You could, especially the petite and stretchy clothes. However, it’s best to hang them. See, a microwave is designed to heat up as opposed to drying.
Besides, microwave heat can only penetrate an inch deep to the wet clothing. Drying a big folded cloth can only dry on the outside. Wet clothes dry when water in them evaporates when exposed to heat.
But in a closed microwave, the moisture produced does not escape. This may result in folds on your cloth upon ironing.
You can also use a microwave to heat wet clothes for a few seconds and then hang them out to dry. It reduces the drying time by half. In this article, we will examine the type of clothing materials that are microwavable as well as how to dry them.
What Materials are Clothes Made of and Which of Them Microwavable?
Nowadays, Clothes are made of natural material, synthetic material, or a blend of natural and artificial materials. For instance, shirts are made of cotton, nylon, cotton-polyester, or even a blend of all these fabrics.
Most clothes made of natural materials are microwave safe, while synthetic materials pose a potential risk if put in a microwave.
At high temperatures, polyester and nylon can melt while materials like spandex can result in flames when heated a lot. Many clothes like jeans have metal zippers and buttons attached to them. If such clothes are introduced into a microwave, they may produce sparks.
Trying to dry a non-microwavable cloth using a microwave may destroy your material, your microwave, or get a hot wet cloth instead of a dry cloth.
While natural cloth materials are advertised as microwavable, it is essential to note that not all have the same properties and reactions to heat.
Some can only be dried within a short period, and others can stay longer without being destroyed. Natural materials like bamboo should never be put in a microwave as they will produce smoke and flames.
How to Know if Your Cloth is Microwavable
It is not possible to tell if a cloth is microwave-safe or not by looking at it. Even the small labels on clothes mostly don’t provide information on whether the materials are microwave-safe or not.
Even if you were sure your cloth is microwave safe, you might not be aware of a small metal zip or button. To know if a material is probably microwave-safe, you can look at materials listed on the cloth label and information on how they react when exposed to high temperatures and fire.
How to Dry Microwave-Safe Clothes in a Microwave
In an emergency situation where your only viable option to dry your clothes is using a microwave, you can follow the following steps:
Step1:
Ensure that the cloth you want to dry is relatively small and has no metal or plastic elements. You should not try this with a dirty cloth as it may make your kitchen stink.
Step 2:
Cover the cloth with a bowl, for the safety of your microwave. This will help just in case the cloth catches fire, and you will only replace the shirt and the bow, not the entire microwave.
Step 3:
Adjust the temperature of the microwave to about 50%. Now microwave the shirt for only ten seconds.
Step 4:
Use potholders to remove it from the microwave and gently feel its temperature. If it is extremely hot, waft it until it cools down. Now check if it has dried.
Step 5:
If the cloth is still wet, you can repeat the above steps, each step at 50% temperature and only ten seconds. When the cloth is mostly dry, you can give it a few minutes on the hunger, and it will be dry.
Conclusion on can you microwave clothes dry
While you can use a microwave to dry clothes made from some microwave-safe materials like cotton, they may not give you the expected drying results because microwaves are basically heaters, but not driers.
Most of the microwave-safe clothes like cotton pair of socks and underwear may dry just fine in a microwave, but the elastic parts will be destroyed.