The best heated clothes airers to save time and money when drying your laundry, tested
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Heated airers claim to dry your clothes whatever the weather, without costing the earth in energy. From covered options to mini drying racks, we put 13 to the test to reveal the best. The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.
An energy crisis and perma-drizzle have conspired to keep the nation’s laundry damp, not least by making it such a turn-off to turn on the heating. No wonder heated clothes airers are having a moment. These modish appliances sell out within hours of reaching shops and inspire evangelistic fervour among owners, who call them “life-savers” and “gamechangers”.
Can a hot clothes horse really change your life, let alone dry your washing as fast as a tumble dryer for a fraction of the cost and with none of the noise? I needed to be convinced, so I put 13 bestsellers through their paces with my soggy washing to find out whether they’re the best thing in laundry since the clothes peg – or destined for the loft.
I’ve spent three decades testing products from Sky boxes to mattress toppers, and it’s made me professionally sceptical of manufacturers’ claims to magically solve domestic problems. I also have a solid background in procrastinating by doing laundry, hanging laundry and folding laundry, so I couldn’t resist the Guardian’s offer to pay me to watch clothes dry.
Heated airers all do much the same thing in much the same way. There are small differences in design – some have triangle frames, some are winged, and some have covers – but they’re basically all clothes horses that you plug in. I had to find clear distinctions between them, and this chiefly meant devising fair, quantifiable tests to measure how quickly, evenly and cheaply each airer dried clothes.