Heated bar clothes airers use (as the name suggests) heated bars to dry clothes, with each one acting like a mini radiator. They dry clothes faster than heated bar clothes airers, but typically have smaller capacities. You'll be able to hang dresses and jeans in them, but bedsheets and duvets are a no-go. There are two main types of heated clothes airer: heated bar clothes airers and drying pods. Both work very differently.

We selected the heated airers and drying pods from the most searched-for brands and popular UK retailers. All heated airers are stable enough to hold a full load of washing, but some were more flexible and easy to topple than our top recommendations. Ease of use Running at 300w, it costs 15p an hour to use at current prices. It’s tall enough for hanging long items like trousers and towels, and the adaptable rungs mean you can lay up to six jumpers flat for speedy drying. My colleague Debora Robertson swears by it as the best way of drying bras and Sally Hughes of laundry experts Kair recommends it to make delicates last longer. SPACE SAVING - The four-bar radiator airer is the ideal space saving solution for indoor airing. You can mount it anywhere you want for compact to save space. Great for to hang it from any radiator in the house and leave it to dry your washing with ease.If you already have a tumble dryer and are thinking of making a swap, it will also depend on what type of tumble dryer you already own. While heated airers use less electricity per hour than a tumble dryer, they take longer to dry the clothes. So, if you're drying big loads regularly, it will cost you more to run a heated airer annually than a tumble dryer. STRONG AND DURABLE - This strong and durable airer comes with 4 bars in a white plastic coating, and can be utilized in your bathroom, laundry room, or on your balcony: it's ideal for homes with limited space like dorms, condos or apartments. Heated clothes airers we tested typically took between four to six hours to dry a small (2.15kg) cotton load.

Another option for speeding the clothes-drying process is to run a portable dehumidfier in the same room. Dehumidifiers can shorten drying time by 25 percent, while also reducing damp and mould in the home. The best heated airers and drying pods dried small loads in a comparable time to tumble dryers; the worst took over six hours. Energy use Some look like a tower, which typically affords more drying space for the room they take up, but they can be less accommodating of larger items such as dresses, towels and bedsheets. We used a force gauge to determine how much force is needed to topple over each heated airer, as well as the flexibility of each airer's bars. We took each airer's capacity into account to also calculate the cost of drying a large cotton load.Others resemble your typical clothes horse, often with foldable wings for extra drying space. They have a larger middle section, which is good for bigger items such as jeans and bedding, but overall have less drying space than tower models. Can heated clothes airers save you money? Our testing found heated clothes airers will cost about half as much money to run as a drying pod. We also measured the total drying space and volume of the airer, so we can let you know which ones give you the most drying space without taking over an entire room in your home. 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.

This airer has a generous 13.5m of drying space, which is more than enough space for a family load. It’s winged, so it has adjustable arms that can lift to accommodate longer items or fold down to save space. It also comes with handy corner hangers that can be used to hold a delicates dryer, or even to dry shirts using clothes hangers. The only sacrifice you’ll need to make is that it’s not as sturdy as more expensive clothes airers on the roundup, which means you’ll need to be careful not to snap the thinner bars with really heavy items such as dripping wet beach towels – items such as these would be best draped over multiple bars. At a fraction of the price of the other airers, though, this one’s a no-brainer. Tiered: These collapsible airers fold out to form a cross-like structure that can support heavier weighted clothes whilst taking up very little floor space. They’re compact, sturdy, and (depending on the number of tiers) can hold a whole family wash.Compact &ndash This airer will take up a fraction of the space for drying clothes and can be stored away when not in use. Spacious &ndash Each of these indoor airers has 4 bars to give all of your wet laundry enough space to air dry. Heated airers speed up the drying process and provide a gentler method for drying delicates. Instead of wrapping delicates in towels and balancing them precariously on the bathroom radiator, or hanging dresses up in the shower to drip-dry, an electric airer means you can just wring them out gently and lay them flat to dry. How hot do heated clothes dryers get? Key specs – Type: Heated; Open dimensions: 135 x 66 x 72.8cm (HWD); Closed dimensions: 140 x 66 x 7cm (HWD); Drying space: 15m; Weight: 5.5kg; Guarantee: 2 years I found the Dry:Soon took around four to five hours to dry lighter materials; and closer to 10-12 for heavier jumpers and the like. In the world of heated clothes airers, that’s really pretty good – the cover certainly does its job.