If you're looking for the best heated clothes airers, you're in the right place. I've tested every option from Dry:Soon's Tiered Airer through to Aldi's bargain buy and Aerative's Portable Heated Hanger. Almost two years (and a load of laundry) later, I’ve found the six hottest ways to air your clothes at home.
Every home will have a different drying demand, but I promise that there's a heated airer that will meet yours. Tiered airers are some of the most space and cost-efficient ways to dry your clothes indoors. Alternatively, ladder airers are a really effective option for drying towels and small pieces when you haven’t got a whole room. Then there are winged-airers (a compact godsend for drying sheets) and heated hangers, which are made for travelling, but they’re my secret to drying delicates and cashmere quickly.
I've been using all of these in my home and, two years on, the one that I've hung on to is the trusty Dry:Soon 3-Tier Heated Airer. It's perfect for a family and, when I ran the numbers on the costs of running a heated clothes airer, it came out on top. Whatever you’re after, I’ve got all the nitty gritty details below, written with my warmest wishes for your wardrobe.
The quick list: my top six
If you want the headlines on the six best heated clothes airers on the market, look no further. I've condensed all my weeks of testing into a quick summary for you. Then, if there's one that piques your interest, you can read more details further down the article.
Best overall
All of the people I interviewed before testing told me that I had to try this heated airer. So, it'll come as no surprise to you that, after months of testing, this is the one that I bought. The tall tower takes up minimal floor space and it can still dry 15kgs of laundry. It's expensive, but if you want to save a little, check out our Lakeland voucher codes.
Best budget
At £40, this is one of the cheapest heated airers on the market. It's perfect for draping sheets over, as well as for family-sized amounts of washing. You'll need to buy the cover separately and load it carefully if you don't want it to topple over, but it's cheap to run and can dry a laundry load in 4 hours.
Best for small spaces
The Beldray comes up in the fiercely competitive winged airers category. And yet, the grippy feet, easy set-up, and speedy drying times make this one of the best options out there, even though it's also one of the cheapest. It folds up to be just 8cm deep, so any home could store it.
Best portable
This innovative, luxurious airer is brilliant for a whole host of drying needs. It'll dry trainers in an hour, jumpers in 40 minutes, and shirts even quicker. Pack it into your suitcase, but make sure to keep it handy for home emergencies. I use this almost every time I do a wash.
Best pod
This model is an excellent choice if you’re looking to dry shirts, dresses, jackets and jumpers without any further creasing, or if you're looking for a model for a smaller laundry room. It sounds like you have a hairdryer running, but the speed makes up for the noise.
Best ladder airer
If your bathroom radiator is struggling or you just want to dry a few items, this self-standing model is a brilliant option. It's from the trusty Dry:Soon and I loved having it to hand on a day-to-day basis. It won't take over from your tumble dryer or your washing line, but it's a good option.
The best heated clothes airers: tried and tested
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You've had a little introduction into my favourite heated clothes airers, but let's get into the details of what these were like to use for me over the last couple of months. I've got a whole page that dives deep into the testing process that each heated clothes airer was put through if you want to find out more. Essentially, I've been loading these with a range of fabrics and weights. I've layered them with bedding, jeans, and heavy knits, as well as cottons, sportswear, and lighter tasks.
Best heated clothes airer overall
If you've already started your research into the best heated clothes airers on the market, you'll have come across the Dry:Soon 3-Tier model again, and again, and again. It's famously good. Even though it's one of the most expensive models on the market, it's worth the investment. I should know, I ended up buying one after the tests.
The Dry:Soon can hold up to 15kgs of laundry, but you wouldn't know it from how much floor space that this takes up. The space that it needs is more vertical than horizontal and, even then, it didn't feel obtrusive in my urban flat. When you choose to flatten it, this is only 8cm deep and can slot inside a cupboard or at the back of a wardrobe. It's actually very subtle.
Over the months that I was using this, I found a few useful tricks that you can employ if you choose one of these. If you have a smaller load of clothing, set up the top shelf and use it to hang your shirts and dresses down. They'll dry quickly and crease-free. I also noticed that the quickest way to get your clothes cupboard dry is by lying them flat in the middle of the model, but it's still effective, at the edges.
Don't worry of yours will always be packed full. I put the cover on and could have a whole 10kg load of laundry dry in three to five hours, depending on whether I washed jeans and towels with my clothes and sheets. Without a heated airer, those loads of laundry would take 36 hours to dry, at least. It's incredibly quick.
The downside of this is that it's also the most expensive heated clothes airer on the market. You can opt for the regular version, but you'll only save about £50 and the Deluxe has a lot more to offer. It's quicker, sturdier, and has some neat features integrated. You can store your plug in a special clip, the control panel lets you set an auto-switch-off. In short, it's worth the splurge.
You can find out more in my full Dry:Soon 3-Tier Heated Airer review.
Best budget heated clothes airer
Winged airers are really useful for smaller homes. They flat-pack like ironing boards and then, when called upon, they'll open out, offering plenty of space for drying sheets and clothes. Often, these are some of the cheapest models on the market and Dunelm's Heated Airer with Wings is the cheapest of them all.
Without a discount, the Dunelm will cost you £40. Even though you'll need to shell out for a £16 cover if you want to speed up the dry time, it's still a killer deal. In spite of the fact that it's budget, the Dunelm is stable, even when loaded with a full 10kgs of washing. The rails felt warm within five minutes, which is the same speed as the Dry:Soon 3-Tier Airer (which costs three times the price).
I put jeans, towels, and heavy jumpers on the Dunelm and they were dry and ready to go in the cupboard in three hours. If you have a family of three or four, this has plenty to offer. You just need to make sure that you hang clothes from the inside out, otherwise, it can topple.
Unsurprisingly, this budget option does come up a little basic in places. There are no auto-shut-off settings, so you can only turn the airer on and off. The 1.85m cable length also comes up a little short if you've not got lots of plugs around the house.
You can find out more in my full Dunelm Heated Airer with Wings review.
Best heated clothes airer for small spaces
Dunelm's Winged Airer (the model above) is cheap, but if you want a few extra features to make life easier, Beldray is the one to go with. The whole airer folds away much smoother and easier than the Dunelm, although both are easy. It's smaller and slimmer when you need to store it away, which is why it's the one that I always recommend to people who live in small spaces. Even though it's compact, the Beldray folds out to offer 15 kgs of space for drying, which is the most that I've seen any heated airer offer, even tower models.
The rubber feet help to keep this stable on the floor, though you'll need to load it from the inside out. I found it easy to hang my clothes off and, even with my boisterous dog bumping up against it, this stayed flat on the floor.
With a full load, this took six hours to get all of my clothes cupboard dry. It's faster than air drying and costs 1p per hour to run, but compared to the other models on this list, Beldray takes a low and slow approach. I'd expect an even heavier load to take one hour less on the Dry:Soon, for example.
You can find out more in my full Beldray Winged Heated Electric Clothes Airer review.
Best portable heated clothes airer
When I first saw heated clothes airer hangers coming to the market, I'll admit that I was sceptical. They look like gimmicks, but I've actually ended up using this to support my Dry:Soon Heated Airer every week and it's saved me from some serious squeezes. I dried my soaking wet trainers in just over an hour; took a lot of dampness out of a hand-washed wool jumper (so it didn't smell stale); and emergency-dried a shirt in 40 minutes.
The Aerative works a lot like the pod airer. You set it running and it blows hot air through whatever you choose to hang off the two hooks. These can be positioned like a normal clothes hanger, or to sit in shoes, so you have to dry clothes item by item, but that's why it's great for travelling or emergencies.
Everything from the packaging to the storage bag for the Aerative feels premium. It comes with pegs for drying delicates and a velvet storage bag. This isn't the cheapest way to dry clothes when you consider that it works one item at a time, but the sheer speed and size of it make up for any inconveniences. I can't recommend it enough.
You can read more in my full Aerative Heated Clothes Airer Hanger review.
