The heated airer is a hot product for the cost of living crisis we are facing this winter and many are becoming sell out items as shoppers scramble to save on their energy bills.
The likes of Dunelm, Wowcher, The Range, Argos and more have all stocked the most wanted product for the chillier months, but there are plenty of pros and cons to some. Sell out airers from Dunelm and Aldi have the hotspot at the moment, here is what our reviews team had to say, including moneysaving prospects and stand-out features.
READ MORE: 'I tried a portable clothes airer and here's exactly how long it took to dry a thick jumper'
Parents Editor, Emma Gill tried the Lakeland's Dry: Soon Drying Pod that costs 30p an hour
Having seen people raving about it in various money-saving forums, it's an alternative to the heated airers that are also being snapped up at the moment. This thing looks and is completely different. And if you want your clothes dried faster - with less creases too - then this is the one for you.
It's easy to assemble. I'm usually the one giving the 'putting it together' part a miss, but as I was the only one home I went for it and it was done in less than five minutes.
Basically it's a tripod shape at the bottom with a fan attached and then a pole going up the centre with smaller arms coming off that. It all fits neatly inside the zip-fronted fabric cover which comes with the pod.
The arms are designed to hold hangers so your clothes are actually hanging up while they dry. And with warm air up to 70 degrees Celsius circulating around them, it's quicker than you'd think.
And it makes the room you're using it in warm too. Within minutes of it being on I had to take my jumper off as I was getting too hot - a rarity these days, but I wasn't complaining.
I put one load of laundry in it, including thicker jogging bottoms, school trousers and even jeans, and in two hours they were dry. There was the odd little damp patch when I turned the fan off, but the room then stayed warm enough to finish them off completely in about half an hour.
Those two hours cost me around 60p on my current tariff, so 30p an hour. While that's more than other heated airers we've looked at, those are on for a lot longer so it's not costing any more.
It's not something you can use for a big load, as it holds up to 12 items on hangers, but I hung a few things over the arms too, like underwear and socks - even putting a few in the bottom of the bag.
But what you do hang up needs little if any ironing at all, so it'll definitely come in useful for the school shirts.
Talking of school, it just so happened that on the day I was using it, both children arrived home dripping wet and it was the perfect place to put their blazers to dry off too. It's a shame I couldn't fit them inside for a quick blast.
Condensation was a slight issue, no doubt because of the speed at which the clothes were drying, so I opened the window slightly to help with that. Even then the heat from the pod still kept me warm.
I didn't use the timer, but if needs be that can be set for three hours, meaning the fan will automatically switch off when the time's up. I'm not sure I'd have any clothes left on after three hours next to that heat mind.
I'm clearly not the only one impressed with the pod. The Dry:Soon range has apparently sold in the thousands over the last decade and in October 2022 the retailer saw a 72% increase in sales of the Drying Pod, compared with the same month last year. It's become so popular in fact that there's now a product limit of two per household 'due to unusually high demand'.
The one we tried costs £99.99 and can be ordered online here. If you want something slightly bigger, the Heated Cabinet was added to the collection earlier this year, with a larger, square frame. That one costs £129.99, with stock expected from November 7.
Reviews writer Emily Sleight tried the Dunelm heated airer that costs 3p an hour to run
This airer comes with three tiers that fold away to save space, and although when the product is folded it’s still fairly big, it tucks away nicely. According to the product description, it’s suitable for up to 15kg of washing with an additional storage rack.
I can manage about a wash and a half on the rack depending on what’s been washed, and it takes seconds to heat up. The warmth of the airer also doubles up as a heater, which makes my spare room nice and warm (hopefully saving money on heating bills!)
It’s a real pain to rely on British weather when you’re wanting to hang your washing out, which is why this heated airer is such a great addition to my household items. All I need to do is put a wash on after work and stick it on the airer overnight and it’s usually dry in the morning.
Although you’re not getting that fresh ‘outside’ smell like you would if you were to hang it out, the airer still leaves your clothes feeling soft and smelling fresh. The only downside is the fact that the towels do feel hard once they’ve been dried overnight, which is something I’m still trying to find a solution to.
It costs from 3p an hour to run, saving around 37p with the latest 50% increase this month. As the phrase goes “every little helps”, and the heated airer could save around £1.85 if I were to use it five days a week adding up to around £9.25 a month.
The verdict
I honestly haven’t looked back since purchasing this airer, I never saw the fuss with the product until now. It’s so easy to get my washing done, and the fact that it doubles up as a heater is a bonus.
Washing used to be a real chore, and don’t get me wrong, putting it all away is still very annoying, but at least the drying process is a lot easier now. I’ve learnt it’s all about the placement of the clothes, as sometimes they don’t always dry properly if they’re not hung up correctly.
It may seem a bit steep for £100, but I truly believe in the long run it’s going to save me a lot of money, and it’s such a handy product. You can purchase the Dunelm heated airer here.
SEO Editor Narin Flanders decides... is Aldi's heated airer worth the money?
Aldi's best-selling heated clothes airer recently came back in stock so we decided to see if it was worth the hype.
Autumn is well and truly here and the annual fight to keep energy bills down by not turning on either the heating or the tumble dryer in our house has begun.
Even before you factor in the frankly terrifying price rises of the last few weeks, I've been very aware for a while that using a tumble dryer to dry the clothes of our family of four was costing us a fortune.
So when our dryer stopped working at the end of last winter, (suggestions its premature death was from overuse are probably not unfair) we decided to try and hold off on buying a new one.
All my good intentions went out the window pretty much as soon as the weather turned and I started trying to dry my washing on a standard airer without the heating on.
Everything took days to dry, my windows started showing condensation and the smell of damp washing lingering in the air for most of the week was getting a bit grim.
I'd heard great things about Lakeland's DrySoon branded airers and decided after pay day I'd order one, but was shocked at how expensive it worked out.
Enter a popular Aldi SpecialBuy - Aldi's Easy Home Heated Clothes Airer.
For £89.99 it worked out a full hundred pounds cheaper than the Lakeland bundle when you took into account the cost of accessories and had dozens of positive online reviews of its own. I had to give it a go.
The first thing I was impressed about with the Aldi airer was how you could use it straight out of the box.
Our last airer involved some fiddly putting together so being able to literally pull this out, untie the cable and use it was brilliant.
The cable is a bit shorter than I'd like, but with some rejigging of the living room I was able to set it up and plug it in.
I also loved how it has two switches so you can use half of it for smaller loads.
The airer comes with a full-size cover and two sets each of heat proof pegs and nets to dry delicate clothes on. I've found it most useful just hanging things directly on the bars, but can see the benefit of these for larger items.
For us though, this airer has been a dream for drying children's clothes, PJs, undies, tea towels and all the smaller items you can dry relatively quickly and then put away.
With the cover on, all these thinner items, like those of a cotton t-shirt type material, dry in around three to four hours, while thicker items need a little more time - although you can speed things along by turning them round every so often.
All in all, the airer really impressed me.
For the price it was sturdy and, importantly, packed up small enough to sit behind a door when it wasn't in use.
I was able to get an entire load of washing from my 7kg machine onto it and most of it dried within a few hours as long as I was sensible in how I hung it.
Not only has it become a staple of my laundry routine but I'd happily buy another one if I needed to. We are going to happily remain a tumble dryer free house for a while longer!
Verdict: Four stars
The Aldi's Easy Home Heated Clothes Airer in this review is currently out of stock online, but a £39.99 version is currently available as an Aldi SpecialBuy while stocks last.
Manchester Evening News' Bethan Shufflebotham tried the Aldi heated airer that sold out in minutes
Aldi’s affordable Easy Home Heated Airer reportedly - according to the box - costs less than 7p an hour to run, compared to 30p+, like most tumble dryers. Uswitch estimates a tumble dryer uses around 4.5 kWh of energy per cycle, and by that figure, means running one for an hour can cost upwards of 60p.
In terms of cost per hour, the £39.99 Aldi airer wins hands down - but, we all know there’s no way it could dry a wash load in an hour, so we put it to the test to see just how long it takes, and how effective and efficient it is.
The heated airer was easy to set up, with an ironing board style assembly and fold out wings. It folds back up flat for easy storage, taking up little space in the pantry or under the stairs.
The cable is quite short, which means you’re a bit limited in where you can place it around the house, as it is quite long, but we found a spot for it in the living room where it’s out of the way of the bulk of the household traffic.
Ideal for rainy days and the colder months when the washing line is out of action, the airer has 20 bars on which to hang anything from clothes to towels and bedding. The bars are well sized and evenly spaced, making it quick and easy to hang anything from shirts to chunky knits.
Plugging in the airer, it took around three or four minutes to significantly heat up before we loaded it up with washing. We filled the centre with the majority of the load, using the ends to dry thicker items like jumpers and cardigans.
The airer comes with a snug fitting blue cover which traps the heat in, helping dry the clothes faster. We still checked on the washing every hour or so to rejig items and make sure all was well beneath the cover.
While the airer has more than 500 five star reviews online, there were some complaints that the airer only dries the bit that touches the bar. We found that it dries around five to six inches around the bar in an hour, to which then you may want to shift the placement to speed up drying time. Like with a regular airer, you could leave the garments and they will eventually dry in the same position, but you can certainly help speed things along with this method.
We also discovered that the airer kicks out a fair amount of heat into the room, so it’s well worth having it set up in the room where you spend the most time to avoid popping the heating on. Alternatively, you could pop it in the bedroom and have it nice and cosy before bed.
Our Aldi heated airer took around four hours to fully dry our wash load - which meant it cost less than 28p to do so, compared to more than 60p in the tumble dryer. Not only that, but careful hanging sees the creases drop out of your clothes, too, reducing the need to iron them.
It’s certainly faster than a regular clothes maid, and cheaper than a tumble drier to use. Not only that, but it’s perfect for those delicates, knits and more expensive clothes that you don’t want to risk putting in the dryer.
For items that wouldn’t fit on the heated airer, we put them on a regular clothes airer and placed it next to the Aldi Specialbuy so that the residual heat would help dry the clothes faster, too. Moreover, for that hour we’d usually have the tumble dryer on, it makes such a racket in the kitchen you have to turn the TV up to be able to hear it - the Aldi airer makes no sound at all, making for a more relaxing weekend.
Vertict: four stars
While the heated airer is currently out of stock, be sure to keep an eye out on the Aldi website, just in case they come back.
Reviews Editor Stacey Dutton tried an alternative clothes airer 'I tried a portable clothes airer and here's exactly how long it took to dry a thick jumper'
The Aerative clothes airer first appears to be a small, funny looking contraption - but the device is set to be the next moneysaving product shoppers will want to purchase. With it's simple set up and uncostly usage, it's a win-win for those looking to reduce energy costs and be more economical.
When reading the product description you quickly realise it is the perfect gadget for not only saving money but for those who travel and need that extra helping hand getting clothes dry and fast.
With its patented, air duct design to dry clothes and shoes by ejecting hot air and an alloy wire heating mechanism as well as a UV lamp that eliminates 99.9% of potentially harmful bacteria, Aerative is ideal for drying clothes and shoes on the go.
Whether that be staying at a hotel, if a sudden rain pour hits on the morning commute or even for washing and drying away from home.
I thought, what better way to test it on my new chunky Boohoo Hooded Red Jumper - it's thick and would need a little while to see results..... but I was so suprisingly quick.
You just rotate the handles outwards to hang the item, turn it on and hang appropriately.
Immediately I saw the results and, not only was it drying quickly, it is relatively quiet. I just hung my jumper on the back of my living room door while I worked and watched the transformation.
It's a handy size too, the Aerative will also be a great alternative for those who love the outdoors too- instead of putting the heating on to dry the odd clothes and shoe hauls from a day in the rain, the airer can do it's work for you.
A great function with this product is the timer. If you have somewhere to be the following day and just need that one item ready, set the timer (a maximum of 8 hours) and head to bed and in the morning your items are good to go. The little pegs to attach to the hanger design are great too- it dries underwear in no time!
It's now £75 on Amazon, but a little birdy told us it is going to be reduced for Amazon Prime Day next week so keep your eyes peeled.
You will be able to pick it up for just £69.50 in the day of sales.
The Verdict: four stars
The design is excellent and the concept of being able to use it for travel purposes etc is ideal.
Parents Editor Emma Gill also reviewed Lakeland's three-tier heated airer that costs 9p an hour
The heated airer is one solution and it was the Dry-Soon Deluxe 3-Tier Heated Airer from Lakeland that I decided to test out.
Sales of these airers have shot up over recent months and this one in particular, with more than 100 five-star reviews, has been in big demand.
It can actually hold up to 15kg of wet washing over 21 metres of drying space and earlier this year we reported how families had been raving about the product, saying they 'wouldn't be without it'.
I'm not sure what my washing weighed, but after at least four days of no washing with four people in the house, there was a lot - isn't there always!
The description says it 'costs just pennies to run', but I wanted to know exactly how many pennies. So, having bought myself a nifty electricity monitor to check the usage of individual items, I checked it for myself.
It was on for five hours overall, which amounted to 45p on my current electricity rate, or 9p an hour. When the rate increases on October 1, it will be just under 54p for the same time, or just under 11p per hour.
It wasn't all dry in that time, but the good thing about these is that when it's on, your room heats up too - so the spare bedroom I use when working from home was toasty warm. And the heat that lingered once it was turned off helped to finish most of them off.
You can get a cover for the airer too, which speeds up the drying time - although I'm told sticking a bed sheet over the top has the same effect. I didn't use it as I wanted to make use of the heat coming from it while I was there, rather than most of it staying trapped inside.
I could have done with the cover to stop our dog getting near though - not sure if all Labradors have the same sock fetish but he's obsessed - and I'll certainly be giving it a go when I'm not in the room. Reassuringly there's a mesh top and sides to the cover to prevent it from getting too hot.
I'd say the real beauty of this particular model is definitely its size, especially when you've got a family-load or loads to get dry, with school uniforms, sports kits and whatever else they've decided to stick in the wash after a couple of hours' wear.
But it's light enough to move around to wherever you want to use it when not in use it folds away neatly, with the cover turning into a storage bag.
Dry-Soon Deluxe 3-Tier Heated Airer costs £179.99 and delivery is free. You can buy the airer and cover as a bundle for £209.98.
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