The best heated clothes airers are a must-have appliance for the winter months and offer the perfect solution to 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. We know how tricky it can be to work out which one 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.
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 tackling heavy jeans and chunky knitwear in a real family home. While I haven't personally tested every single one in this list, 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.
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 quick list
Best overall
Super-fast 2-3 hour clothes drying times mean this fan-powered heated clothes airer is our number one choice. 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 drying pod system
Minky's latest launch converts a standard 3-tier clothes airer into a quick-drying pod thanks to a fan motor and zippable cover. That makes it one of the most versatile heated airers we've come across. It's not perfect, but it is useful and could be the best heated airer for you depending on your laundry priorities.
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 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 large capacity
If you need a heated clothes airer with a larger capacity then Dry:Soon's 3-Tier Deluxe Heated Airer can handle 15kg of washing thanks to 21 metres of drying rack space. It's also one of the best options for drying large items like trousers, sheets and towels as they can be more easily draped over its three tiers of heated shelving.
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 clothes airers in 2025
Best heated clothes airer overall
This fan-powered heated clothes airer circulates warm air within its zip-up cover to dry washing in super fast times.
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, dependent 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 is 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 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 quickly became our go-to airer for speedy drying.
Best drying pod system
Investing in the Sure Dri Heat Pod 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 washing 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 this 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 Drying System one of the best heated airers 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 heated airer 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.
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 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 airers 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 either of the drying pods in our round-up (either the JML DriBUDDI Heated Indoor Airer or the Dry:Soon Drying Pod), 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 large capacity
Dry:Soon's deluxe heated clothes airer isn't as fast at drying as the fan-powered JML DriBUDDi Compact Indoor Airer at the top of this list, and it's more expensive, but it is silent and can cope far better with large volumes of washing. 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 the 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.
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 both the larger Dry:Soon airer's 21m.
As well as less 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 models 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.
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 | |
£90 | 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 to choose a heated clothes airer
Finding the best heated clothes airer for you and your household's needs depends on a few different factors. We've rounded up the main considerations below so you can decide if a heated airer is worth buying.
Type: There are two main types of heated airer: heated drying pods and heated drying racks. A heated clothes airer warms the rails to dry items laid flat or hung over them, while a drying pod uses a warm, enclosed chamber with circulating air to dry clothes faster and more evenly.
Based on our laundry-drying tests, the fastest way to dry clothes indoors is with one of the heated drying pods listed in our round-up. That's either the JML DriBUDDI Heated Indoor Airer or the Minky heat pod drying system. Both of these heated airers use a high-powered fan that circulates the hot air within the zippable cover to dry washing quickly – in our tests that took roughly three hours.
The downside of one of these drying pods is the noise of the fan and the fact you can't squeeze much washing in at once – these airers won't hold a full load of laundry, but they're great for drying a school uniform or sports kit super fast.
The downside of one of these drying pods is the noise of the fan and the fact you can't squeeze much washing in at once – these airers won't hold a full load of laundry, but they're great for drying a school uniform or sports kit super fast.
A heated drying rack, on the other hand, like the Lake Dry:Soon 3-Tier Deluxe Heated Airer, will also speed up laundry drying times compared to a non-heated airer, especially if you don't have the heating turned on. However, the drying process is slower with one of these models. The turnaround from wet to dry washing was between six to ten hours in our tests, although drying times will be faster if you also have the central heating cranked up.
The laundry drying process is a little more labour-intensive with a heated drying rack, as you might need to readjust longer washing to give all sections a turn next to the heated bars. However, compared to a heated drying pod, opting for a heated rack airer means you can fit more washing on at once, it will use less energy overall, and it's silent to operate.
If you decide to opt for a heated drying rack, then you'll also need to decide between a tiered or a winged model. Winged heated airers, like the Status Portable Heated Clothes Airer, are generally the cheapest heated airers available. However, in our tests, we found that tiered heated airers worked a lot better than winged heated airers at drying washing. On a winged heated airer, very little of the wet laundry actually touches the heated bars, so longer items can hang down below the heated elements and remain damp at the ends.
Drying space: All heated clothes airers will give you an estimate of how much drying space they offer, either in kg of washing or metres of drying rack available. Some options, like the fan models in our round-up, tell you how many clothes on hangers you can dry at once instead. If you only tend to dry a small amount of washing at once, a smaller option will be more cost and energy-efficient. If you have larger laundry drying requirements, opt for one of the most generous airers you can find.
Physical size: Don't underestimate how large a heated clothes airer can be once unfolded. Before you choose one, think about where it will live when in operation. Remember this needs to be near a plug socket and away from children and pets. Consider what available floor space you have whilst still being able to open doors and manoeuvre around it safely.
Storage: Unless you have a super spacious utility room where you can leave your clothes airer up continuously, then storage is an important factor. The majority of airers are foldable, which makes them easier to store out of the way in a cupboard, or to slide underneath or behind furniture when they're not in use. Just make sure to check the folded measurements of the clothes airer you're considering to ensure they fit your storage space.
Energy use: If you compare the running costs of a heated airer to how much it costs to run a tumble dryer, then you should be pleasantly surprised. However, each model will use a different amount of energy – our guide to how much it costs to use a heated airer has more details.
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.
- 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.
- Dry:Soon (££-£££): Market leaders in heated clothes airers, with a wide range of sizes and styles available.
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. According to the October 2025 energy price cap, a standard winged heated airer using around 220W costs less than 50p to run for a full eight hours, while a three tier 300W model comes in at 64p for the same drying time.
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.