Are heated airers crap or am I doing something wrong?

[Littletreefrog]

Bought a heated airer in Lidl, the type with wings. Also bought a cover for it. The only bits of the clothes that dry are the bits actually touching the bars so I can maybe dry 4 t shirts laid flat in it at a time. Hoodies and anything thick are an absolute disaster. I had high hopes, am I doing something wrong?

I gave mine away, I bought it so I didn’t have to put wet clothes on radiators, now I just use the heated towel rails in bathroom with the door closed

I have a Lakeland one with a cover and I love it. It’s not quick and I have to move stuff around a bit but I can get stuff dried in 5-6 hours usually. It doesn’t batter clothes like a tumble does.

Had one years, great, only cat and I, no dryer here, cover makes a difference, I use an old double sheet, works well

Unless you move the clothes every 20-30 minutes these ones are crap. It's fine if you have the time to keep on shuffling the clothes.

Lakeland one here. It's faster than drying on a regular airer. I do a load a day and that works for my household but the house is kept at a steady temperature too which probably helps and it's well aired and not damp. (The cat used to curl up on the top on the cover.) Currently designing a laundry room and I'll have a ceiling airer or 2 fitted instead.

We have a Lakeland one for clothes that don't go in the dryer.

We pair it with a dehumidifier and can dry a pretty full load in about 6-8 hours. Probably quicker if we used the cover but we.dont tend to

I have the biggest Lakeland one with a cover. A full load of t shirts, jeans, undies, sock, shirts and gym wear will dry fully overnight, ready to put away immediately. So much gentler on the clothes than the tumble dryer.

I wouldn't consider having one as my house is pretty humid and prone to mould in some rooms. The moisture coming off drying clothes would make this much worse, so for items that can't be tumble dried I use a dehumidifier which dries a load of washing overnight and keeps the room nice and dry (and warm!) too.

I love my lakeland airer. I was too cheap to buy the cover so use an old duvet cover over the top. Works brilliantly and does a full load in a day. It did take me a few tries to find the best way to organise the clothes on it.

Ours works well for us but depends what you're comparing it to. I like to dry outside where possible but rain or damp weather makes it impossible. This option takes a long time but is cheaper and more ecological than a tumble dryer. If it's really cold or heavy stuff like towels I'll tumble for a bit first. It is far quicker than a simple airer. We don't heat the house much as it doesn't seem to need it(moved from somewhere freezing!!) so airers would be super slow in winter. Bonus, the cats adore it. Ditto heated throw. Upside of heating costs are all these cat magnets

Should add I don't shuffle the clothes around at all once on there or use a dehumidifier. My house is heated to 16.

I have one from Lakeland and it's good for what we need it to do, however:

We use it to 'finish off' stuff overnight and ensure that the washing is on the line all day provided it's not raining.

We use the cover and chuck a throw over it as well

Mine works fine. As a standard clothes airer!
Husband thought it would be a good idea so he bought it. Very rarely do I turn it on. I have a pulley maid and an Aga, so it is very much a back up option.

One of those things where you can't afford to cheap out.

My parents did, and my mum insisted that it would have everything dry again for next bedtime after my son projectiled on me and all his things. I think me having to whack on the hairdryer at 6pm to get everything done for bedtime negated any cost saving.

There seems to be a general vein running through this, buy cheap from lidl/aldi and they are crap, buy from lakeland and they are more expensive but buyers (generally) love them.
We have a lakeland one with cover and it is in constant use, it is brilliant.

This is the same style as mine and I find it really good. Bought it for £10 on Facebook marketplace and it's been worth that 10x over for me!

I have a Lakeland one with a cover. Takes a full 9kg load and I leave it on overnight in a spare bathroom. It's cheap to run and works brilliantly, and I never turn the clothes.

The sort of dryer that had the rack over the heater on the floor was excellent It was better with a cover, but a sheet or towel worked just as well. It wouldn't be safe to leave it on when you went out, but that applies to tumble dryers as well.

Can you share a link @Phase2 - I came on here to moan about my dryer and the same problems as the OP but then found this thread and realised I am not alone!

I hang clothes in the bathroom during the day - move in an oil heater / shut the door and they dry quickly

I brought my lakeland one to France with me when I came, I don't even own a tumble dryer and haven't for years. It works brilliantly if you load it up properly. It needs air space between items and small ones next to larger ones, taking the smaller ones off as they dry.

I’ve got the Aldi winged one and am underwhelmed. It’s slightly better than hanging stuff over the bannister.

I also have a pulley/maiden which when I can be bothered to use it, is way better. It’s in the stairwell so it gets the residual heat of the house, but looks a bit depressing somehow.

I use the dryer now just to finish off towels so they don’t feel crispy.

I have a Lakeland one, and I find it brilliant. I can get two loads of washing on it and it all dries overnight.

I think the biggest user error is that people seem to think that they can hang things over the bars, but you are supposed to mostly layer things up flat on top of the bars. I do hang a few light things over the bars as they dry easily, but heavy/thick things wont dry quickly over the bars, they need to be layered up on top.

A cover is also essential.

I must say though, since electricity prices have gone up, I don't find it as cost effective as it used to be and I tend to dry outside in summer, or over rads when the heating is on instead. So the heated airer is really only used on wet summer days or warm winters days.

It's odd it ruins your clothes? I tumble dry everything except really flimsy or sweaters, always on low, and never ruin anything. A load costs about 30p on my smart meter.

People are talking about two different things here.

There's the sort that blows hot air into a cover. These work quite well but aren't that cheap to run - Lakeland's one says 4kw for a load. You're basically running a 1kw fan heater into a tiny tent.

The other sort are heated rails (with or without a cover). These are much slower. They're better if you don't put much on, turn stuff over every couple of hours, and have it in a small room with a dehumidifier. Airer plus dehumidifier for 12 hours is about 7kwh.

My heat pump tumble drier costs about 1.3kw a load but cost a lot more to buy and you need the space for them.