Heated airer Vs Tumble Dryer

[QueenStevie]

Thinking about a heated airer as we are becoming a bit over reliant on the tumble dryer and we have to get our energy bill down.
Please can anyone who has gone from tumble dryer to heated airer tell me if it has saved you much money? And was it worth it I overall (obviously have to factor in the initial purchase cost).

I was also quite amazed at the sheer volume of water which comes out of the tumble drier tank. No wonder we had mould problems before we switched to using it. The UK is incredibly humid to start out with so in future I'll always be in favour of any option which decants the water into some form I can put down a drain rather than evaporating it to make everything damp.

I’ve had two heated airers. First one had wings and I hated it. Not efficient even with a cover on. I now have the Minky 4 tier airer with a cover and it’s excellent. Can do a whole wash load, cover and leave on overnight or on all day and it’s dry. Much more cost effective than my tumble dryer. I only use that now for bedding and towels. I use the airer in a conservatory with the window slightly open and it’s been fine. Would replace with the exact same model tomorrow if it broke!

If you have room over a large radiator get a ceiling mounted drying rack. Simple, efficient and free to use.

Looks blooming awful though

I've got both. In my opinion a heated airer is only good if you live alone or have a small household and don't generate much washing. You can't fit a lot on it and you have to constantly move stuff around on it to get it dry.

We have a heard airer and it's rubbish. Not sure what all the hype is about. Only benefit is being able to dry knitwear flat on it.

I use the tumble dryer when we have Half Price electricity on a Sunday for towels or bedding .
I've got rails over the stairwell so they can hang where the warm air rises
A heated rail ( small one from Aldi)
One of those Dri-Pods from Lakeland, round with a zip up cover . If I hang tops and shirts on hangers the warm air means no ironing ,, it sits near a window that I open

If you look at the fluff in the dryer filter you can see how much it takes off your clothes .

Dehumidifier on a sensor so it'll start if it notices the humidity levels are high.
I don't dry things on the radiator but I peg things there to finish off

I don't think ceiling dryers look awful at all. Much neater than damp laundry draped over dryers

A heat pump tumble dryer is what you want. I got one for Christmas (we bought house stuff this year instead of gifts for each other, so new tv, tumble dryer and coffee machine…brilliant!)

Anyway, got a 9kg Hisense heat pump dryer from Costco and it’s amazing. Our old vented one shrunk clothes and cost the earth to run. This one looks after clothes, senses when stuff is dry and stops. Also incredibly economical- our smart meter went up less than 50p for all gas and electric used in the whole house during a large 2.5 hour dryer cycle.

Bigger outlay to buy of course, but I wish we’d bought one years ago. I just need to up the spin speed on my washer now and will no doubt reduce the cycle length of the dryer making it even cheaper.

Agree about heat pump dryers not ruining anything. We don't wear silk or wool but everything else goes in and no damage whatsoever.

We have a mini tumble dryer. Think it takes something like 4kg so it will take about half a load of washing. So in general we it will tumble the things from a load we can tumble dry and they we use a normal airer and dehumidifier for the rest. We also have a rail in the airing cupboard we use for ds school shirts or light tops. We put the socks on socktopus and hang it on a curtain rail

@Mumof1andacat Can you share what make it is please? Im on the look out for one as we dont have much space in our utility room

I put everything in and nothing has shrunk

a heated airer is first and foremost an airer.
if will dry things quicker than a standard airer but will never be as quick as a tumble dryer.

if it's right for you? dunno

in previous property we had a drafty, unheated lean to. heated airer allowed us to use this otherwise unusable space to dry clothes.

now it's just used as airer as in heated house things dry reasonably quickly anyway. only switched on if we need things quicker than that.

I've had a heated airer for a few years now (the big one from Lakeland). I was using it with a small dehumidifier that took 4 days to fill a 1litre tank. Recently bought a new dehumidifier that can remove 1litre of water from the air in 12 hours. The washing dries so much faster, even with little or no heat used on the airer, and the mold that was an issue in that room has not returned. So my advice would be that the heated airer is not really worth the money, a regular airer and a good dehumidifier is a better combination. I like to be able to tumble try my towels though, I wouldn't choose to be entirely without the ability to tumble dry. (I have a washer/dryer because I don't have space for a separate dryer).

I love mine. I had a tumble that I never used because it ruins fabric. You do have to be organised though and you get used to keeping on top of the washing.

I have a heated airer which I use infront of my radiator. I can only do one load a day with it.. but I actually take my wet washing to a family member when I visit so I can use her tumble dryer and I get 2 loads done!

If i had the choice, I would go tumble for the speed.

I find I need both. A tumble drier for efficiency and a heated airer for things that can’t go in the dryer. I’ve got the Lakeland one with the fan and it’s brilliant for wet outdoor kit, coats, even boots if needed. The ones with heated bars are useless imo.

Sorry, not helpful with regards to controlling costs, I know. But where we live, the alternative is everything being perpetually damp. Pretty grim.