Lakeland heated airer

[upwardsandonwards33]

Do I need to get the one with castor wheels and is it a hazard with little children around?
Also does anyone know if there is a model which can be hung up behind a door?
Not sure which one to get....
Advice appreciated.

[JingleBallRock]

I bought one of these just before Xmas after hearing all the excellent things about them on MN.

I've been massively disappointed in it and I'm sending it back.

I wouldn't even bother getting one at all TBH

[upwardsandonwards33]

I've been massively disappointed in it and I'm sending it back.

why is that Jingle?

[mistermagpie]

Mine doesn't have wheels and it's fine, i have it on carpet in the spare room though so i guess it depends where you are keeping it and whether you will be moving it around. I have an 18 month old DS and he pulls the clothes off it sometimes but nothing more hazardous than that! I think it would actually be more difficult to pull over than a traitional airer I think. I have this one www.google.co.uk/search?q=lakeland+heated+airer&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b&gfe_rd=cr&ei=lOmJWJvzJan38AeCporACQ

[mistermagpie]

Just for another point of view - I love mine. I use it practically every day and wouldn't be without it.

[mistermagpie]

Sorry, link fail. Its the one that's £109 that i have.

[JingleBallRock]

It doesn't get all that hot- not as hot as radiators.

There's very little room on it (mine's three tier) because you can't hang things over it, you have to sort of lie them across it. You have to do this because it does't get very hot.

The lead is very short.

I don't think it's any different from having a normal clothes airer positioned near a radiator.

I know I'm massively going against the MN vibe here though

[Themoleandcrew]

I have the three tier one. I hang stuff over the bars and always make sure there's a duvet cover in one of the loads (can get 2/3 loads on it). I find if I cover it and turn it on before bed it's all dry in the morning.

[TheUnseenAcademic]

They only work if you hang a bit sheet/duvet over it all to trap the warm air. Then they're brilliant! I easily get a full load on mine- just draping heavy or slow drying things over 2 bars instead of 1.
I don't have castors (not sure they'd be very useful as I tend to leave it plugged in) and it's been fine with children around.
That said, since DC2 came along I've resorted to tumble drying almost everything instead as we seem to generate insane amounts of washing now...

[IAmAPaleontologist]

I have the older style 3 tier one. It is fantastic. Works best if you lay clothes flat over the bars, you can put things one on top of the other. The pop and sheet over the top. Things will be dry into time. The Lakeland catalogue in front of me says you can store the new one over a door.

[mistermagpie]

I've got the three tier one too Jingle and I love it! It dosn't get as hot as a radiator, no, but I don't have my heating on that much so it's much better than a traditional airer. It's fair to say that for the most part I use mine for DS's clothes, so you can get loads of little vests, t-shirts, trousers on it, which is why i like it. I do use it for towels too but dry them flat.

I hate tumble drying though, so massivley go against the MN vide on that!

[IAmAPaleontologist]

Just looking at the catalogue. The mini deluxe 2 tier comes with the over door hanging hook. The deluxe 3 tier just clips together to store. I don't think you need wheels, my standard 3 tier pushes around the wood floor fine without scratching it. It folds flat to store, just doesn't clip together.

[thenewaveragebear1983]

I'm with you mole, I bought the £40 one from the range. It's good if you've got a few bits you need dried quickly and don't want the heating on to put them on radiators (such as school uniforms on a Sunday night!) but in terms of drying washing as a regular thing it just doesn't seem that great. It's great for bedding- fold over into halves or quarters, fold the rings over and it's dried and pressed quite quickly, but for a full load of washing it's no quicker than an aired next to a radiator.
I dried ds's sweatshirt with the hairdryer this morning, which is my new prefered method!

[TheSnorkMaidenReturns]

I've the older three tier one. It's fab. It dries far faster than a drier next to a radiator and the advantage is that you don't need to have the heating on when you dry the clothes. So when it is pouring down but it's not cold, you whack on the airer and you don't boil.
I don't understand what you mean about 'not much space' on it. The three tier one has has 21m of drying space compared with the 14m on the more traditional type I'd had before, like this.
I like the fact it dries the clothes faster so they don't smell which they can when they've dried more slowly on a normal airer.

[JingleBallRock]

I do always put a sheet over it. It still doesn't dry particularly quickly.

I mean it doesn't have space because I find draping clothes over the bars means that the bit touching the bars gets dry but the hanging ends (ends of sleeves etc) don't dry. So, I lie clothes flat which means you only get one or two tops, for example, on each tier.

If it's raining but not cold, I'll stick the heating on but turn all the radiators off apart from the spare bedroom which I stick the non-heated airer in front of and it's all dry in half the time of the heated airer.

[TheSnorkMaidenReturns]

I get you don't like it, not disagreeing with your opinion.

But how is the dangling bit any different from a normal airer? Apart from the fact there is more hot air circulating so it dries more quickly?

[llangennith]

They're brilliant but almost need a room of their own!

[SnugglySnerd]

I like it for drying washing but I've stopped using it because of the vast amount of condensation it produces. If it's too cold/wet to dry outside I tumble dry until clothes are just a bit damp and hang them on it to air but without switching it on.
It is useful for things that can't go in the dryer and I would probably use it if we had a utility room to put it in but the spare bedroom was getting a lot of mildew when we used it, even with the window open.

[JingleBallRock]

Because the hot air that's circulating isn't all that hot whereas the hot air around an normal airer by the radiator is much hotter.

If that makes any sense

Snuggly I've found the condensation a bit of an issue as well actually.

[thenewaveragebear1983]

I do a second spin on my washing after each load and that massively reduces the drying time and the condensation. Not just with my heated aired but my normal One too.

[ToastieRoastie]

I love mine. I have the three tier one and find it dries a load of clothes overnight, maybe day and a half for heavier items. I hang things on the racks, not lie flat.

Mine stays up permanently so don't need wheels. It wouldn't be heavy to move without wheels unless loaded with clothes.

[GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER]

I bought the bigger Lakeland one some years ago for dds when they were in a house with no dryer, no radiators (warm air) and nowhere to dry anything in wet weather.

They found it very good, and several years on, one dd with two dcs under two, still uses it all the time.

[roundtable]

I love mine and it lives in the spare room with the window open.

However, it did take some experimenting to get it the most effective. Like- don't put anything too big on the bottom part. On the principle that hot air rises, it blocks the heat imo to help dry the clothes.
Hang clothes over 2 bars - if there's too much the air can't circulate and dry effectively much like a normal heater. And make sure it's covered to dry with something. I use a double flat sheet that does the job.

I usually put mine in the evening and switch it off in the morning.

I think it's more useful for cold houses if that makes sense. If you have the heating on quite a lot then a regular airer does the job just fine. If you only put on the heating for a few hours and leave it as late in the year to turn it on and as early in the year to turn it off (which is us) a regular airer would take days to dry.

[upwardsandonwards33]

I appreciate the tips. Many thanks

[jellyshoeswithdiamonds]

I've found that if I hang heavier tops over two rungs, hoodies over three rungs and then tuck the cuffs of tops/hoodies that hang down onto the rungs below this helps them to dry better overall.

I cover the whole airer with either duvet cover that needs drying or a spare flat double sheet that we no longer use.

Do put mine next to radiator and drape the duvet over the rad as well for extra heat if its on.

Love mine, its the older type. Use it constantly during the winter, do have tumbler but tend to shrink clothes so they go on the airer.