of a better description.

They come in different sizes - 30m, 40m, 50m and 60m of washing line spider web.
I have the 50m version and it's been perfectly adequate for the heaviest of washing days.

You load it up with your wet washing and it spins beautifully in the wind, round and round, round and round, round and round. You get the picture. An hour or so later, depending on the British weather, you take the dry clothes off the rotary dryer and bring them into the house where, if you're like me, they sit around in piles, screaming "Iron me you lazy trout!"

~~~INSTALLING THE CONTRAPTION~~~~

When you first take ownership of this workhorse of a washing line, it arrives in a protective 'sleeve' which is its cover. Ours is green so as I unzip it and dump it unceremoniously on the grass, I cannot get Henry VIII's lyrics out of my head:

Alas, my love, you do me wrong,
To cast me off discourteously.
For I have loved you well and long,
Delighting in your company.

(From Greensleeves - get it?)

But before you can start hanging your washing out you have to install the garden 'spike'. This is a metal tube that sits beneath the surface of the grass into which the airer pole fits.

It has a cap on top if ever you want to remove the pole, say you're having a barby or mowing the lawn for instance. It's handy having a cap as it prevents very small animals, kids' toys, chair legs or hot dog sausages falling down the hole. But, be warned though, we once removed the pole and covered it up for the winter. It took us three days to find it again in the Spring, especially after the grass had grown!

As I have a civil engineer as a husband, he concreted ours in like it was just another job. "That baby's going nowhere" he quite proudly announced when we arrived at our first house. Thank goodness he put it where the sun shone that's all I can say!

It would have been difficult for me to do, but you really need to secure it into the ground or the pole won't last long- especially fully loaded with a heavy North-westerly blowing!

On moving house, we had to purchase another garden spike - this is easy to do online.

Replacement parts for your Airer can be bought at reasonable prices from:
http://www.philipmorris.uk.com/

~~~~WHY IT'S GOT ME IN A SPIN~~~

I have to say that of all the purchases I've made for my house and garden this has been the best value and most reliable. Brabantia have certainly chosen the right word in 'solid' to attach to their products.

In the 21 years that we've had it, the four green 'arms' have remained green. There is no rusting on the chrome parts to the dryer. The lines have remained strong, straight and untangled with no breakages at all. The cover is seeing a few holes here and there but these are minor and it will probably see another 9 years of action. Maybe I'll buy Billy a new cover for his 30th birthday!

Having had small gardens and lots of kids playing in that space, it's been ideal as it's not strung across the garden waiting to garrotte someone and it can be removed easily at serious play-times.

It's extremely easy to lift. Lift-o-matic says it all. Just squeeze the release catch at the base of the pole ( a bit like an umbrella) and push up, to raise the dryer to the exact height you want it (132cm to 179cm) and it's as easy as that.

I have a bad back, so I put a garden table next to mine when it's opened out, put the wash basket and pegs on the table top and the job's a good 'un. No bending, walking or dragging a basket around. Just move the line to where I am and start pegging out. So, perfect for lazy people too.

I'm always amazed at how much washing it will hold. I often get four or five loads out at once, if I'm methodical hanging the smalls at the centre and large things like towels and sheets on the outside. This rarely happens though. I tend to hang a load out and then bring them in as and when they're dry replacing them with wet things when the next load is done.

On days when the weather's playing silly beggars with your laundry queen mind though, it's not so good. If you've got five loads out and the heavens open, boy do the inside things get wet!

You'd think that the things on the inside wouldn't get as dry as those on the outside as they're shaded but it's not the case.

I am in a total spin about this contraption and I hope that anyone who's considering replacing an old line thinks about this brand of rotary dryer.

For facts and figures boffs: It's 2m tall, 160mm deep and 160mm wide when covered and has a diagonal span of 317cm when opened and comes with a 5 year guarantee. Enough figures already.

I couldn't be without Billy Brabantia, he's my hero!

Summary: Join the Rotary Club. It'll have you in a spin!