An energy crisis and perma-drizzle have conspired to keep the nation’s laundry damp, not least by making it such a turn-off to turn on the heating. No wonder heated clothes airers are having a moment. These modish appliances sell out within hours of reaching shops and inspire evangelistic fervour among owners, who call them “life-savers” and “gamechangers”.
Can a hot clothes horse really change your life, let alone dry your washing as fast as a tumble dryer for a fraction of the cost and with none of the noise? I needed to be convinced, so I put 12 bestsellers through their paces with my soggy washing to find out whether they’re the best thing in laundry since the clothes peg – or destined for the loft.
At a glance
Why you should trust me
I’ve spent three decades testing products from Sky boxes to mattress toppers, and it’s made me professionally sceptical of manufacturers’ claims to magically solve domestic problems. I also have a solid background in procrastinating by doing laundry, hanging laundry and folding laundry, so I couldn’t resist the Guardian’s offer to pay me to watch clothes dry.
How I tested
To fairly compare 12 heated airers, I had to measure how quickly, evenly and cheaply each one dried an identical load of clothes. Actually, two identical loads – one small (4kg) and one big (8kg) – 12 times.
I removed and weighed the clothes every 30 minutes to see how much moisture had evaporated until the fabric was dry, and this gave me an overall drying time. Room temperature remained at a steady 19-20C throughout.
I took other measurements too, not least to give me something (anything) to do while the laundry dried, such as the dimensions of each airer and the length of its heated bars. I used an infrared thermometer to take the bars’ temperature every 30 seconds to compare heat-up times, and a wattage meter to check power usage. I then used the October 2024 default tariff (24.5p a kWh) to work out running costs an hour.
Some brands didn’t want the airers I’d tested returned, so those were donated to two organisations that do important work in and around Southampton. The first is Scratch, which provides services and furniture for families and individuals experiencing poverty, while the other is Stop Domestic Abuse, a charity offering support for victims and survivors of abuse and stalking.
Here’s my guide to the nine best heated clothes airers based on these tests.
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The best heated clothes airers in 2024
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Best overall:
Lakeland Dry: Soon Deluxe 3-tier heated airer and cover
This airer is for anyone who’s fed up with choosing between the expense of a noisy tumble dryer, the mess of clothes on radiators, and the rank stink of laundry slowly drying on a conventional clothes horse. With its ventilated heat-retaining cover in place, it’s the most efficient barred airer I tested.
Why we love it
Lakeland’s Dry:Soon Deluxe 3-tier heated airer arrives ready to use. It took me only two minutes to unfold the tiers, position the cover, plug in the cable and switch it on. The airer is a handsome chrome rack on its own, but the light grey embroidered cover makes the whole thing look rather gorgeous.
The bars warmed up faster than most of its rivals, reaching 27C within 30 seconds before maxing out at 50C. When I laid a 4kg load of damp T-shirts across them and closed the cover, the lot was dry in two hours. That’s no faster than a tumble dryer, but it’s much more energy-efficient, costing about 8p an hour compared with 50p for my tumble dryer.
The Dry:Soon Deluxe has some excellent user-friendly details. In particular, a timer lets you set it to switch off in hourly increments up to 12 hours ahead, which is handy for leaving it on overnight without the risk of forgetting it in the morning. All Lakeland’s airers come with a three-year warranty compared with the basic statutory guarantees for most heated airers.
It’s a shame that … this airer costs almost as much as a tumble dryer. Deluxe by name, deluxe by price. But it’s many times cheaper to run, and with energy costs recently rising by 10%, £200+ may be worth spending to keep your bills down.
Suitable for: families who want to give up their expensive tumble dryer habit
Available drying space: 21m (up to 36 hanging T-shirts)
Dimensions (open): 73 x 75 x 137cm
Dimensions (folded): 10 x 75 x 137cm
Max capacity: 15kg
Time to dry small load: 2 hours
Running cost: 8p/hour
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Best budget:
Dunelm heated airer with wings
Dunelm’s lightweight airer gets plenty of press attention, thanks to its bargain price and reported ability to dry large loads despite its dinky dimensions. In truth, you can’t dry a full load on this airer without significant help from the sun because it’s slightly less powerful than the other airers I tested. But at £40, it costs little more than a standard clothes horse, and my test results suggest it’s excellent value for money.
Why we love it
The Dunelm winged airer has the smallest footprint of all those I tested. It takes up just 46cm x 46cm on its beam supports, but its ironing board-style shape means it boasts a capacity of 10kg when unfolded. It warmed up to 42C in its hottest spots and dried my small load of T-shirts in four hours, about average for small heated airers but with a much smaller price tag.
I like that you can fold in the wings to double the heat when drying thicker garments, albeit not very large ones, and that the dryer is so light I can move it around using one hand.
It’s a shame that … the limited surface area meant 4kg of washing took four hours to dry.
Suitable for: solo households and small living spaces
Available drying space: 11m (up to 20 hanging T-shirts)
Dimensions (open): 93 x 52 x 114cm
Dimensions (folded): 7 x 52 x 102cm
Max capacity: 10kg
Time to dry small load: 4 hours
Running cost: 7p/hour
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Best for fast drying:
Minky SureDri heat pod drying system
Heat pods turn your old unheated airer into a heated version. This one has a waterproof cover that fits a standard three-tier clothes horse, plus an electric heater that sits underneath to fill the space with hot air.
Why we love it
Minky’s pod system is a damp-blitzing machine. Even on its lowest 360W setting, it was one of the fastest dryers in my tests, because the heater and cover combo kept in the hot air. I measured the highest setting as using 915W and costing 23p an hour, and it dried a large 8kg load within three hours. That’s as fast as a tumble dryer, but with less damage to your electric bill, or indeed to your clothes.
At £90 the Minky isn’t quite a bargain buy, but I love that it brings hot new life to your existing clothes horse. If the cover doesn’t fit yours, you can use a sheet with the Minky heater unit to much the same effect.
It’s a shame that … drying clothes with the Minky is more of a faff than with barred heated airers. First you have to set up the pod, then you have to put up with the noise. The cover also makes it fiddly to check your clothes while they’re drying.
Suitable for: work clothes and school uniforms that need a fast laundry turnaround
Available drying space: about 18m, depending on your clothes horse
Dimensions (heat pod unit): 33 x 28 x 17cm
Max capacity: Around 10kg
Time to dry small load: 1 hour 40 minutes (setting 1); 45mins (setting 3)
Running cost: 9p/hour (setting 1); 23p/hour (setting 3)
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The best of the rest
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Dunelm XL 3-tier square heated airer
Best for: a never-ending cycle of laundry that needs constant access
This huge, uncovered airer lets you get at your washing easily as it dries, so you can check, rearrange and replace items easily. It’s so big that I could lay an entire 4kg load of 10 T-shirts across the bars, and they dried in two hours at a cost of less than 20p. To save space, you can fold down half of the airer while it’s drying.
It didn’t make the final cut because … this airer will be too big for many homes to accommodate.
Available drying space: 26m; dimensions (open): 85 x 73 x 136cm; dimensions (folded): 10 x 85 x 136cm; max capacity: 25kg; time to dry small load: 2 hours; running cost: 8p/hour
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Daewoo 3-tier heated airer with cover
Best for: drying small loads fast without the noise of a heat pod
This small and almost perfectly formed airer has a ventilated coat to fast-track drying times. The bars heat up fairly quickly to a maximum of 40C, which is just hot enough to dry damp hand towels and socks in a couple of hours, and its small 60 x 62cm footprint means you may not need to put it away at all.
It didn’t make the final cut because … the airer isn’t especially powerful, and its blue plasticky cover makes it look a bit like a cheap tent.
Heated drying space: 11m; dimensions (open): 62 x 60 x 112cm; dimensions (folded): 11 x 60 x 112cm; max capacity: 15kg; ime to dry small load: 2 hours 30 minutes; running cost: 6p/hour
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Dunelm 3-tier A-frame heated airer
Best for: runners and dog walkers who need to dry soggy shoes and socks
Heated shoe stands are a simple addition and work well on this airer, drying my thick walking socks faster than if I’d laid them across the bars. The A-frame design also makes this among the sturdiest smaller airers I tested, and it stood firm even when I threw a large load of washing at the top tier.
It didn’t make the final cut because … my small 4kg load needed an unusually long five hours, even after I’d moved things around and flipped them over. I also hated risking my fingers in the metal hinged supports each time I folded and unfolded the airer.
Available drying space: 17m, including shoe stands; dimensions (open): 54 x 91 x 146cm; dimensions (folded): 18 x 91 x 146cm; max capacity: 15kg; time to dry small load: 4 hours; running cost: 9p/hour
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Argos Home 3-tier heated airer
Best for: solo households and small living spaces
Argos’s three-tier airer took several minutes to heat up and maxed out at a reasonable 45C – hot enough to dry my small load in four and a half hours (after a bit of rearranging). The pivoted frame makes it feel less sturdy than airers with feet at each corner, but it’s a breeze to fold and unfold.
It didn’t make the final cut because … the Argos Home airer feels less robust than similarly priced rivals.
Available drying space: 17m; dimensions (open): 73 x 70 x 144cm; dimensions (folded): 13 x 70 x 144cm; max capacity: 15kg; time to dry small load: 4 hours 20 minutes; running cost: 8p/hour
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Black+Decker heated winged clothes airer
Best for: drying light fabrics and underwear
The Black+Decker doesn’t get particularly hot, which helps if you have curious toddlers and delicate clothes. It still managed to dry my small load in a few hours, and at £46.99 to buy and a 6p an hour running cost, it’s a decent budget buy. It’s also one of the easiest airers to fold down and slip under the sofa when not in use.
It didn’t make the final cut because … it warmed up slowly and failed to get hotter than 33C even after three hours. That’s great for delicates, but not hot enough to dry thick fabrics.
Available drying space: 11m; dimensions (open): 93 x 54 x 148cm; dimensions (folded): 12 x 54 x 148cm; max capacity: 10kg; time to dry small load: 4 hours 15 minutes; running cost: 6p/hour
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JML DriBuddi indoor clothes airer
Best for: drying shirts and dresses
The DriBuddi uses an electric heater to blast your clothes inside a tent-like structure, with hooks for clothes hangers rather than bars. Its highest power settings dried my clothes quickly and helped remove wrinkles, but it wasn’t as efficient as the Minky, perhaps because air circulates better when clothes are laid across tiered bars rather than hanging in a bundle.
It didn’t make the final cut because … it’s quite noisy, and there’s no way to lay items flat for drying. You can dismantle the heater stand if you want, but it doesn’t fold down in the way other airers do.
Available drying space: holds up to 18 garments on hangers; dimensions (open): 93 x 54 x 148cm; dimensions (folded): 60 x 60 x 160cm; max capacity: 10kg; time to dry small load: 2 hours 20 minutes; running cost: 28p/hour
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What you need to know
Heated clothes airers are such a simple and smart idea that it’s weird they haven’t been around longer. They’re wildly popular, too: I haven’t tested Aldi’s winged heated airer yet because there were none left in the warehouse within days of going on sale.
The minimal running cost is what draws most people to these contraptions. Under October’s energy prices, a tumble dryer running at 3kW costs up to £3 to dry a load, while you can pay almost £2 an hour to switch on the central heating. Heated clothes airers run at about 300W, which works out at 8p an hour.
Most airers take substantially longer to dry clothes than a tumble dryer, of course, but there are ways you can speed up the drying process. After running this test, I beg of you to lay items across the bars rather than hanging them. Marketing photos show airers draped like Christmas trees, but your clothes just won’t dry that way unless it’s a warm day, which rather defeats the point.
Covered airers cut drying times by almost half, but you can achieve a similar result by throwing a fitted sheet over the top, as long as there’s a gap for moist air to escape. Whatever cover you use, I’d recommend removing it as soon as your clothes are dry. Covers are vented to avoid condensation, but I found that some moisture crept back if I left my clothes inside.
However powerful your airer, always spin your clothes to remove as much water as possible before laying them on it. Wet clothes won’t dry, and water and electricity are not a happy combination.
On that note, don’t use a heated airer in the bathroom. Electric peril aside, bathroom air is notoriously damp. I had the best results when using my test airers in the bedroom with the window ajar – and the faint fabric softener scent was a sweet bedtime bonus.
Jane Hoskyn is a freelance consumer journalist and WFH pioneer with three decades’ experience of rearranging bookshelves and “testing” coffee machines while deadlines loom. Her work has made her a low-key expert in all manner of consumables, from sports watches to solar panels. She would always rather be in the woods
• This article was originally published on 18 October 2024. Reviews published in the Filter may be periodically updated to reflect new products and at the editor’s discretion. The date of an article’s most recent update can be found in the timestamp at the top of the page. This article was updated on 8 November 2024; details were added about the charities that the products were donated to, and the product prices were updated.
