The heated airer costs from 9p per hour to run so is significantly cheaper than a tumble dryer
As we near 2026, the high cost of energy shows no signs of vanishing any time soon. It’s a burden that’s frustrating at the best of times but is particularly felt over winter, not least when it comes to keeping warm and drying clothes.
Getting the laundry dry indoors fills me with dread every year as the mercury tumbles. The sight of garments draped over radiators stresses me out, while the cost of running a tumble dryer is enough to make anyone yearn for the return of sunny days asap.
As such, over the past couple of years, I’ve taken an interest in finding the cheapest and most effective ways of drying clothes indoors. Using a dehumidifier has been my preferred method, but I was keen to try out a heated airer after seeing the Speedi Dry Tower XL cost from 9p per hour to use.
An efficient way to dry clothes
The first thing I noticed about the Spring and Spruce Speedi Dry Tower XL (£129.99 at HighStreetTV) is that – as the name suggests – it’s pretty big. While that does mean it takes up a bit of room, the plus side is there’s lots of space to hang your laundry – I’ve found I can typically fit a couple of loads on there to dry.
There are 36 heated bars in total, offering more than 20m of drying space across three tiers. I’ve found the bars to be nicely spaced out, while the height between the three tiers gives plenty of room to hang some longer items too.
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The airer holds up to two loads of laundry
An adjustable display allows the user to select the desired temperature that the heated bars reach, going up to a maximum of 70°C. There’s also a timer function so the airer can be set to heat for anywhere from one to nine hours before it will automatically switch off.
I first tried it without the cover and found progress to be a bit slow, so I added it and found that this sped up the drying time quite considerably. It does take a fair few hours for the clothes to dry but it does work and helps to keep energy costs right down. HighStreet TV even says it’s “eight times cheaper than the average tumble dryer”.
I’ve found the setup to be so efficient that I’ve actually got rid of my bulky tumble dryer, which was just taking up space in my kitchen. The airer does have the added advantage too in that I’m not worried about clothes becoming damaged or shrinking like I am with a tumble dryer, while the hanging design does help to reduce creases before clothes are put away.
Design is handy for storage
One concern I had about this was where I would store it when it’s not in use over the summer months. Thankfully, the design is great from this point of view in that the sections fold down, as does the main frame, meaning the airer slims down to a much more compact storage size that should easily slip under a bed or a sofa out of the way.
It also means it’s pretty simple to fold up and down for anyone wanting to transport it from room to room.
What’s not so good?
One frustration I have found with this airer is the length of the power cable. It’s on the short side and as it’s quite a bulky unit, it makes it tricky as far as limiting where you can plug it in around the house.
It would be a lot easier if it was a bit longer, as it’s quite frustrating how little flexibility it offers. It’s also a tad flimsy in places, for the price I’d expect it to feel a bit more solid; however, I haven’t had any problems with it being unable to hold the weight of wet clothes or anything like that.
One reviewer who bought the product on Yimbly said: “My winged heated airer wasn’t great, and I needed more room. Ordered a 4 tier (different brand and not from Yimbly) and it was terrible! I’d only bypassed this because of the price, but I took a chance, and it’s great.
“The airer is very well made and sturdy. The shelves heat up quickly, and can be independently used by slotting them onto the slim vertical bar, where they sit securely. One of the many other great features is that you can drop as many shelves down as you need and hang clothes on hangers on the top cross bar (which isn’t heated) and dry with the cover on, of course don’t exceed the specified weight limit of 15kg!”
What else is out there?
There are lots of different options from various retailers when it comes to drying laundry.
At the more affordable end of the market, a basic 3 tier clothes airer with no heating function costs £12.95. Dunelm also has a three-tier heated airer that’s averaged 4.4 stars out of 5 from the reviews to date. That one is priced at £95.
I also use the SmartAir Dehumidifier (£179.99 on Yimbly) which has a specific laundry drying mode and is very good when it comes to drying laundry cheaply – and quickly. It dries clothes in a reasonable amount of time and costs a lot less than using a tumble dryer.
When paired with the heated airer it does a great job as far as cutting the time down is concerned, though this obviously costs more in the increased electricity usage.
Where to buy the Speedi Dry Tower XL
The Speedi Dry Tower XL is priced at £129.99 on HighStreetTV, the same price at Tesco and £149.99 on Yimbly.
