When winter rolls in and hanging your clothes outside to dry is no longer an option, the best heated clothes airers can be a laundry lifesaver. Taking a simple concept that’s been around for centuries and adding a mains-powered heating element is a simple solution to an evergreen problem, and it can potentially save you money on your energy bills to boot.
Tumble dryers might be the fastest way of drying your clothes, but not all garments can withstand that level of heat without shrinkage or damage – and other items can lose years of their life. Instead, heated airers offer a solution that is kinder to both your clothes and the environment. They provide room for airflow like regular clothes airers or clothes horses except with a bit of extra heat to speed the process up. Where a tumble dryer consumes around 4.5kWh per cycle, heated clothes airers often use less than 0.3kWh and rarely higher than 1.2kWh, so even though they’re slower than a tumble dryer, they’ll cost you less in the long run.
Here we’ll recommend a range of heated clothes airers to suit any home. While compact heated airers will work best in smaller houses and flats, those catering for large families can maximise their drying volume with a massive airer. Read on and our buying guide will explain all the key information and features you need to know about before buying.
Take a standard clothes airer or clothes horse, add a mains-powered heating element to the design, and you have a heated clothes airer. Other heated airers are more akin to a portable wardrobe – with this type, you simply hang your clothes inside, seal the unit shut and a fan or heating element accelerates the drying process.
Even if you do just happen to have your heating on, directly hanging towels or wet clothes on a radiator is a very inefficient way to dry your washing. Your radiator won’t be able to work efficiently to heat your home, either.
Positioning a standard clothes airer a couple of feet from a radiator is a slightly better idea as items will dry more quickly, and your radiator will still heat the room efficiently, but you will still probably end up having to turn it around several times to get everything dried evenly – especially if it’s heavily laden with washing.
Heated clothes airers use very little electricity – roughly 0.2-0.3kWh of energy compared to around 4.5kWh per cycle for a tumble dryer – so they’re a cheaper option than turning your heating on to do the same job.
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Price: £65 | Buy now from Amazon
Most heated airers sprawl across a room with their numerous rack appendages, and while that is beneficial for drying more clothing at once, it’s not ideal for smaller spaces. A sleek, slimline solution is Homefront’s bathroom-radiator-style rack.
The sturdy, aluminium frame provides six rungs to hang washing on, and the design can handle heavy items without buckling. Despite that, it’s lightweight enough to be moved easily and, since it’s so thin, you can store it away under a bed or in a cupboard once you’ve finished using it.
To get the drying started, simply flick the power switch – there are no timer or automatic shut-off features. You won’t get through a 10kg wash all at once, but this Frontline airer still does a grand job of drying smaller loads.
Key specs – Open dimensions: 90.5 x 53.5 x 36cm (HWD); Closed dimensions: 90.5 x 53.5 x 36cm (HWD); Drying space: 2 metres; Weight: 2.4kg; Guarantee: 1 year; Wattage: 90W
Price: £110 | Buy now from The Range
Holding up to 15kg of washing, this heated airer by Black + Decker is ideal for anyone who needs to dry lots of washing at once. Families in particular will enjoy the ample space on this three-tiered airer.
It comes fully assembled and ready to use: simply lock the tiers in place, plug in and switch it on via the illuminated panel. And despite its large capacity, the whole thing folds flat for storage purposes.
You’ll find alternative three-tier options, such as the Dry:Soon Deluxe 3-tier Heated Airer, but given this Black + Decker model is nearly identical and substantially cheaper, we reckon it’s a better buy.
Key specs – Open dimensions: 140 x 73 x 68cm (HWD); Closed dimensions: 140 x 73 x 10cm (HWD); Drying space: 21 metres; Weight: 4.5kg; Guarantee: 1 year; Wattage: 300W
Buy now from The Range
Price: £60 | Buy now from Robert Dyas
Also offering 15kg of clothes drying capacity is this heated airer by Status. The design has a larger footprint than the three-tier Black + Decker model, utilising a winged design to incorporate extra racks, but it will dry your clothes just as well across its 18 bars. And besides, once your clothes are dry, you can fold the whole structure away.
If you can, getting a cover or using an old fitted sheet to go over the top of the airer will make that drying process even faster, as this will hold the heat in and spread it around more evenly. It’s good value given the drying capacity, though.
Key specs – Open dimensions: 97 x 142 x 52cm (HWD); Closed dimensions: 50.8 x 112 x 52cm (HWD); Drying capacity: 15kg; Weight: 2.5kg; Guarantee: 1 year; Wattage: 220W
Buy now from Robert Dyas
Price: £90 | Buy now from Amazon
Just like its Heated Cabinet product, Dry:Soon’s Drying Pod uses a fan heater to warm its enclosure. The main difference here is that the Drying Pod is a far more compact alternative, so is ideal for those looking to save space at home.
Dry:Soon states it can take the same 12 items of clothing as its Heated Cabinet. This is perhaps a tad optimistic, though, and will be entirely dependent on the thickness of your clothes. We’d recommend spacing clothes out if you want them to dry quickly.
In any case, you can set the 1,000W fan heater to a timer of 30-minute intervals (up to 180 minutes at a time), and this pushes the internal temperature up to a toasty 70˚C. If you want a quick way of drying clothes without a tumble dryer, this is a good option.
Key specs – Open dimensions: 146 x 62cm (H x diameter); Closed dimensions: 146 x 62cm (H x diameter); Drying capacity: 10kg of clothing; Weight: 4.6kg; Guarantee: 3 years; Wattage: 1,000W
Price: £130 | Buy now from Lakeland
While we all need to dry freshly washed clothes, draping items across open airers, radiators and anywhere they can dangle isn’t the homely aesthetic most of us desire. To avoid showing guests your smalls, Dry:Soon has a solution: the heated drying cabinet.
Instead of your clothing rack being exposed to the world, it sits behind a fabric covering that zips up completely to hide your unmentionables and more – it’s essentially a heated portable wardrobe. A 1,200W fan heater jets warm air (up to 65˚C) into the cabinet, and you can set the timer to run for up to six hours at a time.
Due to the wardrobe-like design, you can hang shirts and uniforms inside on clothes hangers, and this results in far less creasing than standard heated airers and clothes horses. Underneath, there’s a second rail for other items, and this provides enough capacity for around 12 items of clothing.
Key specs – Open dimensions: 152 x 71.5 x 45cm (HWD); Closed dimensions: 152 x 71.5 x 45cm (HWD); Drying capacity: 10kg of clothing; Weight: 4.6kg; Guarantee: 3 years; Wattage: 1,200W
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