Avoiding the tumble dryer! To get a heated airer or just normal airer?

[Lapland123]

Just pondering options as we move into autumn winter, and the opportunity to dry clothes outside falls. I’ve previously hung clothes up and used tumble dryer but have become aware of how costly that it. How do people find using an airer to leave the clothes on to dry indoors? A heated airer seems to be a thing- had never heard of it before!- but not sure if it’s that much better? Or indeed if it costs as much as tumble drying items instead…

thanks for your thoughts and hopefully it may be of interest to a few of you thinking the same thing…

I've never used an airer but do have a dehumidifier with a laundry setting and it works a treat

I have one and it's really good, I hardly use the tumble drier any more. Stuff tends to dry within 24 hours especially if you hang a towel over the top to keep the heat in. Can easily fit a full load of washing on it. Just it takes up a bit of space and doesn't look that attractive (I have it in my dining room so try to time it so it won't be in use if I am having people round- not always possible with 3 boy children )

I treated myself to an electric airer last winter, from Robert dyas,cost about £40 costs pennies to run. I do have economy 7,so even cheaper at night,I put a sheet over the whole thing,and plug in a dehumidifier and put on the clothes drying setting.

I purchased a heated air dryer in 2021 because I fixed my energy for 2 years from October 2021 to October 2023 and it was a higher rate at the time so I wanted to offset my losses. Honestly, I hardly used the tumble dryer at all last year. The heated air dryer is set up in my office and when it is on it heats the room also so if I am in the house on my own the central heating stays off too. My DD in money terms has remained the same even though my fixed tariff was more expensive (the heated air dryer meant I was using less energy than when I used my tumble dryer). Plus I have shrunk much fewer clothes so that's a bonus!

Heated airer, dehumidifier under it and fitted sheet over it all to create a tent and everything dries super fast.

These seem to have gone up massively in price since we last bought -on our second-- but dribuddi in front of an open door or window is great.

But we also have de-humidifiers and airer - I have a fold up shelf with bar one and a normal drier and they work well over night or over a few days.

If you use a heated airer for 10ths plus then it's similar in cost to a tumble drier

I tend to find a couple of hours heat and then leave overnight is ok for most stuff

I used to find it could take several days to dry things on an unheated airer

Just a little tip... Adding a clean, dry towel to your dryer loads helps things dry much faster. Sometimes I use two towels or I switch it out mid-cycle.

They’re not really “pennies” to run anymore I’m afraid. If it’s 300w it costs 8.4p/hour to run so if it’s on for 24 hours as someone mentioned above that’s over £2. All those pennies do add up quite quickly.

Plus the 1200w dri-buddy will be using 34p/hour at the moment!

I agree it was taking too long to do big towels and heavy bedding so I drape the bedding and towels over a non-heated one and finish them off in the tumble dryer. Plus I like the towels and bedding to have a heat blast as it makes them more fluffy and soft.

My heated airer took ages and was expensive
Swapped to a dehumidifier and works loads better
If I need it really fast then I turn the airer on to heat AND the dehumidifier and leave the door closed. Bonus is the room gets like an oven then!

I put my washing over a normal airer in the evening, by morning it’s usually dry. I hang up jumpers on hangers over doors. It’s mainly socks, pants and knickers that need to be placed evenly over airer. I do wash most days as there’s 4 adults here. When I wash bedding, I try to put it out, even for an hour, as this helps, unless it’s too cold.

If you have space on a landing ceiling or somewhere else with a high ceiling I can highly recommend and Sheila maid (or other brand!) Doesn't take up floor space and as heat rises...

Another vote for a dehumidier.

Dries clothes in a few hours, also heats the ambient air temp, makes your central heating more efficient AND you get limescale free water to use in your kettle!

A damp specialist chap I spoke to a few years ago said every home should have one. You'll be shocked at how much water they extract.

My one is a few years old and uses 650w per hour on max setting which at current rates is about 20p per hour.

I was determined to try reduce using tumble drier last year and invested in heated airer with cover but I was really disappointed. Unless the clothes are in contact with multiple bars, turned frequently and dehumidifier also on, it needs ages to dry. By the time I consider the electricity cost of running both dehumidifier and airer (plus would need 2 airers as washing machine takes 10kg), I may as well use the dryer.

Has anyone got an electric clothes spinner? I had one in the 90s and it removed a LOT of water from washed clothes. I wonder if you can still get them.

Gosh very mixed experiences!
I know almost nothing about dehumidifiers- in fact I wondered what they were for when I saw them in a store recently! Would a small one be useful, or do you need quite a bit one? Now I look it up, there seem to be desktop type ones or quite big ones....

I’d go for normal airer and a quick tumble to finish off. If I don’t do the finishing tumble I always end up with more ironing

It’s worth finding out what your tumble drier is actually costing you rather than assuming it is expensive. We plugged ours into a smart plug and it’s costing us 31p a load at current prices. It’s an inverter heat pump one though.
As PointBlank says, if I don’t tumble dry I have to iron, and the iron costs 32p an hour..

@Lapland123 Meaco 12L does a great job, and it's not so big/heavy that you can't easily carry it around the house to put in different rooms.

Honestly can't get over how much water it collects and we don't really have a damp house as such. It makes a huge difference to the air quality inside too, and in the winter just makes the place feel less cold.

I use an overbath airer, straightened, over the stairs - depends on the design of your landing, but I can rest it on the banister and lean it against the far wall.
Stuff dries pretty well overnight & I finish it off in the dryer for 5-10 mins (which minimises creasing too).

You can get wool tumbler balls for pennies which cuts tumbling time in half.

Yes, we've got one. It gets lots more water out even after a fast spin in the washing machine.

You can still buy them but we inherited ours from MIL who never owned a tumble dryer and was too infirm to go down the steps to her garden to hang things out. She would use this and then hang things to dry in her garage. This system was surprisingly effective.

Don’t forget to factor in the cost of running a dehumidifier if you get one (and the cost of buying it in the first place). You don’t save 100% of the running costs of the tumble dryer, because you’re now running another appliance, possibly two if you run a heated airer too. This is a good, up to date article. Though you also need to factor in possible savings on heating so it’s not straightforward.
https://www.idealhome.co.uk/property-advice/how-much-does-it-cost-to-run-a-dehumidifier-298272

Get a heat pump dryer- similar consumption per load as the heated airer but you won't have to have your dining room full of laundry