Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
Mumsnetters, previous customers and experts all agree that the Dry:Soon 3-Tier Heated Airer is the best heated clothes airer available (hence the expensive price point). With a decent size capacity, and a lightweight and easily foldable frame, it’ll whizz through your laundry in no time and save you money on your energy bills. For maximum efficiency, covers can keep the generated heat contained, creating a bubble of warmth that helps speed up the drying process. Are heated clothes airers safe?
In the current energy crisis, heated airers aren't as cheap as they used to be but are still relatively low on energy use. To find the very best heated clothes airers for your home, our experts at the Good Housekeeping Institute start by timing how long each dryer takes to preheat. They then wash and dry various loads of laundry, including clothes and bedsheets, and time how long it takes until each load has finished drying. It does take up quite a bit of space (bear in mind that once the wings are extended, it measures 148cm in length) and the folding mechanism is a little stiff but it dries clothes cheaply and swiftly, helping you to blitz through the laundry pile. Winged heater airers are generally the cheapest heated airers available. However, in our tests, we found that tiered heated airers worked a lot better than winged heated airers at drying washing. On a winged heated airer very little of the wet laundry actually touches the heated bars, so longer items can hang down below the heated elements and remain damp at the ends. A heated clothes airer or dryer currently costs between 7p and 45p per hour to run, making the cheaper models extremely economical compared to even the most energy-efficient tumble dryer – even if it takes several hours longer than expected to dry your washing.
Similar to the JML DriBUDDi airer in design, the slightly more expensive Dry:Soon Drying Pod is fan-powered and circulates warm air to dry clothing within the zip-closed cover It’s effectively a fan on detachable tripod feet with a pole, at the top of which there are six spokes designed to hold up to 12 hangers of spin-dried or well-wrung damp clothing (up to 10kg). It’s particularly useful for shirts and blouses, since being able to hang T-shirts in this way means they dry straight with minimal creases, meaning less ironing. But it’s less useful for drying, say, towels. Size - How big is the heated airer, and how much space do you need? Some airers can be on the large side, whereas other tiered dryers tend to be more compact. Finding the best heated clothes airer may not sound like the most exciting of pursuits. But as a means of drying your clothes in winter, these gadgets are hard to beat. Not only is a heated airer far kinder to your treasured garments than tumble drying (it adds years to the lifespan of your clothes), it’s also better for the environment. It eliminates that damp washing smell and is a good way of minimising crinkles, so you might not need to invest in an iron or a steamer. Most heated airers also fold up compactly for storage. Does it come with accessories? - Some heated airers come with accessories such as covers and casters included, whereas other brands have them available as an optional extra.
The DriBUDDi can also hold more washing, offering space for 18 coat hangers as opposed to the Dry:Soon Drying Pod's capacity for just 12 items. Both models require clothes to be spread out evenly so that the weight of the washing is well distributed for stability, but when clothes weren't well positioned, we found this model the more stable of the two on its feet. If you want to speed up your drying times even more then it's worth considering adding a cover to your heated airer. Although most need to be bought separately, they work by trapping the warmth generated by your airer, making clothes toastier whilst they dry, and including mesh panels or ventilation holes so that moisture can still escape. It heats up within minutes and there's enough space for a full load of washing. Just be careful when hanging things on the outer rails, particularly heavy items like jeans and towels, as it can feel like it can easily topple over. But this is an issue with the winged design in general rather than this particular model. Heated clothes airers are proving exceptionally popular this year, given the high energy prices. My top-rated airers may temporarily sell out. These are currently the best places to look for alternatives:Cost to run - To ensure your airer is economical, most brands now give an estimated cost per hour based on the average usage. Throughout use, they monitor how well the airer distributes heat across its rungs and whether the temperature fluctuates. They also measure how much electricity is used, calculating the energy consumption for an hour’s drying.
In many ways, this combination of more hanging space faster fan-powered drying should make the Minky Sure Dri Heat Pod Drying System the best heated clothes airer going. However, in practice, we found it isn't perfect. We've spent hours putting winged heated airers, tiered heated airers and drying pods to the test in busy family homes, wading through piles of laundry to put together a definitive guide to the best heated clothes airers to buy. We assessed drying times, energy efficiency, ease of use as well as how easy they were to set up, move around and store. And of course, we cross-referenced models that Mumsnetters love, rate and recommend on the forums.
How we tested
Perfect for delicates that you can’t put in a tumble dryer, it’s worth noting that it’s better suited to shirts, tees, jumpers and trousers rather than towels and smaller items like baby clothes and underwear. While a heated airer cannot compete with a tumble dryer in terms of speed, it’ll nevertheless dry laundry in a matter of hours and use up to 90% less electricity depending on appliance models – welcome news when energy bills are soaring. For the heated clothes airers on our list, electricity use varies from around 200 watts to 1500. How hot do heated clothes dryers get? So, if you’re after a savvy laundry drying solution that can be cheaper to run than a tumble dryer (or putting the heating on), and speedier than air drying, look no further than a heated clothes airer.
Great Deal 
New Comment