The best heated clothes airers and drying pods I recommend for drying laundry quickly and efficiently
These tried-and-tested picks dry laundry faster indoors
The best heated clothes airers are a must-have appliance for the colder months and offer the perfect solution for wet washing, especially if you don’t have a tumble dryer. All you need to do is plug them in, load up your heated airer, and let the warm drying rack or fan dry your clothes in a matter of hours.
Don't let the choice overwhelm you, though. I know how tricky it can be to work out how to choose a heated clothes airer that will actually make a difference to your home. With so many shapes, sizes and features on offer, it's easy to get caught up in the details. That's why a team of certified experts and I have spent months testing some of the bestselling heated clothes airers on the market, reviewing everything from their size and drying power to their capacity and their extra features.
Whether your priority is drying clothes quickly, finding enough capacity to keep up with busy family laundry days or sticking to a budget without compromising on performance, we've found an option that fits. My roundup will help you figure out the right heated airer or drying pod for your needs without the guesswork.
And for the ultimate laundry setup, I recommend pairing it with one of the best dehumidifiers to suck away any excess moisture that your laundry releases as it dries for fresh and dry clothes, bedding, and towels in record time.
As Ideal Home's resident laundry obsessive, I help choose the heated clothes airers we feature, drawing on years of hands-on testing, product knowledge and countless hours spent drying everything from school uniforms to heavy jeans and chunky knitwear in a real family home. While I haven't personally tested every single one in this list (although one of our dedicated Ideal Home reviewers has), I know exactly what to look for, from running costs and build quality to clever extras, and I only recommend products that meet our standards.
The quick list
Best overall
The Dry:Soon's Deluxe 3-Tier Heated Airer is our best overall pick thanks to its generous 21 metres of drying space and three-tier design, which can hold up to 15kg of washing, which is enough for two laundry loads. It's also energy-efficient to run (around 5p-10p per hour) and folds down slim for easy storage, making it a practical, space-saving option for everyday laundry drying.
Fastest drying pod
Super-fast 2-3-hour drying times mean this fan-powered, heated system is our favourite drying pod. It's also affordable and dismantles when not in use. The only downside; you can only fit 18 hanging items inside at once, but that still makes it perfect for quick-drying school uniforms and sports kits in cold, wet weather.
Best heated clothes airer with cover
Currently on the market for just under £40, less than the Dry:Soon 3-Tier Deluxe, the newest Minky heated airer with cover offers an extra fourth tier of drying space that can hold smaller items like socks and underwear. Overall, this heated airer has the largest capacity of all the airers we've tested, holding 20kg of washing on 23m of drying rack space compared to the Dry:Soon 3-Tier's 15kg and 21m.
Best budget buy
A winged heated clothes airer is generally the most affordable option, and will still speed up drying times compared to a non-heated airer. However, the single-tier design means washing tends to stay wetter where it isn't touching the heated bars, so drying children's clothes can be easier than longer adult items.
Best space-saving tiered airer
If drying and storage space are big factors in your choice of airer, then the compact Dry:Soon Mini is the option that can most easily be hidden, slotting easily into a cupboard or tucking behind furniture. It holds up to 15kg of washing, but the racks are closer together so we found washing stayed wet for longer than on more spacious models. However, it's still a useful option for small homes.
Best heated pod system
Minky's latest launch is a clever add-on that turns a standard 3-tier clothes airer into a quick-drying pod thanks to a fan motor and zippable cover. I rated it the best because it's a great price, affordable to run, and significantly speeds up drying times, making it a brilliant alternative to a tumble dryer.
Best heated clothes airers in 2026
Best heated clothes airer overall
Dry:Soon's deluxe heated clothes airer isn't just as fast at drying as the fan-powered JML DriBUDDi Compact Heated Airer, which was top of my list for a long time, and it's more expensive. However, it can cope far better with large volumes of washing, it's silent, and it has quicker drying times compared to more compact drying racks, which is why it's now got the top spot. Plus, the right Lakeland discount code may help you cut down this price tag.
It offers the most drying space of any airer we've tested. The 3-tiered design offers 36 heated drying bars overall, which means 21 metres of drying space that can hold up to 15kg of washing. Its generous size means there's a good amount of space between clothes, which allows for better airflow and quicker drying times compared to more compact drying racks.
The well-thought-out design also means it copes best of all the drying racks we've tested with airing longer items like trousers, towels, and even bedsheets. Plus, an eye-level control panel makes for easy use, and an auto shut-off timer means you don't need to worry about remembering to switch it off. Although sizeable once erected, the aluminium frame folds down to just 8cm deep, which makes it easy to tuck it out of sight behind furniture or in a cupboard.
This deluxe version also comes with several attachments (that can be bought separately or as part of a bundle), including detachable castors that mean you can wheel the airer around for loading or unloading, or easily move it out of the way if guests arrive.
Fastest drying pod
This new and improved version of the original, this more compact Dri:Buddi fan-powered drying pod airer circulates warm air within its zip-up cover to dry washing in super-fast times, with JML reporting 30% more efficiency than the older design.
Instead of folding clothes over rails, the heated drying pod has six poles at the top of the airer that you can hang coat hangers from. That means drying space is more limited – you can only hang 18 items on hangers within the pod, which means it isn't going to cope with a full washing machine load – but on testing, we were extremely impressed with the drying times, with clothes drying in 1-3 hours, depending on thickness, compared to 8-12 hours on a classic heated airer. Plus, the bonus of hanging garments is that this eliminates creasing and reduces the need for ironing.
The downsides are that the fan does make for a noisier addition to the household than a silent railed rack – we found that we wanted this option set up in a room with a closed door rather than one we were using – and the setup is more time-consuming. Unless you have the space to leave the airer set up, then there are five minutes of work in slotting together all of the components, and this airer requires a little more storage space than a racked airer, which folds flat.
It should be noted that the powerful 1200W fan uses more energy than a standard 300W heated airer. However, in our reviewer's tests, we only needed this airer turned on for a fraction of the time of a standard heated drying rack, with even the thickest hoodies and jeans drying in 3 hours max. That's why this has quickly become my go-to drying pod airer for speedy drying.
Best heated clothes airer with cover
A new launch from laundry specialist Minky, the brand's 4-Tier Heated Airer with Timer & Cover, looks set to give the market-leading and our pick for the best heated clothes airer overall, Dry:Soon 3-Tier Deluxe Heated Airer, a run for its money.
Similar to the Dry:Soon Deluxe, each drying rack on the Minky SureDri can be folded down independently, which makes it a great option for drying longer items like trousers, towels, and sheets. Like the Dry:Soon Deluxe, it also offers a useful timer function, meaning you can set the airer to heat for drying intervals of up to 9 hours before it will automatically shut off.
On testing, we were also impressed by the Minky SureDri's angled tiers, which make hanging washing easier and allow a little more space to hang longer items without them touching the rack below. Plus, the SureDri comes with a zip-up cover included, whilst the Dry:Soon's must be bought separately. The cover helps to retain the heat and can speed up drying times a little.
However, our favourite feature has to be the fact that the SureDri's clever adjustable feet mean it can be used with one half of the airer folded flat, so it fits against a wall – perfect if laundry space can sometimes be limited, or you only have a small load of washing to dry.
And, whilst the SureDri is a bit more bulky when folded flat than the Dry:Soon (the Minky airer's folded depth is 15.5cm compared to the Dry:Soon's 8cm depth), because the SureDri is freestanding, it can be stored upright, which the Dry:Soon can not.
The only real niggle we have with this airer is the fact that its control panel is on the base of the airer next to the floor, which makes it slightly awkward to operate. The Dry:Soon Deluxe has solved this issue by offering more user-friendly eye-level controls.
The Minky SureDri isn't cheap, and drying times are slower than the drying pod in our round-up (the JML DriBUDDI Heated Indoor Airer), but if you have a large volume of washing to dry indoors, then we think this model is one of the best large-capacity heated drying racks available right now.
Best budget heated clothes airer
A winged drying rack is generally one of the most affordable options to consider if you're looking for the best heated clothes airer on a budget.
This Status model has one of the lowest prices in our round-up, plus it's one of the most economical to run, with a relatively low 220W power usage.
That said, the winged design does mean our testers found clothes were a lot slower to dry compared to a tiered option, with longer garments staying wet at the ends that were furthest from the 18 drying bars – a problem that can be solved by rotating your clothes frequently, but that does make laundry drying a more time-consuming affair.
Ideal Home's Kitchen Appliances Editor, Molly Cleary, says, 'I love my heated clothes airer and have it on most days during winter. However, I do find this winged design means I need to keep shuffling the clothes around so that all sections of a garment get the chance to touch the bars and dry thoroughly.
If this particular model is out of stock when you come to shop, you'll find a host of other winged heated clothes airers on Amazon.
Best space saving
Cute and compact, this mini version of the Dry:Soon drying rack is a great option for a smaller space, with its footprint and height both of a more manageable size when unfolded.
Of course, that does mean less drying space. Although its specifications state the Mini 3-Tier Heated Airer can still dry 15kg of wet washing – just like the larger Dry:Soon models – there is only 13m of drying rack space compared to the larger Dry:Soon airer's 21m.
As well as fewer heated bars (25 compared to the larger model's 36), each drying bar is also narrower (43cm in width compared to 57cm for the deluxe version), and crucially the distance between each tier is reduced, offering a 33cm gap compared to the deluxe model's 37.5cm. This may not sound like much, but in practice, we found it made a real difference to drying times, with the reduced space resulting in reduced airflow around the garments, meaning they stayed wet for longer. It also makes hanging longer items without them touching the clothes on the tier below more challenging.
For kids' clothing in particular, it's still a workable size though, and if space is at a premium, it may be the best option for a smaller home.
Best heated pod system
Investing in the Sure Dri Heat Pod Pro Drying System gets you a zippable cover that fits a standard 3-tier airer (which isn't included) and a small motor with a fan that generates warm air and circulates it within the cover to dry wet laundry faster.
It's one of the few fan-powered heated airers we've come across that works with a tiered drying rack, which means it combines the larger drying capacity of a tiered rack with the quick drying times of a fan-powered airer. In many ways, that combo should be the best heated clothes airer going. However, in practice, we found it isn't quite perfect.
First up, it's fiddly to assemble, and we found that wet washing still needed rotating regularly for even drying, with washing at the top and sides of the airer (furthest from the fan hose) taking longer to dry than items in the middle of the airer. The fan motor is also bulky to store; its controls could be of better quality, and, unlike a silent heated drying rack, that fan motor also means noise.
However, its larger drying space does make the Minky Sure Dri Heat Pod Pro Drying System one of the best heated pod systems we've come across for drying larger items like towels and sheets, and that circulating warm air meant drying times were considerably faster than using a standard heated drying rack.
Ultimately, whether this is the best option for you probably depends on whether you have an existing 3-tier airer you want to convert over winter, the type of washing you want to dry faster, and whether you're happy to accept fan noise in return for faster drying.
Heated Airer |
Price |
Ideal Home Rating |
Washing Capacity |
Foldable |
Extra Features |
Drying pods |
Row 1 - Cell 1 | Row 1 - Cell 2 | Row 1 - Cell 3 | Row 1 - Cell 4 | Row 1 - Cell 5 |
£79 |
4.5 stars |
10kg |
No |
Timer |
|
£60 |
4.5 stars |
18 hanging items |
N/A |
Timer |
|
£109.99 |
4 stars |
12 hanging items |
No |
Wheels |
|
Winged heated airers |
Row 5 - Cell 1 | Row 5 - Cell 2 | Row 5 - Cell 3 | Row 5 - Cell 4 | Row 5 - Cell 5 |
£59.99 |
3.5 stars |
15kg |
Yes |
N/A |
|
Tiered heated airers |
Row 7 - Cell 1 | Row 7 - Cell 2 | Row 7 - Cell 3 | Row 7 - Cell 4 | Row 7 - Cell 5 |
£155 |
4 stars |
15kg |
Yes |
Timer |
|
£249.99 |
4.5 stars |
15kg |
Yes |
Timer |
|
£160 |
4.5 stars |
20kg |
Yes |
Timer, Cover |
|
£149.99 |
4 stars |
15kg |
Yes |
Timer |
|
£199.99 |
4 stars |
15kg |
Yes |
Timer |
|
£114.99 |
4 stars |
30kg |
Yes |
N/A |
|
£100 |
4 stars |
15kg |
Yes |
N/A |
The best of the rest
How we test heated clothes airers
At Ideal Home, we will only recommend products that we have hands-on experience with ourselves- and every heated airer in this guide underwent a rigorous review process as part of our strict testing protocol. You can read more about how we test here.
To compile this list of the best heated clothes airers, our Ideal Home-approved testers used them regularly for at least two weeks (and sometimes even longer than that) to really get the feel of the products.
During this process, we compared assembly and set-up, design, ease of use, performance, capacity, energy efficiency, price point, and, of course, laundry drying times to find the best heated clothes airers for various needs and budgets.
We score products between 1 and 5, with 5 stars being an impressive heated clothes airer that does exactly what it promises to and cannot be faulted, and 1 being a product we’d never recommend to you.
The best heated airer brands
As electric clothes dryers become more and more popular, the sheer number of heated clothes airers on the market can make the buying process extremely overwhelming.
So, I’ve compiled this quick list of heated clothes airer brands that I’d recommend after testing them. This includes budget-friendly brands that sell a wide range of home appliances to heated-airer-specific brands that will likely have a higher price tag.
- Dry:Soon (££-£££): Market leaders in heated clothes airers, with a wide range of sizes and styles available.
- Beldray (£-££): Affordable heated clothes airers and attachments to make drying clothes a breeze.
- Minky (£-££): Laundry experts with a range of heated airers to suit most homes.
- JML (£-££): Manufacturers of the DriBUDDI heated drying pods, offering a small and large option.
- Argos (£-££): One-stop-shop for branded and own-brand heated clothes airer to suit all kinds of budgets.
- Black + Decker (£-££): Variety of heated clothes airers, from winged options to upright options.
FAQs
How much does it cost to run a heated clothes airer?
Heated clothes airers are often thought of as a cheaper, gentler alternative to tumble dryers and the good news is they really are. Based on the Ofgem energy price cap from July 2026 of 26.11p per kWh, a 300W heated clothes airer costs around 8p an hour to run. Actual costs will vary depending on your electricity tariff and the wattage of your airer.
Even a larger 1000W drying pod, which speeds things up considerably, works out at around 80p if used for three hours. That's still a fraction of the cost of using a tumble dryer, which averages at around £1.40 a cycle, making heated airers a savvier choice if you're watching your bills.
Do heated airers work better with a cover?
If you want to speed up the drying time of your heated clothes airer, then it's worth considering adding a cover. Although most covers need to be bought separately, they work by trapping the warmth generated by your airer, making clothes toastier and so speeding up drying times a little. However, some brands - such as Dry:Soon - allow you to buy a cover as part of a bundle, which lowers the price slightly.
You don’t necessarily need a proper heated airer cover, though. Although a cover that’s specifically designed for this task is always best, you can cover your heated airer with something like a dry bed sheet if you want to save some pennies. You just need to leave a little opening so the moisture can escape.
To speed up laundry drying times even more, you might also want to consider investing in one of the best dehumidifiers for drying clothes. Our heated airer vs dehumidifier explainer details why these moisture-extracting appliances can make short work of indoor laundry drying.
Can you dry towels on a heated airer?
Yes, you can dry towels on a heated airer, but it’s worth noting that they may take considerably longer to dry than other items as they are thicker and more absorbent.
To speed up the drying time of towels on a heated airer, it’s best to give them as much space as possible and avoid overlapping them with other garments. If you can, avoid drying them with other clothes at all, so the heat focuses on drying the towels quicker.
How long does a heated airer take to dry clothes?
A heated clothes airer can take anywhere from three to eight hours to dry a full load, depending on the thickness of your fabrics, how well-spaced they are and whether you add a cover to trap the warmth.
Lighter items like t-shirts, baby clothes and cotton pyjamas can be dry in as little as a few hours, while heavier garments such as jeans and chunky knitwear will take longer.
Can you leave a heated clothes airer on overnight?
Yes, you can leave a heated clothes airer on overnight but we'd only recommend doing this if the model has built-in safety features such as automatic shut off, overheat protection and a sturdy, tip-resistant frame. Many people do this to take advantage of cheaper night time energy rates or simply to wake up to dry laundry, but it's still important to use it sensibly.
Make sure it's positioned on a flat surface, away from beds, curtains or anything flammable and avoid overloading it. A top tip would be to run it for a few hours before bed, then switch it off and let the residual warmth keep drying overnight.