Are heated clothes airers worth it?

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I'm thinking of getting one. There seem to be a lot for sale on FB marketplace and I'm wondering if that's because people don't use them or they aren't very good. Do you have one and is it worth the price to buy/run?

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MNHQ

We have had the Lakeland airer with cover for around a year and it’s been a game changer!

I don’t really understand how families use it as their only mess as ms of drying. We use ours for things that can’t/shouldn’t be tumbled - but I have to lay the items flat along the bars.

Like a PP said, if I hung the items over the rails only the strip in contact would dry!

if I hung the items over the rails only the strip in contact would dry!

of course that's the first area that dries, but the rest of the garment will also dry, just as it would on a regular airer.
as with a nornal airer you need air to be able to circulate to take away the moisture.
the extra heat will help get things dry quicker than if you didn't switch it on.

it's not as instant as a tumble dryer.

It is mystifying how polarised these answers are!

I have the Aldi dupe for the Lakeland heated airer and fall jnto the love it camp. Used to have a washer drier but DH cocked that up when he left lut the drier bit off when he bought the replacement . So we are stuck with clothes line, heated airer or bust.

Heated airer plus cover is great! Has a timer so comes on for a few hours at start of night, heat remains trapped under cover cooking clothes nicely, i come down in morning and smugly put clothes away...anything that might need a little longer gets to marinate a while in open air. Job done.

We use a combination of things to dry clothes. We do have a small tumble dryer that we use sparingly. We also use an airer with a dehumidifier on. We try and also time the washing to finish as the heating comes on in the evening. A big thing that helps is being sensible with other wearing so we don't wash clothes all the time.

Heated airer is a must here. Literally none of my fat lady clothes can be tumble dried - all that elastance in everything even T-shirts. We still tumble dry linens. The airer lives out all year long and we turn it on if we want things dried quickly.

I have had my Lakeland one for over 20 years. Love it. I don't have a cover, I just throw a table cloth over it.

Years ago I bought the Lakeland heated one for dds who were in a house with no tumble drier and no space for one - OK in summer but not in wet winters. It would dry even jeans overnight. It was the bigger one of which you can use just half, so didn’t take up too much floor space.

Dd1 with 3 young dcs still uses it when it’s too wet for line drying, which is what she mostly does.

This is the key with heated airers - they are better than normal airers, they are not equivalent to a tumble dryer. Tumble dryers can dry stuff in an hour, heated airers make sure the whole load is dry overnight. Totally different. I have two kids, an old freezing house, and make sure we only do one load per day if possible so we can get it all dry on the airer. But if you want stuff dry in a morning that's a tumble dryer job.

We have one as we don't have a tumble drier. It's really good. We've used it for years.

The only ballache is having it out but it lives in the conservatory.

Can anyone explain how a cover or sheet helps? Doesn't it stop the water evaporating from the clothes?

Yes- large Lakeland one, wouldn’t be without it. I don’t use the tumble dryer- not with the price of energy.

We only do one load a day and are happy to wait for it but it doesn't get a whole load of adult sized clothes dry overnight especially not heavy winter clothes like jeans and hoodies, if you run it for more than about 9 hours the electricity cost isn't that much less than the tumble dryer which also has the benefit of being faster to load and unload.

Keeps the heat in so all drys a lot more quickly

We had the lakeland one and it was crap. I sold it to a student 😂

I adore mine and wish I'd got it years ago. Much cheaper than a tumble drier. I got mine from Amazon for about £45.

What difference can it possibly make to the safety of an electrical appliance whether it is used once a day or once a week?

It is mystifying how polarised these answers are!

Isn't it just? I am none the wiser!

I don't have room for a tumble dryer, so my comparison really is a regular airer and dehumidifier, which is what I do at the moment. My dehumidifier died last year and I got a new one which is no where near as effective so my choice really is whether to invest in a heated airer or a new dehumidifier.

I use a normal airer and a dehumidifier, the laundry dries overnight in the bathroom, which is also lovely and warm in the morning because the air blown out by the dehumidifier is warmer.
But whenever possible, I line dry outside.

A new, effective dehumidifier is the better buy IMO.

Definitely worth it, I would recommend one with a cover though. Ours doesn't and when we put a sheet over it the clothes so much quicker.

This.

I'd be lost in winter without it.

you should get a dehumidifier instead, I bought one last year with a clothes drying function, put it next to the washing and it’s all dry in a few hours in winter and it gets rid of any condensation too. Best thing I’ve bought in a long time and takes up no space and is very cheap to run

www.which.co.uk/news/article/whats-the-best-and-cheapest-way-to-dry-clothes-indoors-aVcs74u56Gk8

I love mine. It’s one of the things I would instantly repurchase if it died.

I use it with a dehumidifier and, for example, got 2 loads dry yesterday. King size bedding (sheet, 6 pillow cases, cover) 5 pairs of pj bottoms and 5 t shirts, a towel and 3 sets of gym kit plus socks, underwear, 8 flannels and a load of tea towels.

Underwear / socks go on a ‘socktopus’ that I hang over a bar.