Lakeland Heated Airer - Where am I going wrong>

[leeloo1]

Ok, so I finally decided to stump up the cash for the airer... it arrived a couple of days ago, so yesterday I washed a load of nappies... carefully layered them on - most 1 layer thick all over, but 2 v thin ones were doubled up.

Then I washed towels and layered them over the outsides to trap the hot air in...

...the airer got surprisingly hot... the air inside felt warm... there was condensation building up on the poles at the top of it (when I moved the towels later to peek in)... the room got nice and warm...

... and 10 hours of it being on (and about 8 hours of it being off) later I had 1 nappy that was almost dry, some half dry towels and the rest was sopping wet still. :(

Luckily the weather cheered up this afternoon, so a couple of hours outside plus an hour on the radiator this pm has dried them, but really... what am I doing wrong???

I think you are putting too much on it, the items cant dry if the towels on the top are locking the moisture in.

I put a whole load of clothes on it yesterday morning, let them air dry till last night (I put mine on at night to keep house warm) and this morning they were all dry. So, max it was on was 8 hours.

They are fab I promise :)

I agree, they're brill.

First of all, you have to experiment with how you lay or hang the clothes.

I dont put heavy duty items or towels on it. I dry them on separate normal airers. I know that sounds mad but I personally think that the airer is quite flimsy and delicate. I think if you do use it for bigger, heavier items you need to do them on their own.

Everyone has a different method. By the sounds of it, you're overloading yours.

Dont trap the air in with the big towels.

Heat rises and needs to evaporate - leave the big towels to the next load.

Ah... I see. I thought I'd read somewhere to cover/wrap it with towels or sheets to trap the hot air in it? It didn't have anything round it for the first 3 hours or so, whilst the towels were washing and that didn't seem to do anything at all. :(

So how do you cover it without covering it? :(

I don't thread clothes through, I fold them up and lay them on the horizontal surfaces; you can get a lot on by folding them. Then a sheet or towel over the top. It 'bakes' them rather than airs them but works a treat and v quickly. (ie in less than a day).

I thread and fold! Depends what the item is. I fold sweatshirts, trackie bottoms, jeans, but thread t-shirts, socks, pants. With shirts, dresses and jumpers I hang them up on one half with all the shelves down.
This seems to work well for me and my clothes dry quickly.

Are you talking about this?

www.lakeland.co.uk/lakeland-dry-soon-heated-airer/F/keyword/clothes+airer/product/21736

Is it really worth it? I live in a v cold barn conversion and drying washing is the bain of my life.

Yes that's it BelieveInLife. I think it is really good.

I bet a pulley airer would work well in a barn conversion.

Do you think so Daisy? I'm not sure because our ceilings are quite low and also it's so so cold in here in Winter that I can't imagine the air at the top of the rooms would be warm enough to dry anything. I'm not kidding when I say it gets down to 9 or 10 degrees in here.

Hmm, was imagining that you had really high ceilings causing you to be cold at floor level. Having said that, we've just installed a pulley airer in our utility room - it's unheated at the moment and probably the coldest room in the house. Still, the load I put on yesterday lunchtime is almost dry.

No it's the other type of barn conversion - more cottagey!

I have just ordered the Lakeland Heated Airer so fingers crossed that is going to end all of my clothes drying woes!

I'll probably get booted off but I'm selling my Lakeland Airer if anyone is interested? Just been given a tumble dryer and the airer's only been used once. I have to say it is fab though and dries laundry really well.

I would have been but you're three days too late :-(

how much for?

I've decided to get a pulley instead as well, as there's no running costs, and everyone I've asked says their brill. I was going to put it in our cloakroom above the boiler, but have decided to put if in the stair well instead, as there's just wasted space there, and much more room than above the boiler, and someone told me that that's where the best air movement is, and the warmest place, as it's so high up. I found a double stacker flat platform one, which looks really great, as you can store stuff on it as well as hang to dry. Just trying to find the cheapest place to get it!
Beats having floor space taken up anyways.

Do you think they would work in a unheated garage?

do you mean a pulley or a heated airer? I gather the pulleys work anywhere, but I guess will take a bit longer than a heated airer. Although one person I asked did have their pulley in the garage, and said it worked really well as she had it over the bonnets of the cars, so when they came in and were warm, the washing got dry quicker!!