Are heated clothes airers good for reducing electricity costs?

The ideal place to dry your clothes is outside in a warm summer’s breeze.  Not only does this method dry your clothes quickly and naturally but it leaves them smelling fresh and clean. That’s all good and well except for when it raining which let’s face it, is most of the year in the UK. If you live in a home without outside space, as some of us do, then hanging clothes outside isn’t an option either.

In comes the heated clothes airer to the rescue. Of recent, it is proving to be an exceptionally popular alternative to tumble dryers, given the rise in energy prices. Not only is a heated airer far kinder to your garments than a tumble dryer; it adds years to the lifespan of your clothes, and it is an effective way of minimising crinkles. Most of all, it contributes to the reduction of our carbon cost.

What should we consider when choosing a heated clothes airer?

How long each load takes to dry?

A heated clothes airer takes about four or five hours for cotton and linen and over ten hours for jumpers and thick materials. In the world of heated clothes airers, that’s really pretty good! To really optimize the efficiency of this device you can buy an additional cover which will help reduce the drying time. You should always squeeze as much moisture as possible out of your clothes before putting them on a heated airer. Another option for speeding the clothes-drying process is to run a portable dehumidifier in the same room. Dehumidifiers can shorten drying time by 25 percent, while also reducing damp and mould in the home.

How long the device took to warm up?

With 3 tiers of 36 heated tubes, the heated clothes airer reaches temperatures of 44-55 degrees Celsius in 5 minutes. Other models with fewer heated rails (18 tubes) as you would imagine, would heat up much quicker.

How much the device costs to run?

Let’s be honest: it’s the savings most of us are interested in. Since the price of energy soared we’re all on the lookout for money-saving devices. Experts in the field agree that the heated clothes airers are usually cheaper to run than a tumble dryer - around 10p per hour- as opposed to around £2 per load in a dryer based on current electricity prices. So, this translated means that a typical 300w, heated airer will cost approximately 41p to tun for 5 hours at current energy prices.

How much it holds?

The heated clothes airer is tall enough for hanging long items like trousers and towels, and the wide shelves mean you can lay up to six jumpers flat for speedy drying. This drying rack holds a lot of clothes despite its small footprint. It has an impressive 21m of drying space which is very versatile due to the 3 shelves. You can hang clothes on the rails or stack folded clothes or dry delicate items by laying them flat.

How much space it took up, both while open and while packed away for storage?

The heated clothes airer when fully open, measures 78 x 72 x 138cm and has 21m hanging capacity. When folded it measures 6 x 112 x 54cm for easy storage.

Do heated airers shrink clothes?

The simple answer is no. The heat given off by a heated clothes airer isn’t intense enough to shrink clothing. This makes it a much gentler and ideal way to dry delicate items.

So, in the current climate with energy prices not predicted to come down any time soon, it makes sense to invest in a heated clothes airer, which makes the daily laundry chore more bearable but also easier on the pocket.