Heated airer against tumble dryer, which is cheaper to run per load?
A 300 watt heated airer running for four hours uses 1.2 kilowatt hours and costs about 31p at the current price cap, while a vented or condenser tumble dryer uses around 2.5 kilowatt hours a load and costs about 65p. The airer is roughly half the cost, but it takes three times as long and it puts the water into your bedroom instead of outside.
The two numbers that matter
Every laundry cost argument comes down to kilowatt hours, and the two appliances get there in completely different ways.
A heated airer is a low power device left on for a long time. The Lakeland Dry Soon three tier model, which is the one most people in Britain own, is rated at 300 watts and controlled by a thermostat. It draws that 300 watts more or less continuously while it is on, because there is nothing to cycle. Four hours gives you 1.2 kilowatt hours.
A tumble dryer is the opposite, a high power device that finishes quickly. A vented or condenser machine pulls around 2.5 kilowatts while the element is on, and a typical cotton load takes about 90 minutes of that, landing somewhere between 1.8 and 3.5 kilowatt hours depending on how wet the load went in and how tightly you packed it.
At the current Ofgem cap rate the airer session costs about 31p and the dryer load costs about 65p. That is the headline, and it is the number most articles stop at.
Work it out for your own heated clothes airer
Type in the wattage from the plate on the back, then your own unit rate. The numbers update as you type.
Where the headline is misleading
The two figures above are not doing the same job, and pretending they are is how people end up disappointed.
A tumble dryer at 2.5 kilowatt hours dries a full load from spin damp to folded in one cycle. A heated airer at four hours usually does not. In an unheated room in November, a full wash load on a three tier airer wants eight hours and often overnight, which doubles the cost to about 63p and puts you level with the dryer. Add the cover and you pull it back down, because the cover holds the warm air against the fabric instead of letting it drift to the ceiling, and a covered airer typically finishes a third faster.
The honest comparison, then, is a covered airer running five to six hours against a dryer running one cycle. That is roughly 39p to 47p against 65p. The airer still wins, by less than the headline suggests.
| Appliance | Typical draw | Usage we assume | Per hour (UK) | Per usage (UK) | Per month (UK) | Per hour (US) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heated clothes airer | 300 W | per 4 hour drying session | 7.8p | 31.3p | £5.43 | 5.5 cents |
Rates: Ofgem cap 1 July to 30 September 2026 at 26.11p per kWh (source), EIA residential average June 2026 at 18.34 cents per kWh (source). Checked 2026-09-22.
The heat pump dryer changes the answer
If your dryer is a heat pump model rather than a vented or condenser one, the maths shifts again. A heat pump dryer recycles the warm air instead of throwing it out of a hose, and it uses around 1.5 kilowatt hours for a load against the 2.5 of a condenser. That is about 39p, which is the same ballpark as a covered airer doing five hours.
At that point cost has stopped being the deciding factor and the practical differences take over. The dryer finishes in three hours unattended, it takes the moisture out of the room rather than into it, and it does not occupy the middle of your bedroom. The airer is silent, it costs a fifth as much to buy, and it will still work when the dryer needs a new compressor.
The hidden cost of drying indoors
A single wash load holds somewhere around two litres of water after a spin. Dry it indoors and all two litres end up in the air of that room, which is the part nobody puts in the cost comparison.
In a well ventilated room with the window open, that is fine. In a closed bedroom in winter it is how you get condensation running down the glass in the morning and black mould in the corner by February. Fixing mould on one wall costs more than a year of tumble dryer use, so the cheap option stops being cheap if you get the ventilation wrong.
The fix is not complicated. Put the airer in one room, shut the door, and either open the window a crack or run a dehumidifier in there alongside it. A dehumidifier at around 150 watts adds roughly 4p an hour, and it turns the airer from a damp risk into a closed drying system that still undercuts the dryer.
Getting the most out of an airer
- Spin at the highest speed your machine and your fabrics allow, because every extra hundred rpm takes water out for almost nothing and leaves less for the airer to do.
- Use a cover, always. It is the difference between four hours and six.
- Hang items with a gap between them rather than doubling them over, since air has to reach both faces of the fabric.
- Put the heaviest items on the bottom tier where the warm air starts, and light shirts on the top.
- Turn it off when the load is dry rather than letting it run to a timer, because the last hour is usually doing nothing.
- Do not drape a full duvet over it. The airer heats what touches it, and a duvet blocks the air path for everything underneath.
Which one should you buy
If you are drying two or three loads a week, have a room you can close, and can wait overnight, a heated airer with a cover is the cheaper machine and it will pay back its purchase price against a dryer inside a year.
If you are drying six loads a week for a family, need clothes back in circulation the same day, or have nowhere you can shut a door, a heat pump tumble dryer costs a little more per load and considerably less in stress, and it keeps the water out of your walls.
Most households in Britain end up owning both, and that is not a failure of planning. The airer takes the everyday loads and the dryer takes the ones with a deadline.
Common questions
How much does a heated airer cost to run per hour?
A 300 watt airer such as the Lakeland Dry Soon three tier uses 0.3 kilowatt hours an hour, which is 7.8p at the Ofgem cap rate of 26.11p per kWh. A four hour session comes to about 31p and an overnight eight hour run comes to about 63p.
Is a heated airer cheaper than a heat pump tumble dryer?
It is close. A heat pump dryer uses around 1.5 kilowatt hours a cycle, about 39p, against 31p for a four hour airer session. The dryer finishes in one cycle and takes the moisture out of the room, so on cost alone the gap is small enough that convenience usually decides it.
Do I need to put a cover on a heated airer?
A cover traps the warm air around the clothes and typically cuts drying time by a third, which means it cuts the running cost by about a third too. It is the single cheapest upgrade you can make to an airer, and it matters more than the wattage of the machine.
Will a heated airer cause damp?
It can, because every litre of water leaving your washing goes into the air of the room. Open a window, use an extractor fan, or run a dehumidifier alongside it. Drying two loads a week indoors with the windows shut is one of the most common causes of condensation on bedroom walls.