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've never used one but I use ordinary airers and a dehumidifier, in a small room. It's absolutely brilliant. A load will easily dry overnight although chunkier stuff like hoodies, jeans etc take a wee bit longer but not by much.

A normal airer and a dehumidifier (preferably in a smaller room with door shut, works better) is fat superior imo to the heated airers. They're not effective plus it doesn't pull the moisture out of the air.

I had the Lakeland one but it was so crap I put it on FB marketplace for £5

I worked out it’s the same price to run the tumble drier plus you don’t have a massive airer taking up space.

A decent one is great- but it depends on your expectations. They are an upgrade from a non heated airer. They are NOT a tumble dryer.
My old non heated airer would take so long for things to dry they would be smelly and start to mold.
The heated airer next to a radiator takes over night to dry or one day time.
we don’t have a tumble dryer and our heated airer is up 9 months of the year

The only thing that works (apart from a tumble dryer) is a dehumidifier and a normal clothes rack. Put it in the smallest room and shut the door

Mines brilliant, clothes are put out before bed and generally dry in the morning. 4 adults worth of washing at a time. I've got a Dunelm tower type.

I really like my lakeland one, put old valance sheet over it and use it the days I wfh, clothes get dry and my study is cosy without putting the heating on.

I knew you were going to post that link as I had a heated Lakeland one but gave it back in disgust! Year later I bought your exact model on Amazon and it works like a dream.

I have the John Lewis one, use it to dry two loads on work from home days and have it where my desk and computer are and it heats the room too so don’t need central heating on… and all dry at end of the day. Hang sensibly and keep heavier items to nearer inside rails… it works

I think it depends how humid your room is and how much you're trying to dry.

We had horrendous mould issues trying to dry 5 people's worth of laundry in a bedroom. Went away as soon as I got a tumble dryer.

Haha, yeah I did so much research at the time because I was thinking about getting the Lakeland one, but the reviews really did not impress me, especially for the price. The AMOS one came up a lot as an alternative, and the reviews were mostly positive. That was four years ago, and it still gets used almost daily in the winter.