‘This gadget could genuinely replace your tumble dryer’: the best heated airers – tested
Rising energy bills and perma-drizzle are conspiring 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 soggy washing as fast as a tumble dryer for a fraction of the cost and, in most cases, with none of the noise? After testing 19 bestsellers over the past two years – during which time I took my tumble dryer to the dump and slashed my dependency on radiators – I can confidently say yes.
Not every airer I tested made the final cut. A few, though, impressed me so much I’m now fully converted to the belief that the heated clothes airer is the best thing in laundry since the clothes peg.
At a glance
Best heated clothes airer overall
£194.98 at Lakeland
Lakeland Dry:Soon Deluxe 3-tier heated airer and coverBest budget heated airer
£46.99 at Amazon
Black+Decker Heated winged clothes airerBest heated airer for fast drying
£59.99 at Currys
Minky SureDri Heat Pod Pro
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 Filter’s offer to pay me to watch clothes dry.
How I tested
Heated airers all do much the same thing in much the same way. There are small differences in design – some have triangle frames, some are winged and some have covers – but they’re basically all clothes horses that you plug in. I had to find clear distinctions between them, and this chiefly meant devising fair, quantifiable tests to measure how quickly, evenly and cheaply each airer dried clothes.
The key test was a half-hourly laundry weigh-in to measure how quickly each airer dried an identical load. Actually, two identical loads – one small (4kg) and one big (8kg) – 19 times, once for every airer. 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. For more behind-the-scenes insights into weighing knickers, check out the Filter’s newsletter.
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 2026 electricity price cap (26.32p a kWh) to work out running costs an hour.
After testing, I donated the airers 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, and the other is Yellow Door, a charity offering support for people affected by domestic abuse.
Here’s my guide to the 10 best heated clothes airers based on my tests.
The best heated clothes airers in 2026
Best heated clothes airer overall:
Lakeland Dry:Soon Deluxe 3-tier heated airer and cover
Lakeland
Dry:Soon Deluxe 3-tier heated airer and cover
from £194.98
What we love
Dries almost as fast as a tumble dryer; has timer and cover
What we don’t love
It’s expensive – and we’d like a much longer cable
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 three-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 79p for my 3kW 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. 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, so it might be worth it 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 (DWH)
Dimensions (folded): 10 x 75 x 137cm (DWH)
Max capacity: 15kg
Time to dry small load: 2 hours
Running cost: 8p/hour
Lakeland
Dry:Soon Deluxe 3-tier heated airer and cover
from £194.98
What we love
Dries almost as fast as a tumble dryer; has timer and cover
What we don’t love
It’s expensive – and we’d like a much longer cable
Best budget heated airer:
Black+Decker heated winged clothes airer
Black+Decker
Heated winged clothes airer
from £46.99
What we love
Cheap to buy and run; light to carry and easy to move
What we don’t love
Not big or powerful enough to dry a full load
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 of T-shirts in an afternoon, and at £50 with 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.
Why we love it
The Black+Decker winged airer has a small footprint, taking up about 50 x 50cm on its beam supports, yet it boasts a capacity of 10kg when unfolded, thanks to its ironing-board-style shape. It warmed up to 33C in its hottest spots and dried my small load of T-shirts in just over four hours, with a little help from me flipping them and moving them around.
I also like that the wings fold inwards to double up the heat when drying thicker garments, albeit not very large ones, and the dryer is so light (about 3.5kg) that I could move it around using one hand.
It’s a shame that … it warmed up slowly and failed to get hotter than 33C even after three hours. That’s great for delicates and damp towels, but not hot enough to dry thick fabrics.
Suitable for: drying light fabrics and warming up towels
Available drying space: 11.5m (up to 20 hanging T-shirts)
Dimensions (open): 54 x 148 x 93cm (DWH)
Dimensions (folded): approx 54 x 100 x 20cm (DWH)
Max capacity: 10kg
Time to dry small load: 4 hours 15 minutes
Running cost: 6p/hour
Black+Decker
Heated winged clothes airer
from £46.99
What we love
Cheap to buy and run; light to carry and easy to move
What we don’t love
Not big or powerful enough to dry a full load
Best heated airer for fast drying:
Minky SureDri Heat Pod Pro
Minky
SureDri Heat Pod Pro
from £59.99
What we love
Works with your existing clothes horse to speed up drying
What we don’t love
It’s noisy, and the cover won’t fit all airers
Heat pods turn your old unheated airer into a heated version. This one has a 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. With the fan heater emitting plenty of heat and the cover trapping it, even its lowest setting blasted my laundry dry faster than most of the conventional airers in my test. It’s good value, too, even though you have to provide your own airer (this Minky model from Argos is £35), and the zipped cover is excellent quality and looks smart.
The Minky Pro’s lowest, middle and highest settings all have a similar energy consumption according to my readings (between 970W and 1,067W), costing roughly 27p an hour. That’s a significantly higher running cost than a barred heated airer, but only about a third as much as running a 3kW tumble dryer.
Given that I dried a large 8kg load in less than three hours using the Minky’s highest setting, albeit with a fair amount of rearranging clothes, this gadget could genuinely replace your tumble dryer.
The air inside the cover gets very hot, especially when it’s on the highest setting. That’s great for fast drying, but Minky says you should only use the Heat Pod Pro to dry fabric that can “endure temperatures up to 85C”. Save your delicate smalls for a conventional barred airer.
It’s a shame that … the Minky’s fan noise is annoying compared with the blissful silence of a barred airer. At 60dB, it’s significantly quieter than a tumble dryer, but a little too loud to have in the same room while you watch TV. I also found the power button liable to get stuck, but that may be my own heavy-handedness.
Suitable for: work clothes and school uniforms that need a fast turnaround
Available drying space: about 21m, depending on your clothes horse
Dimensions (heat pod unit): 60 x 68 x 135cm (heat pod unit, DWH)
Max capacity: about 10kg
Time to dry small load: 1 hour 30 minutes (setting 1); 40 minutes (setting 3)
Running cost: 26-28p an hour
Minky
SureDri Heat Pod Pro
from £59.99
What we love
Works with your existing clothes horse to speed up drying
What we don’t love
It’s noisy, and the cover won’t fit all airers
The best of the rest
Dunelm 3-tier A-frame heated airer
Dunelm
3-tier A-frame heated airer
£80
What we love
Small but sturdy, with clever stands to dry soggy shoes
What we don’t love
Lacks the power to dry thick fabrics
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 (DWH); dimensions (folded): 18 x 91 x 146cm (DWH); max capacity: 15kg; time to dry small load: 5 hours; running cost: 9p/hour
Dunelm
3-tier A-frame heated airer
£80
What we love
Small but sturdy, with clever stands to dry soggy shoes
What we don’t love
Lacks the power to dry thick fabrics
Argos Home 3-tier heated airer
Argos
Home 3-tier heated airer
£105
What we love
Surprisingly powerful for one of the smallest airers on test
What we don’t love
Too dinky for a family load, and a little unsteady
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 about 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 (DWH); dimensions (folded): 13 x 70 x 144cm (DWH); max capacity: 15kg; time to dry small load: 4 hours 20 minutes; running cost: 8p/hour
Argos
Home 3-tier heated airer
£105
What we love
Surprisingly powerful for one of the smallest airers on test
What we don’t love
Too dinky for a family load, and a little unsteady
VonHaus large heated clothes airer with cover
VonHaus
Large heated clothes airer with cover
from £129.99
What we love
High weight capacity and heat-trapping cover
What we don’t love
Awkward to put together and fold down
Best for: heavier items such as towels and jumpers
With 17.2m of drying space and a 298W power rating, the VonHaus isn’t as big as the Lakeland or the Dunelm XL, but it claims it can support a mammoth 30kg of damp washing. That’s also more than three times the maximum capacity of my washing machine, and indeed of my arms.
Hyperbolic capacity claims aside, this airer has some clever ways to max out its drying space and efficiency, such as adding an unheated top rack (ideal for delicates) and a cover to trap the hot air. The plasticky cover isn’t a patch on those from Lakeland and Minky for quality or aesthetics, but it gets the job done, helping my small load dry in under three hours.
It didn’t make the final cut because … the airer doesn’t look as smart as its similarly sized rivals, not least because of the plastic feet that remained defiantly clumpy when I folded down the frame.
Available drying space: 17.2m; dimensions (open): 69 x 73 x 139cm (DWH); dimensions (folded): 15.5 x 73 x 139cm (DWH); max capacity: 30kg; time to dry small load: 2 hours 45 minutes; running cost: 8p/hour
VonHaus
Large heated clothes airer with cover
from £129.99
What we love
High weight capacity and heat-trapping cover
What we don’t love
Awkward to put together and fold down
Dunelm
Heated extra large ladder airer
£56
What we love
Looks chic and takes up very little space
What we don’t love
Its bars don’t get hot enough for a fast dry
Best for: drying all your smalls in one place
This is the new, “extra large” version of the dinky Dunelm ladder airer I tested in 2025 (see below). Its 133cm height and 12 heated bars (58cm each) add up to a much more generous drying capacity than its mini cousin, but it’s still not very powerful. I measured up to 185W energy consumption and an average 30C bar heat. That’s not exactly hot (for comparison, the bars of the Dunelm XL 3-tier airer reached 55C in places) and not warm enough to dry jeans or a jumper fast enough to avoid that slightly stale smell, but I found that it dried lighter T-shirts, hand towels and undies efficiently. As with the smaller version, I love the look of this airer.
It didn’t make the final cut because … this won’t dry a whole load, even a small one, but it’s a great wardrobe assistant that doesn’t hog space.
Available drying space: 6.96m; dimensions (with feet attached): 49.5 x 67.5 x 133cm (DWH); max capacity: 10kg; time to dry small load: 6 hours (all small items, after swapping some); running cost: 5p/hour
Dunelm
Heated extra large ladder airer
£56
What we love
Looks chic and takes up very little space
What we don’t love
Its bars don’t get hot enough for a fast dry
GlamHaus digital electric clothes airer
GlamHaus
Digital electric clothes airer
from £119.99
What we love
This large airer’s open design gives you easy access
What we don’t love
Touch display is fiddly, and initial setup could be easier
Best for: sizeable wardrobes that contain delicate fabrics
This is one of the biggest and most feature-rich airers I tested, with a ventilated cover, timer and digital temperature controls that I found fairly easy to use. The top setting reached nowhere near the claimed 70C but did manage 52C in places, and I love having the lower-temperature settings for drying flimsy fabrics on the bars. You can attach peg hangers to dangle your smalls in the heat, but they don’t allow much dangle room. As with all the airers I tested, you get a much quicker dry if you lay items across the bars.
It didn’t make the final cut because … it doesn’t dry clothes quite as fast as the Dry:Soon Deluxe, and it’s a right old jigsaw to put together the first time you use it. After that, though, I found it easy to open and close.
Available drying space: 30m; dimensions (open): 73 x 70 x 147cm (DWH); dimensions (folded): 15 x 70 x 147cm (DWH); max capacity: 16kg; time to dry small load: 3 hours 30 minutes; running cost: 8p/hour
GlamHaus
Digital electric clothes airer
from £119.99
What we love
This large airer’s open design gives you easy access
What we don’t love
Touch display is fiddly, and initial setup could be easier
Beldray winged heated clothes airer
Beldray
Winged heated clothes airer
from £49.99
What we love
Dries all your socks and pants in under four
What we don’t love
Not powerful enough to dry large items
Best for: drying undies and other small items
Beldray’s winged airer is a good buy at £50, but don’t expect it to dry a week’s worth of laundry. Hanging clothes from its 18 bars doesn’t dry them fast enough to avoid mild stinkiness, and there wasn’t enough room to lay more than four of my T-shirts across the bars. It blazed through underwear, though. The bars get surprisingly warm given the airer’s modest 230W power rating, so it made fast work of my damp socks, knickers and boxer shorts, as long as I gave each item its own spot on the bars. It folds up small for storage, too, although you have to wrestle the heated bars off the X-frame stand – not something I managed without a little light swearing.
It didn’t make the final cut because … it’s a great helper, but not big or powerful enough to dry a load of clothes.
Available drying space: 12.4m; dimensions (open): 54 x 148 x 91cm (DWH); dimensions (folded): 54 x 105 x 7.5cm (DWH); max capacity: 15kg; time to dry small load: 3 hours 30 minutes (all small items); running cost: 6p/hour
Beldray
Winged heated clothes airer
from £49.99
What we love
Dries all your socks and pants in under four
What we don’t love
Not powerful enough to dry large items
Dunelm heated ladder airer
Dunelm
Heated ladder airer
£32
What we love
Cheap to run and looks rather handsome
What we don’t love
Far too small for a laundry load, or even large items
Best for: keeping in the hallway to dry damp socks, shoes and gloves
The smallest airer in my test and by far the cheapest to run, Dunelm’s 90W aluminium ladder uses a mere 2p an hour under the October energy price cap, and takes up very little space. Its plastic feet are a pain to attach and add about half a square metre to its footprint when they’re open, but all in all this is a great little gizmo for taking the soggy edge off hand towels, tea towels or even rained-on hats and gloves.
It didn’t make the final cut because … it’s not big or powerful enough to dry a load of washing.
Available drying space: 3m; dimensions (with feet): 53 x 34 x 87cm (DWH); max capacity: 5kg; time to dry small load: 3 hours 30 minutes; running cost: 2p/hour
Dunelm
Heated ladder airer
£32
What we love
Cheap to run and looks rather handsome
What we don’t love
Far too small for a laundry load, or even large items
What you need to know
Are heated clothes airers worth the spend?
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: Aldi’s winged heated airer sold out within days of going on sale in 2025, and I’m feverishly awaiting news of this year’s model. But do they deserve the hype – and how can you get the best out of yours?
How much do heated airers cost to run?
Minimal running cost is the biggest selling point of heated airers. Their packaging bears promises that they’ll dry your clothes for as little as 6p an hour, dramatically undercutting all rival methods other than blazing sunshine. With electricity prices marginally lower than a year ago, while gas prices have risen, heated airers are certainly a more cost-efficient way of drying clothes than using your radiators.
Six pence an hour was a little optimistic, though. I found that standard barred airers, running at about 320W, worked out at 7p an hour in September 2024 and 8p an hour now. It’s cheaper than putting on the central heating, but it does add up, because most heated airers take a whole afternoon or more to dry a full load of washing, and those 8p hours will add up. Airers that dry clothes faster, such as the fan-heater-based Minky SureDri Heat Pod Pro, cost more to run. At 1kW, the SureDri costs about 26p an hour, adding up to 78p for three hours of drying.
That’s still significantly cheaper than running a tumble dryer or, indeed, a washing machine. Under October 2026 energy prices, a tumble dryer running at 3kW costs 79p an hour to run, and it can cost even more to switch on the central heating.
How long do clothes take to dry with a heated airer?
A standard T-shirt, laid flat and unfolded across several bars of a 300-320W barred heated airer, should dry in about two hours. If you’re drying a whole load of clothes, though, it’ll take a whole afternoon – or about eight hours if the air feels cold or humid. You will need to flip and rearrange items during this time to give the fabric equal access to the bars.
Airers that contain a fan heater dry clothes more quickly. The fastest-drying airer in my test, the Minky SureDri, blew out enough hot air to dry my small load of washing in less than two hours. With a large load, I found it easier to halve it and dry it in batches.
How can you make clothes dry faster on a heated airer?
There are ways you can speed up the drying process. My best tip is to ignore the marketing photos that show airers draped like Christmas trees, with clothes hung from every bar. As I discovered while running this test, your clothes simply won’t dry that way unless it’s a warm day, which rather defeats the point. Instead, lay individual items across the bars.
Covered airers cut drying times by almost half, but 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 in 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.
Do heated airers make your house damp?
When you dry clothes on any warm surface, whether it’s a heated airer or a radiator, the moisture rises from the clothes – to where? I asked a range of experts about this, and they broadly agreed that the key is to let the moist air escape from your home.
“It’s not the drying method alone but the combination of moisture and lack of ventilation that leads to damp problems,” says Dr Anastasia Mylona, technical director at the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers. “You can manage this by ensuring good ventilation when drying clothes indoors; for example, by opening windows or using extractor fans.”
A dehumidifier can help avoid damp, as well as speed up the drying process, says cleaning expert Nancy Emery of bathroom retailer Drench. “If you’re investing in a heated airer, my advice is to invest in a dehumidifier as well, and always run them together.”
I’ve found heated airers much less likely than radiators to cause damp walls, and property expert Phil Spencer explains why. “Airflow is key, so if you want to use a heated airer, put it in the middle of the room rather than next to the wall,” says Spencer, who, among other things, founded the property advice website Move iQ. “This is why heated airers are preferable to wall-mounted radiators.”
However, radiators can heat up the room, and heated airers can’t, at least not significantly. That’s an important factor in the battle against damp, says Emery. “Maintaining your home’s temperature above 18C helps because condensation can’t settle on warmer surfaces.”
I put these tips to the test using an affordable humidity meter. I measured the moisture in my spare room’s air before doing any laundry, and then again at various stages of drying a medium load on a large heated airer – with and without opening the windows and using a dehumidifier.
It had rained all week, so perhaps it’s no surprise that my house boasted a base humidity level of 70%, 10 percentage points higher than the recommended UK maximum. I was surprised, though, when this only rose to 72% once I’d loaded the airer with damp clothes. Running my dehumidifier brought the room’s humidity down to 70%. When I opened the windows, it dropped to 65% – even before the load was completely dry. I’ve now defaulted to leaving the windows open whenever possible, whether or not I’m drying clothes.
“Opening windows regularly is the best way to allow humid air to escape, though it may seem counterintuitive in colder weather,” says Nicholas Donnithorne, UK technical services manager at Rentokil Property Care. “Leave quarterlights ajar or trickle vents open. Dehumidifiers can help, but they require regular emptying and aren’t a substitute for proper ventilation.”
For more autumn and winter home essentials, read the Filter’s guides to:
The best electric blankets and heated throws
The best electric heaters, tested
Jane Hoskyn is a features journalist and WFH pioneer with three decades of experience in 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 26 October 2026; two new airers were added after testing, three models were removed, and prices were updated throughout.
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