To think that heated airers are a swizz?

[Velvettoad]

We've got a new heated airer and it's rubbish! What am I missing, why do people rave about them?? It's red hot to the touch but doesn't radiate any heat so the only bits that dry are the bits touching the bars.

Also, we got a cover for it but it just seems to create hot moist air underneath so it seems to take longer to dry! I've done an extra spin cycle to dry out the clothes but it doesn't seem to help. Anyone got one of these and finds it useful? What's your secret?

I was going to buy but didn't as they are on so long they cost the same as a tumble dryer and take up loads of space!

Agree. I used mine yesterday. Was on for 8 hours, still wasn't dry. I reckon I'm as well using a tumble drier for an hour!

Also some of the clothes now smell a bit foostie which wouldn't happen in the tumble

Honestly don’t understand how they can’t be dry after 8 hours?? It doesn’t make sense, mine take 3-4 at most. Is your washing machine in good nick? Spins properly? Have you a cover of some kind for the heated airer? What brand? I have a Lakeland pod.

I agree Op. So annoyed I bought one recently after hearing people raving about them.

Has to be on for hours and hours to get things not fully dry - pointless. I think it’d be cheaper and much quicker to finish line dried clothes off on the radiators (when they are on anyway) rather than palaver of tweaking and moving clothes constantly around on the piece of (£100) shite.

And yes clothes are double spun and line dried first. Still not dry after ages on this thing unless the bit of fabric is touching the burning hot bar…

And I feel it’s be a sink cost fallacy to now buy a dehumidifier too and pay to run that in the room ( plus we don’t have space for any more stuff).

But you shouldn’t put clothes on radiators, drying clothes inside makes your home damp and more expensive to heat.

Yes excellent new Siemens washing machine. But jeans and jumpers , and things with thicker waistbands are useless on the drier.....the Lakeland one. Was constantly turning stuff during the day. I reckon it ate a lot of electricity throughout the day. I won't use it today but everything else will be same so will be interesting to see electricity usage today. On new price cap anyone know what they cost per hour to run?

It will be interesting to compare 8 hours on the drier v the tumble which has a drying sensor.

I have a non heated airer - just a plain old metal clothes horse and mine dry in the same time though...

I use this to work things out and yes it was much cheaper for us to use the heated airer.

so for jeans and jumpers I imagine it takes much longer, but I don’t put them in the dryer ever so the airer is the only option and non heated is useless and things end up smelling because it takes too long to dry.

Not sure why finishing off line dried clothes on a radiator makes more damp than on this heated airer? I crank the window open and they will be bone dry relatively quickly ( and heating would be on anyway). Rather than the heated airer on for literally hours and hours - with the windows open to avoid damp and smelly clothes drying slowly, therefore making the house colder for longer?

We had to get a condenser dryer at our current rental and I hate it, the sensor honestly seems broken because if clothes aren’t super wet it just turns off and won’t dry. It takes ages to dry things as well. Even a small shorter cycle costs £1.75 in ours.

I worked it out and my tumble dryer cost the same as having the heated airer on for hours on end.

You could lay things flat on there and get them dry quicker but then surely you can only fit about 6 things on there at once?

The thing that's made the most difference to indoor drying for me is buying a second, large regular airer and using both. Twice as much space=twice as much air circulation. I leave them in the sunniest bedroom with a window cracked open during the day.

I toyed with getting a heated one but saw a previous thread like this!

It’s fascinating though that people are having such different experiences.

Is using a heated airer plus a dehumidifier for 24 hours that much cheaper than just using the tumble drier for one cycle?

Anyway, it’s definitely not working for us - waste of money and has just put an additional layer of faffing about into the already boring and time consuming constant family washing.

We need to do a couple of loads most days - stuff taking 24 hrs to dry isn’t worth it. Dries in the house as fast on a non heated airer with no electricity costs.

in case you can’t tell, I wouldn’t recommend 😅

I have a Lakeland one with a cover and my washing dries in 12-14 hours. I don’t lie things flat unless they need to dry that way, I hang them on the bars.

You need to run a dehumidifier in the same room as the damp clothes.

My clothes dry in 24 hours on a normal airer I got from B&M for a tenner.

Is using a heated airer plus a dehumidifier for 24 hours that much cheaper than just using the tumble drier for one cycle?

I doubt it, but I haven’t checked because it doesn’t take my heated airer 24 hours to dry our clothes, it took 3 hours yesterday.

I crank the window open and they will be bone dry relatively quickly ( and heating would be on anyway).

you have heating on with windows open? If the air coming in is damper than the air inside then I don’t see how it’s drying clothes well that way?

My friend has one, I was shocked how useless it was! Lots of faff.

On the other hand I was lent a dehumidifier and properly impressed at the difference

I find mine great and everything dries within 24 hours, some stuff much sooner than that.
I double space thick clothes and put small things like knickers and socks on the in between bars.
I've also been using it as a cheap radiator without clothes on as it's meant to be very cheap to run and it really keeps the edge of in the room it's in(sitting room). Did that during the cold snap and havent had to switch the heating on yet.