The 6 best heated clothes airers - tested to save money and time
Speedy, cheap, and easy, these are the best heated clothes airers for a range of homes
If you're looking for the best heated clothes airers, you're in the right place. I've tested every option from Dry:Soon's Tiered Airer through to Aldi's bargain buy and Aerative's Portable Heated Hanger. Almost two years (and a load of laundry) later, I’ve found the six hottest ways to air your clothes at home.
Every home will have a different drying demand, but I promise that there's a heated airer that will meet yours. Tiered airers are some of the most space and cost-efficient ways to dry your clothes indoors. Alternatively, ladder airers are a really effective option for drying towels and small pieces when you haven’t got a whole room. Then there are winged-airers (a compact godsend for drying sheets) and heated hangers, which are made for travelling, but they’re my secret to drying delicates and cashmere quickly.
I've been using all of these in my home and, two years on, the one that I've hung on to is the trusty Dry:Soon 3-Tier Heated Airer. It's perfect for a family and, when I ran the numbers on the costs of running a heated clothes airer, it came out on top. Whatever you’re after, I’ve got all the nitty gritty details below, written with my warmest wishes for your wardrobe.
The quick list: my top six
If you want the headlines on the six best heated clothes airers on the market, look no further. I've condensed all my weeks of testing into a quick summary for you. Then, if there's one that piques your interest, you can read more details further down the article.
Best overall
Best overall
All of the people I interviewed before testing told me that I had to try this heated airer. So, it'll come as no surprise to you that, after months of testing, this is the one that I bought. The tall tower takes up minimal floor space and it can still dry 15kgs of laundry. It's expensive, but if you want to save a little, check out our Lakeland voucher codes.
Best budget
Best budget
At £40, this is one of the cheapest heated airers on the market. It's perfect for draping sheets over, as well as for family-sized amounts of washing. You'll need to buy the cover separately and load it carefully if you don't want it to topple over, but it's cheap to run and can dry a laundry load in 4 hours.
Best for small spaces
Best for small spaces
The Beldray comes up in the fiercely competitive winged airers category. And yet, the grippy feet, easy set-up, and speedy drying times make this one of the best options out there, even though it's also one of the cheapest. It folds up to be just 8cm deep, so any home could store it.
Best portable
Best portable
This innovative, luxurious airer is brilliant for a whole host of drying needs. It'll dry trainers in an hour, jumpers in 40 minutes, and shirts even quicker. Pack it into your suitcase, but make sure to keep it handy for home emergencies. I use this almost every time I do a wash.
Best pod
Best pod
This model is an excellent choice if you’re looking to dry shirts, dresses, jackets and jumpers without any further creasing, or if you're looking for a model for a smaller laundry room. It sounds like you have a hairdryer running, but the speed makes up for the noise.
Best ladder airer
Best ladder airer
If your bathroom radiator is struggling or you just want to dry a few items, this self-standing model is a brilliant option. It's from the trusty Dry:Soon and I loved having it to hand on a day-to-day basis. It won't take over from your tumble dryer or your washing line, but it's a good option.
The best heated clothes airers: tried and tested
Why you can trust Woman & Home
You've had a little introduction into my favourite heated clothes airers, but let's get into the details of what these were like to use for me over the last couple of months. I've got a whole page that dives deep into the testing process that each heated clothes airer was put through if you want to find out more. Essentially, I've been loading these with a range of fabrics and weights. I've layered them with bedding, jeans, and heavy knits, as well as cottons, sportswear, and lighter tasks.
Best heated clothes airer overall
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
If you've already started your research into the best heated clothes airers on the market, you'll have come across the Dry:Soon 3-Tier model again, and again, and again. It's famously good. Even though it's one of the most expensive models on the market, it's worth the investment. I should know, I ended up buying one after the tests.
The Dry:Soon can hold up to 15kgs of laundry, but you wouldn't know it from how much floor space that this takes up. The space that it needs is more vertical than horizontal and, even then, it didn't feel obtrusive in my urban flat. When you choose to flatten it, this is only 8cm deep and can slot inside a cupboard or at the back of a wardrobe. It's actually very subtle.
Over the months that I was using this, I found a few useful tricks that you can employ if you choose one of these. If you have a smaller load of clothing, set up the top shelf and use it to hang your shirts and dresses down. They'll dry quickly and crease-free. I also noticed that the quickest way to get your clothes cupboard dry is by lying them flat in the middle of the model, but it's still effective, at the edges.
Don't worry of yours will always be packed full. I put the cover on and could have a whole 10kg load of laundry dry in three to five hours, depending on whether I washed jeans and towels with my clothes and sheets. Without a heated airer, those loads of laundry would take 36 hours to dry, at least. It's incredibly quick.
The downside of this is that it's also the most expensive heated clothes airer on the market. You can opt for the regular version, but you'll only save about £50 and the Deluxe has a lot more to offer. It's quicker, sturdier, and has some neat features integrated. You can store your plug in a special clip, the control panel lets you set an auto-switch-off. In short, it's worth the splurge.
You can find out more in my full Dry:Soon 3-Tier Heated Airer review.
Best budget heated clothes airer
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Winged airers are really useful for smaller homes. They flat-pack like ironing boards and then, when called upon, they'll open out, offering plenty of space for drying sheets and clothes. Often, these are some of the cheapest models on the market and Dunelm's Heated Airer with Wings is the cheapest of them all.
Without a discount, the Dunelm will cost you £40. Even though you'll need to shell out for a £16 cover if you want to speed up the dry time, it's still a killer deal. In spite of the fact that it's budget, the Dunelm is stable, even when loaded with a full 10kgs of washing. The rails felt warm within five minutes, which is the same speed as the Dry:Soon 3-Tier Airer (which costs three times the price).
I put jeans, towels, and heavy jumpers on the Dunelm and they were dry and ready to go in the cupboard in three hours. If you have a family of three or four, this has plenty to offer. You just need to make sure that you hang clothes from the inside out, otherwise, it can topple.
Unsurprisingly, this budget option does come up a little basic in places. There are no auto-shut-off settings, so you can only turn the airer on and off. The 1.85m cable length also comes up a little short if you've not got lots of plugs around the house.
You can find out more in my full Dunelm Heated Airer with Wings review.
Best heated clothes airer for small spaces
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Dunelm's Winged Airer (the model above) is cheap, but if you want a few extra features to make life easier, Beldray is the one to go with. The whole airer folds away much smoother and easier than the Dunelm, although both are easy. It's smaller and slimmer when you need to store it away, which is why it's the one that I always recommend to people who live in small spaces. Even though it's compact, the Beldray folds out to offer 15 kgs of space for drying, which is the most that I've seen any heated airer offer, even tower models.
The rubber feet help to keep this stable on the floor, though you'll need to load it from the inside out. I found it easy to hang my clothes off and, even with my boisterous dog bumping up against it, this stayed flat on the floor.
With a full load, this took six hours to get all of my clothes cupboard dry. It's faster than air drying and costs 1p per hour to run, but compared to the other models on this list, Beldray takes a low and slow approach. I'd expect an even heavier load to take one hour less on the Dry:Soon, for example.
You can find out more in my full Beldray Winged Heated Electric Clothes Airer review.
Best portable heated clothes airer
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
When I first saw heated clothes airer hangers coming to the market, I'll admit that I was sceptical. They look like gimmicks, but I've actually ended up using this to support my Dry:Soon Heated Airer every week and it's saved me from some serious squeezes. I dried my soaking wet trainers in just over an hour; took a lot of dampness out of a hand-washed wool jumper (so it didn't smell stale); and emergency-dried a shirt in 40 minutes.
The Aerative works a lot like the pod airer. You set it running and it blows hot air through whatever you choose to hang off the two hooks. These can be positioned like a normal clothes hanger, or to sit in shoes, so you have to dry clothes item by item, but that's why it's great for travelling or emergencies.
Everything from the packaging to the storage bag for the Aerative feels premium. It comes with pegs for drying delicates and a velvet storage bag. This isn't the cheapest way to dry clothes when you consider that it works one item at a time, but the sheer speed and size of it make up for any inconveniences. I can't recommend it enough.
You can read more in my full Aerative Heated Clothes Airer Hanger review.
Best heated clothes airer pod
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Pod heated airers might look a little strange, but they're really useful for very specific needs. Rather than using heated rails, this has arms which are designed to hold hangers with damp clothes on them. It was easy enough to put together, but it does come almost completely disassembled, which means it might not be the right option for those who want something that’s ready to use straight out of the box.
The cover of this airer (which must be used) looks a bit intimidating but is actually very simple to fold around your hanging items. After this, the machine is switched on and the fan heater comes on, circulating hot air around your encased laundry. Because of this, this airer emits a hairdryer-like sound, which is something the majority of heated airers with hot rails don’t. It also means that this costs 30p, rather than 1-7p to run.
There are six settings on the machine that allow you to customise your drying time, which I found very useful to guarantee it doesn't stay running if I get distracted with other jobs. I got some heavy jumpers and jeans dry in three hours, so you don't need to run it for long, which is great news, because the noise isn't ideal. Putting it up is fiddly, but once it's working, this is a great option for small spaces.
You can find out more in my full Dry:Soon Drying Pod Heated Airer review.
Best ladder heated clothes airer
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
I'll be upfront here, the Dry:Soon Heated Ladder Airer isn't going to replace your tumble dryer or a big tower heated airer, but it will be a useful addition to any bathroom or overloaded laundry room. The low, slim design is perfect for taking the dampness out of your towels without you needing to turn the central heating on. It costs pennies to run and I got all my damp towels (after a shower or bath) toasty and warm on the six 50°C bars.
Six bars sound like a lot, but you'll need to leave space if you want your clothes to dry quickly. The control panel let me set a 2 and 4-hour timer, but I found that if I filled all the bars, the clothes or towels needed five hours, which meant that I had to remember to come back to the heated airer to turn it on.
So, as a small supplement for compact spaces, the slim heated ladder is a brilliant investment, just know that you'll probably need a bigger, main source for drying too.
You can read more in my full Dry:Soon Heated Ladder Airer review
The ones that just missed the list
I've told you that I tested more than six to make this list and, whilst the decision making was relatively easy, there were a few heated airers that only just missed placing on the roundup. These aren't as stand-out as the six above, but they're still worth considering if you haven't quite found what you're after yet.
Aldi's Ambiano Heated Winged Airer is a famous 'Specialbuy'. It'll cost you just £34.99 and you'll get a model that's a lot like the Dunelm and Beldray heated airers. The only reason it isn't in my top six is that stock availability is a little unreliable and I only want to make solid promises to you.
I always liked the sound of a 4-tier heated clothes airer, so my editor and I were really excited to see how a 20kg capacity heated airer fared in her family home. The spacious airer, whilst speedy, was just a bit too bulky to make us feel that this was convenient. Although, if you have a dedicated laundry room, this will be fine.
The Joseph Joseph Airer isn't heated, so why have I put it in our guide? Well, it's just so space-efficient and stylish, I had to find a way to use this at home. If you can sit a dehumidifier, oil radiator, or space heater close by, this will do the same job as all the models above, but with ten times the style.
How we test heated clothes airers
I've been leading our tests of the best heated clothes airers over at woman&home and, let me tell you, it's serious business. Before I even start thinking about putting a laundry load in, I do my research. I keep on top of the latest releases on the market, whilst also keeping an eye on the old-but-gold models that everyone talks about.
I make sure any model I see all the models that would suit your home. Then, I test them. To get a formal review, I use a heated airer for months, because this is the best way to find any teething issues and day-to-day gripes with the airer. I make notes on everything from unboxing and setting up right through to storage and how much it costs to run, so that you know exactly what you're signing up for.
Most importantly, I have three tests that each heated airer has to pass. I do a light load (3-5kgs), medium load (6-10kgs) and a heavy load (10-15kgs) of washing. This will cover a range of fabrics, from denim to cotton and then I'll time how long it takes to dry the clothes. I'll use each airer with and without a cover, looking for ways to save money and speed up drying times, because nobody wants to leave one of these on display in their home.
After that, I measure how big the heated clothes airer is, how deep it is, and how you can store it. Most of the time that this is in your home, it'll be in storage, so it needs to be neat and compact, to keep your home clutter free.
Whilst I'm using the airer, I'm making comparisons in my head between the different models. In our reviews, I take the opportunity to get this down in writing. I like to pick a couple of models that are either a little more expensive or a little cheaper. That way, I can place the heated airer in the market for you and you'll be able to tell whether you're getting good value for money, as well as whether you'd like to upgrade.
After all that, I'll come to my conclusion and answer 'should you buy it?' Not every heated airer suits every home, so I give guidance as to who the heated airer suits as well as where you could go if you wanted something else.
If you want to find out more, you can read all about how we test heated clothes airers over here.
FAQs
Are heated airers worth the money?
There's no escaping the fact that heated airers cost more than their non-heated counterparts. That's why it's sensible to consider whether stumping up the money for the more expensive option is worth it.
As someone who has recently been converted over to the heated airer club, I have to say that I think they're worth the money. I've run the maths on how much heated airers cost to run (pennies), what they're like to store (no tricker than a non-heated model), and the effect that they have on my clothes (they're more gentle than tumble dryers). The fact that some of the best heated clothes airers cost only £40 means that you don't even have to splurge too much to get the benefits of these handy home accessories. It's a no-brainer.
Do heated clothes airers use a lot of electricity?
Heated clothes airers inevitably use some electricity – however, it's probably not as much as you think, as heating expert Peter Clayton from Trade Plumbing explains.
"On average, a heated clothes airer runs at 300 watts, which is 0.3 kW per hour when based on the 27p/kWh energy price cap that's a cost of £0.08 per hour. Drying clothes using a heated airer can take roughly 4-8 hours per 10kg load, thus consuming anything from £0.32 to £0.64," he says.
To put this into context with your other household appliances, running your washing machine once will generally cost you around 26p while running a dishwasher cycle will likely set you back between 51p-£1. So in comparison, a heated clothes airer uses a fairly minimal amount of electricity – and considering the benefits it’ll provide, it tends to be well worth the extra electricity usage for many households.
Should I use a heated clothes airer or a dehumidifier to dry my clothes indoors?
Dehumidifiers are bigger, bulkier, and louder than most heated airers and their main job isn't drying laundry. For that reason, as long as you don't have damp issues, I would always opt for a heated clothes airer instead of a dehumidifier. However, that doesn't mean that you can't use dehumidifiers to dry laundry, especially over the winter.
The best dehumidifiers work well in rooms where the air is already damp. Even though they're generally slower than heated airers, they will be more effective in damp laundry rooms than a heated airer and they'll ensure that the air doesn't get too oppressive. Before you switch your airer for a dehumidifier, you might want to take a look at how much it costs to run a dehumidifier. They're not generally expensive, but it will depend on your model.
Is it cheaper to run a tumble dryer or heated airer?
Tumble dryers are undoubtedly a very speedy and effective way of drying laundry, and are often even quicker than using a heated airer. However, when it comes to the expense of using both appliances, there’s a clear winner, both in terms of the initial purchase cost, and the running costs. Heated airers will cost between 7-10p per hour to run, whereas tumble dryers will need 1.8 kW to 5 kW meaning there is a potential for tumble dryers to cost £1.35 per 1 hour load of laundry.
If you're going away on holiday, using your tumble dryer may be worth the extra expense. But overall, heated airers will cost you far less to run, even if they do take that little bit longer to dry your laundry.
Can I leave a heated airer on overnight?
If you ask the experts, they'll generally recommend that you don't leave a heated airer on overnight. It's always better to err on the side of caution. However, there are some models that are set with overnight functions and automatic shut-offs that make these safe to leave running in the background.
Do I need a cover for my heated clothes airer?
Some heated airers come with covers, others don't. Whilst these can be useful for speeding up the drying time of your clothes, you might be weighing up whether you want to splash another £20 on a piece of fabric that might only shave a few minutes off your clothes drying. I don't use my cover every time that I dry clothes. It can take thirty minutes off drying a load of washing, but that's the most that you'll save.
Do heated clothes airers cause condensation?
Washing your clothes will add a lot of moisture into the air in your home environment, so it's likely that your heated airer will speed up the rate at which you see condensation on your windows. This isn't any worse than if you were using a normal clothes airer, so don't worry.
Final thoughts
Heated clothes airers bring plenty of benefits to your home, especially around the winter. Your clothes won't sit damp and stale for days, instead, they'll be as crisp and cupboard-dry as they were when you could hang them on the line. You don't need to put them through the aggressive (and expensive) tumble dryer. And your heated airer works using your vertical space, which would otherwise be empty. We're not even at my favourite part yet. The best heated airers don't even cost a lot of money to run. I calculated that some could dry your clothes for 7p. That's money well spent.
The one thing to note is that drying wet clothes inside can create some extra moisture, so you'l want to think about expert-approved methods of reducing humidity levels in your home or even the best plants to help with condensation.
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Laura is woman&home's eCommerce editor, in charge of testing, reviewing and creating buying guides for the Homes section, so you'll usually see her testing everything from the best dehumidifiers to sizing up the latest Le Cruset pot. Previously, she was eCommerce editor at Homes & Gardens magazine, where she specialised in covering coffee and product content, looking for pieces tailored for timelessness. The secret to her heart is both simplicity and quality. She is also a qualified Master Perfumer and holds an English degree from Oxford University. Her first editorial job was as Fashion writer for The White Company.
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