Can heated clothes airers save you money? Our testing found heated clothes airers will cost about half as much money to run as a drying pod. If lower energy bills and fast-drying laundry can’t get you on the bandwagon, the fact these machines have been sold out for almost the entirety of this winter is a testament to just how good they are. And given that most of us make use of our radiators to mimic almost the exact same thing – especially if you don't have a tumble dryer to hand – having a dedicated space for your clothes to dry that speeds things up makes complete sense. Who wants any dampness caused by radiator drying anyway?

We took each airer's capacity into account to also calculate the cost of drying a large cotton load.

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If you already have a tumble dryer and are thinking of making a swap, it will also depend on what type of tumble dryer you already own.

But the savings reduce dramatically for larger laundry loads, where you'd need to use the heated airer multiple times to dry a load that could fit in the tumble dryer in one go. We selected the heated airers and drying pods from the most searched-for brands and popular UK retailers. Heated bar clothes airers use (as the name suggests) heated bars to dry clothes, with each one acting like a mini radiator. As much as a bit of heat helps speed up the drying process, so too does a bit of open air, which is why you get the best of both worlds in this winged design. Admittedly, the Minky Wing takes up some space when it’s opened and loaded up, but the lightweight airer folds compactly and neatly for easy storage. There’s also the option of using the airer folded flat without the wings, for smaller basketfulls of washing. Costing less than 4p per hour to run, it’s also impressively economic with its electricity usage. Altogether, the airer offers a total drying space of 12 metres and comes with its own cover designed to retain heat. Like most things in life, it depends. In this case: on the amount of clothes you need to dry and how fast you want them to dry.

What are the benefits of using a heated clothes airer?

If you’re someone who dries outdoors, you’ll be familiar with the tell-tale peg marks that get left behind on your freshly line-dried laundry – even worse when they don’t disappear after ironing. Our Soft Grip Pegs have cushioned grips and strong springs to keep your washing safely in place without leaving any marks behind whatsoever. All heated airers are stable enough to hold a full load of washing, but some were more flexible and easy to topple than our top recommendations. Ease of use There are two main types of heated clothes airer: heated bar clothes airers and drying pods. Both work very differently.

We paid for every airer and drying pod we test, and don't accept free samples, so you can have complete confidence in our recommendations. Drying speed Others resemble your typical clothes horse, often with foldable wings for extra drying space. They have a larger middle section, which is good for bigger items such as jeans and bedding, but overall have less drying space than tower models. A uniquely designed tripod Airer Rail that is great for laundry. This equipment has a state of the art technology for conserving energy and reduces your utility bills. This folding clothing rail is equipped with 33 hangers space that can naturally hold a massive amount of clothes for indoor drying. Moreover, the airer provides easy and hassle-free ironing. This adds neatness to the houses. This simple tripod is engineered in such a way that its height can be adjusted to 99 cm to 162 cm and can bear a weight of 22 kgs on 3 collapsible arms. Some look like a tower, which typically affords more drying space for the room they take up, but they can be less accommodating of larger items such as dresses, towels and bedsheets. While heated airers use less electricity per hour than a tumble dryer, they take longer to dry the clothes. So, if you're drying big loads regularly, it will cost you more to run a heated airer annually than a tumble dryer.

Heated clothes airers we tested typically took between four to six hours to dry a small (2.15kg) cotton load. The best heated airers cost as little as 6p per hour to run, while the most costly came in at around 31p an hour. Stability

We dried a small cotton load on each airer, representing a week's worth of washing for a single person. In addition to the above, the dryer protects clothes as there is no shrinking of clothes, they are not damaged, the colour of clothes are not faded. This is a multifunctional machine that not only dries the clothes but also provides perfect crease to the clothes that give the same results as steam generator iron. Complicated settings are avoided by AMOS as they are easy to use with a simpler timer button. Moreover, it has a remote control operation and timer settings that make efficient utilization of resources. An equipped dryer that is durable and portable as it is made up of rust-free material. Compared to a tumble dryer, however, the story is a little more nuanced. If you have small amounts of washing that can fit on a heated airer in one go, then there are savings to be made when compared to condenser tumble dryers.The best heated airers and drying pods dried small loads in a comparable time to tumble dryers; the worst took over six hours. Energy use But do heated airers use a lot of electricity? Our tests found they use significantly less of it to dry clothes when compared with drying pods.