8 Best electric heated clothes airers for 2024; tried and tested
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AS a mum of two boisterous girls, the amount of washing we get through every week still blows my mind.
It needs a load put on every day if I'm to keep on top of it and wash baskets soon turn into warzones if I dare to take a bit of time out.
More than half the battle is drying, and I have to admit, over the years, I’ve become a ninja clothes horse hanger (this is not something I thought I’d ever be boasting about, but times change, and ambitions lower).
Generally, it takes about 18 hours to completely dry a load in my house on a conventional non-heated clothes horse, which is nowhere near a radiator. If you hang it out one day, it's generally dry the next.
So, for a while, I could never really understand the point of heated clothes dryers. But after trying them out for Sun Shopping, I'm now a complete convert.
They massively reduce condensation, which can lead to horrible damp patches around the house.
Plus, if you’re suddenly reminded three minutes before bedtime that the next day is PE and their horrible stained tee is still in a ball in a corner, a heated dryer means you’ll have it washed and ready by breakfast without it costing an arm and a leg.
At roughly 7p to 10p an hour to run, the cost comparison to a tumble dryer is an absolute no-brainer. Studies have shown that it costs £1.51 to run a tumble dryer at a cost of £178 annually.
Best heated clothes airers at a glance:
- Best mid-range: Dry Soon Drying Pod
- Best for small loads: Dry Soon Foldable Heated Airer
- Best high-end: Black and Decker 3-tiered heated Airer
- Most stylish: A-Frame 3-tier heated dryer
- Best budget: Heated Electric Indoor Clothes Airer
Lakeland
- Dry Soon Drying Pod, £69.99 at Lakeland - buy here
Pros: easy set-up, doesn't take up much room, heats up instantly
Cons: short power cord, initial hum when powered on
This dryer is compact and really easy to set up as there are only a few pieces to slot together (but make sure you get all the legs in properly; otherwise, it WILL collapse when you artfully hang your final piece on it!).
There are 12 coat hangers, so you’ll need to get special pegs to hang underwear and socks on it and be mindful of what you’re loading in your washing machine so you're not short on space.
When I tested it, the Drying Pod heated up immediately, although there was a loud hum when I first turned it on.
As with all dryers, it takes time to learn the art of maximising its hanging ability. It says it takes 12 hangers and I tried 14, cue the legs collapsing. So, chastened, I went back to 12. And, unless you have spare hangers (I don’t!), you would have to buy extra.
But it looks space age and doesn’t take up much room even with the big cover on it.
There are many different time and temperature settings, and the battery-powered remote control takes a while to learn. You can also just leave it on without a timer set.
It took roughly eight hours for everything to dry but one major complaint, as with so many electrical goods, the power chord was too short, so you have to be mindful of where you can set it up.
Running cost: 30p per hour Capacity: 12 items/10kg Size: 62cm Dia. x 146cm H, Power: 1000W
Lakeland
- Dry Soon Foldable Heated Airer £69.99 at Lakeland - buy here
Pros: easy to set up, looks great, doesn't take up much space, built-in fan to avoid damp smell
Cons: takes a while to dry
This dryer was so easy to set up, and it looks great; it's literally a pod that you stretch apart with the cover intact, so it looks good while not taking up much space. When you’re not using it, you could fit it at the bottom of a wardrobe easily or stash it away in a cupboard.
You could even pop it in the boot if you want to go away and have a dryer with you!
However you can only fit five shirts or jumpers on it, so think carefully before you buy if that's enough for you.
I would say this is best for a single person or someone with a spare room who wants to wash five shirts at the beginning of the week for work, then probably leave them hanging as they take each one off each day to iron. I have to say there weren't many creases after, but you’d have to hang the shirts carefully.
Also, it takes a while to dry; I would leave it on overnight. And the best thing is that it avoids the condensation you’d expect if you were to leave five shirts hanging around a spare room.
It's got a built-in fan to blow hot air around your clothes and boasts a ‘fragrance dispenser’ to eliminate any damp smell! This is basically a place where you can add any aromatic oil which will waft around the room; it's a really nice touch.
Capacity: 5 items Size: 150cm H. to 28cm Diameter Power: 600W
READ MORE:
Black and Decker
- Black and Decker 3-tiered heated Airer from £99.99 at Robert Dyas - buy here
Pros: doesn't take up a lot of room, folds away, six hours to dry
Cons: unsightly
The daddy of all dryers, this is a large aluminium beast boasting 21 metres of drying space which is incredible.
I managed to get two whole loads on one dryer - which is the ultimate time saver.
It comes flat and then slickly folds out with shelves you click in, and although it's 140cm high and 73cm wide, it folds down really smoothly.
It's activated with a simple switch without timers, and, as with all these products, I never think the (1.6m) power cable is long enough; unless you start involving extension leads, you're trapped into where you can put it.
And although it doesn’t take up a huge amount of room, once it’s got the cover on top, it's rather imposing and not that attractive, which is not ideal if you live out of one room.
However, one load dried in only six hours with the hood on, which is absolutely brilliant. I don’t think I’d use the cover unless I needed really speedy drying, as it works very well without it.
Capacity: 15kg Size: 140cm High x 73cm Wide x 68cm Deep
Dunelm
- A-Frame 3-tier heated dryer £95 at Dunelm - buy here
Pros: best looking, 10p an hour to run, folds away really small
Cons: odd sock holders
This was by far the smartest and nicest-looking fold-out dryer.
Small but mighty, it absolutely belts out heat; if you're in an average-size room, there's no need to have a radiator on when it's running, which is a massive bonus.
The best bit? It only costs 10p an hour to run.
It's got 20 nice smooth, wide racks, so you can hang XL clothes on there and there’s no timer, you just plug it in.
One odd thing is the weird sock holders, which I don’t think utilise the space in the best way possible as there’s only room for four socks.
In the summer, when you don’t wear socks so much, you’ll just have to be creative about what you dry on there. Trainers, maybe? Wellies?
But this dryer is a lovely piece of kit. It folds up really small, and it gives the room a really nice ‘clean laundry’ aroma.
Capacity: 15kg
Argos
- Home 11.5m Heated Electric Indoor Clothes Airer £55 at Argos - buy here
Pros: sturdy, easily hand a family load of washing on it,10kg capacity, lightweight
Cons: basic
This dryer does exactly what it says on the tin: it folds out nicely, looks sturdy, and boasts a large drying area over 18 smooth-to-the-touch racks. So you could easily hang a family load of washing on there; it says it can take up to 10kg.
It folds up small, and crucially, it's lightweight, so it can be carried and tucked away somewhere when you don’t need it.
Also, this is ideal for taking outside in the summer when you don’t need to heat it.
It's basic but decent and heats to a nice temperature; a really good budget buy.
Capacity: 10kg Size: H93, W84, D54cm
Lakeland
- Dry:Soon Mini 3-Tier Heated Airer, £139.99 at Lakeland - buy here
Pros: great size, good for smaller spaces, fits a week's worth of washing in it
Cons: pricy cover not included
The airer we tried from Lakeland was the cheapest available from the retailer, but it remained one of the most costly.
While the other two include a cover, Lakeland sells covers for an extra £39.99 - pricey!
But what’s great about this airer is its size.
It has three layers and is tall, rather than folding out like the Aldi one, which can be extremely beneficial for smaller spaces.
It also has more bars to dry clothes on than the other two from Amazon and Aldi that I tried, fitting a whole week’s worth of washing in it.
Lastly, it uses only 229Wph, which means it costs 62p for eight hours of usage.
Capacity: 15kg Size: 60 x 63 x 113.5cm
Review by Haley Minn
Amazon
- Concise Home Electric Clothes Dryer, £59.99 at Amazon - buy here
Pros: only 2 hours of run time to dry clothes, can double as a heater
Cons: unsightly,burning smell,loud
This dryer from Amazon is slightly different to the other ones I tried, as it uses an electric fan rather than heated rails to warm up the clothes.
While this dryer will use a considerable amount more energy (940Wph), it dries clothes a lot quicker, needing at most 2 hours of run time. Once it's done, it turns itself off automatically, so despite its higher energy usage, it still uses just 64p to run.
The fan can also double as a heater, although it was quite loud and had a slight burning smell.
The other problem with this dryer is that the cover is quite ugly, bright blue. It also doesn’t fold away, which means you’re stuck with an unsightly box in your home at all times - there's no hiding this one.
Capacity: 15kg Size: 140 x 45 x 60 cm
Review by Haley Minn
Aldi
- Easy Home Heated Airer - currently unavailable
Pros: affordable,75p to leave on for eight hours
Cons: small capacity,wide and long, so takes up more space
Aldi’s electric airer is extremely popular - and sells out extremely quickly every time it’s brought back in stock, so if you're looking to get your hands on one, you'll need to be quick.
Costing £39.99, including a cover which will help clothes dry faster, this is a great value alternative to an energy-guzzling tumble dryer.
When I tested the airer, it measured 274Wph, which means it would cost just 75p to leave on all night for eight hours.
However, the downside of this airer is its shape and size, as it wasn’t big enough to hold the entire wash I did. So, it may be better when you're in a rush, and certain items of clothing aren't dry just yet.
It’s also very wide and long, rather than tall and narrow like other clothes racks on the market, which means you need quite a bit of space in your home.
In my small one-bed flat, I found it took up a lot of the room and, while it does fold away very neatly and tidily, I always find I have so much washing that the airer never has a need to be stored away.
Capacity: 3kg Size: 147 x 54 x 94cm
Review by Haley Minn
Where to buy electric heated clothes airers in the UK?
Heated clothes airers can be bought at homeware stores or most mainstream online retailers. The advantage of ordering online is that it gets delivered right towards your doorstep, saving you time and energy carrying the big item home.
Here are some of the best places to buy a heated airer online:
How to use an electric heated clothes airer
Each heated clothes airer has individual instructions, although they are generally similar to operate — you hang your clothes on the airer (the amount of washing you can fit will obviously depend on how big your airer is), then plug it into the socket and switch it on.
Are heated clothes airers worth it?
Think of electric heated clothes airers as an upgrade from your bog-standard drying racks.
Often, letting clothes dry on an ordinary airer can leave them smelling damp because they just take too long to dry without the help of sunshine. Britain's not reliable for that either.
Heated clothes airers are definitely worth spending money on in terms of saving time and money on central heating.
In fact, you don't actually need to spend much when you know where to look. We'd say the average budget should be around £60.
Are electric heated clothes airers safe?
If used responsibly, heated clothes airers are perfectly safe to use, although they shouldn't be left on overnight or unattended.
For any electrical appliance, always read the instructions and safety advice before using it.
Are electric heated clothes airers any good?
The airers we tested definitely did the job. However, the best ones from the mid-tier models are more distinguished by energy efficiency and the cost of using them.
We also love heated airers that can be folded and stored easily. This means that people in smaller households can put them away when they're not using them.
How long does it take to dry clothes on an electric heated airer?
How long it takes to dry your clothes really depends on the wattage and size of your airer.
Cotton or linen will usually dry in three to four hours on your heated airer, whereas thicker fabrics such as knit jumpers might take ten hours.
But that's much quicker than an old-fashioned, non-electric one.
How hot does an electric heated clothes airer get?
Of course, this varies from brand to brand but the average top temperature is 60 degrees.
If it's breezy in the place you use the airer then that temperature will drop.
Are electric heated airers expensive to run?
The majority of heated clothes airers are not expensive, with some costing as little as 3p an hour to run.
However, it's best to check with your energy provider to get an estimate on how much it costs to run a heated clothes airer.
Are heated airers energy efficient?
Did you know that heated airers are actually more environmentally friendly than having your heating on and drying your clothes on a non-electric drying rack?
You can save money on energy bills by investing in one, that's for sure.
Can I leave my electric clothes dryer on overnight?
Just to be safe, it's best to not leave your electric clothes dryer on when you are out or if you are sleeping.
Like with anything that emits heat, electric clothes dryers can be fire hazards when left on for too long.
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