Heated clothes dryers will always show how much power they use in watts or kilowatts per hour. However, since most heated airers take 8 to 12 hours to fully dry a load of washing you will need to take this into account. We've used this equation to give you some examples of what the three main type of heated airers will cost to run: Heat-up times are also worth considering as they can extend the drying time if they take a while to get to temperature. We’ve listed how long each took on test below. Is it safe to leave a heated airer on? 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. Measuring in at 70 x 74 x 132.5 cm when fully open, it is sizeable, which may put some people off. But given that it is larger vertically than it is horizontally, it doesn’t actually take up that much floor space. Plus, this Lakeland airer can also fold down to just 8cm wide for storage, and you can also customise its usable size by pulling certain rails up or down if you ever want an airer that is more compact.

Following the energy price cap announcement in October the average unit price for electricity has been capped at 27p per kWh, so we have used this figure to illustrate the average amount it could cost to run a heated clothes airer. Closely resembling traditional clothes horses, heated clothes airers have heating elements within their rails to warm your washing and speed up the drying process. Overall, this is a fantastic option for those who need to get through larger laundry loads but don't want to pay the more premium prices for a 3-tier model; just expect a slightly less premium experience in return (though still a drying experience that's superior to a non-heated airer). Special mention: Aldi heated clothes airerKey specs – Open dimensions: 152 x 71.5 x 45cm (HWD); Closed dimensions: 152 x 71.5 x 45cm (HWD); Drying capacity: 10kg of clothing; Weight: 4.6kg; Guarantee: 3 years; Wattage: 1,200W We found there wasn’t a lot of difference between the heated airers when it came to their energy consumption, with the models we tested using between 0.09 kilowatt hours (kWh) and 0.91 kWh – that’s between two and 23 pence of electricity an hour. 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. The longer they take to dry items, the more they’ll ultimately end up costing, but even if you use them to start the drying process, they should make a noticeable difference to your laundry pile.

When winter comes around and hanging your clothes outside to dry is no longer an option, the best heated clothes airers can be a laundry lifesaver. Taking a simple concept that’s been around for centuries and adding a mains-powered heating element is a simple solution to an evergreen problem, and it can potentially save you money on your energy bills to boot.Looking ahead over the next few months, we're bound to see a lot of one thing: rain. The good ol' British weather never fails us, particularly during the colder seasons, which can make getting your washing dry a bit of a tough job. There are six settings on the machine that allow you to customise your drying time, which we found very useful to guarantee you don't forget its on. You can choose to have it on for 30 minutes up to 180 minutes; though we’d urge that 30 minutes probably won’t make much of an impact unless your clothes are already mostly dry.

If you have a 300W three tiered heated clothes dryer such as the Lakeland Dry:Soon heated airer which has a drying capacity of 15kg it should cost around 8p to run for an hour, so just over 64p to run for eight hours.One huge highlight of using this airer is that the drying didn’t cost much at all – based on current energy prices, the airer costs less than 7p per hour to run, meaning three hours of almost dry laundry, at an estimate, costs just 21p. This affordable running cost is another reason why this is a great choice for those on a budget.

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. Speaking of the drying capabilities, this Lakeland airer is pretty speedy - one of the fastest of all the models we tested. After just one hour with the cover on, our softer, cotton clothes were already starting to feel dry – though it took around three hours for the majority of our washing to dry during testing.

The best heated clothes airers to buy in 2023

Ease of use: How easy was it to set each heated clothes airer up, and how easy was it to understand the functionality? We looked at how technical (or not) each product was. Spin dry clothes before hanging - 'To make drying efficient, make sure your clothes have spun properly in the machine, so excess water has been removed,' says Paul Newman at Housetastic This number does obviously vary depending on the power of your airer however, if you want to understand how much your specific model costs to run, James Longley, managing director at Utility Bidder says, "This formula can help you calculate expenditure: Cost = power (kilowatt) × time (hour) × cost of 1 kWh (pence)." Turn clothes around on the airer - As your clothes dry keep moving them around to make sure the heat reaches all of your laundry. Clothes in the middle will usually dry fastest so make sure they all have their turn. Though this may put some people off (it’s fairly loud, but you can still easily hold a conversation over it), we don’t think it should if you’re looking for a fast way to dry your more delicate items.