What makes things worse: draping clothes directly over radiators, which blocks the heat you are paying for and sends steam straight up the cold wall above; drying in a sealed bathroom with the door shut and no extraction, which is a recipe for mould along the ceiling line; and leaving a finished load sitting in the machine overnight. Also worth checking — if your tumble dryer is a vented model, it must vent outside, not into the room.
Is it bad to dry clothes on radiators?
It is not dangerous for most fabrics, but it is inefficient and it concentrates moisture in exactly the wrong place. The radiator's job is to warm the air circulating round the room, and a thick towel over it turns that into a damp lump of blocked heat, with all the evaporated water rising onto the coldest part of the wall above. If you only have radiators to work with, use a rack placed near one rather than draped on it, and keep the window on a vent while the load dries.
How do I stop indoor-dried laundry smelling musty?
Musty laundry almost always means something stayed damp for too long — either in the machine, in a crowded pile on the airer or in a thick seam that never quite dried. Dry smaller loads with real gaps between items, aim for everything to be done inside a day, and feel the waistbands, cuffs and hems before you fold anything away. It is also worth running a hot maintenance wash on an empty machine now and then, because a drum that smells will pass that smell straight onto clean clothes no matter how well you dry them.
