What's the best and cheapest way to dry clothes indoors?

Knowing the quickest, cheapest and best way to dry clothes indoors is of paramount importance when you can't dry clothes outside but still want to keep costs low.

To find out how to dry clothes in winter most efficiently, we‘ve dug into the running costs of tumble dryers, dehumidifiers and heated clothes airers – plus washer dryers, drying pods and heated towel rails – and found it depends on a number of factors, including the amount of laundry you wash.

The best way to dry clothes indoors

• Air drying your clothes will always be cheapest – it's free, after all – but this can take many, many hours or be impossible as the weather gets worse.
• If you have lots of large laundry loads, a tumble dryer will always be the most efficient and convenient option, but one type of tumble dryer is better than the others for minimising your electricity use. 
• However, alternatives, such as a heated clothes airer or dehumidifier might be a better option in some cases.

Read on to compare and find what’s best for you.

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Tumble dryers

There are three main types of tumble dryer: vented, condenser and heat pump.

Vented and condenser dryers are often the cheapest to buy, starting from around £220, but they have very high running costs.

Heat pump tumble dryers are energy saving and have much lower annual running costs, but the average price to buy one is around £730.

The latest tumble dryers adapt running times and settings depending on the laundry type, dampness and load size, in theory getting your clothes dry as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Pros

• Fast: We've tested tumble dryers that take anywhere from 14-40 minutes per kg of laundry. This works out as taking one to three hours to dry a big pile of clothes. Even with these differences, tumble dryers remain the fastest way to dry indoors. Vented and condenser dryers are usually faster than heat pump dryers but use much more energy.
• Low running costs (heat pump tumble dryers): It costs about £50 a year to dry three big loads a week with a heat pump dryer. This is much cheaper than other types of tumble dryer (£139 per year for vented tumble dryers and £127 for condensers) and other paid-for methods of drying for equivalent load sizes. More-expensive heat pump dryers will pay for themselves in a few years through reduced running costs.
• Low effort: Simply put in your clothes, press start and wait for the dryer's program to run. For extra convenience, a smart tumble dryer allows you to monitor and control it using your smartphone.
• Capacity: If you need to dry family-sized loads regularly or large items, such as duvet covers and towels, a tumble dryer's large capacity is another plus. Some can hold up to 11kg.

Cons

• Expensive to buy and some are expensive to run: Best Buy heat pump tumble dryers we’ve tested start from around £420 to buy. Vented tumble dryers can cost around £139 a year to run and condensers around £127. Having said this, if you do big loads of laundry that would require multiple uses of a heated clothes airer, tumble drying is still likely to be the cheaper way to dry your clothes.
• Risk of clothes damage: Delicate items, such as bras and tights, aren’t as well-suited to tumble drying. They run the risk of shrinking or degrading.
• Risk of damp: A vented tumble dryer needs to be placed near a wall vent or window so you can poke the hose outside, venting away the humid air. Condenser and heat pump dryers have a condensation unit to capture moisture, but our tests have found that poorly made ones lead to humid air leaking out – increasing the risk of damp and mould developing.

Our verdict

If you live in a large household and have several large loads to wash every week, a tumble dryer will always be the best way to dry clothes indoors. 

Go for a heat pump dryer if you need to buy a new one, as it will be significantly cheaper to run and will save you money in the long run over other types of tumble dryer.

See our guide to the best tumble dryers for recommendations and expert buying advice, or keep your existing tumble dryer running efficiently with our tumble dryer tips and maintenance

Heated clothes airers

Heated clothes airers or electric clothes-drying racks have surged in popularity over the past few years for drying clothes in winter. 

They look just like a clothes horse, but use low power to heat the bars. They essentially act like mini radiators to dry your clothes faster.

Their low power means they’re relatively cheap to run (an average of 9p per hour for the ones we’ve tested).

However, our tests have found that their lower capacities and longer drying times mean they won't always work out cheapest in the long run.

Pros

• Simple: There are no settings and you don't have to separate fabric types.
• More consistent than air drying: Lots of factors affect how long items can take to dry on an unheated clothes drying rack, including room temperature, humidity and ventilation. Because of this, drying times can vary broadly. While these factors also influence how long it takes to dry clothes on a heated clothes airer, the heated bars go some way to giving a more consistent drying time. Our tests found heated clothes airers typically take between four and five hours to dry a small cotton load.
• Cheaper to buy than a tumble dryer: Heated clothes airers start from around £40, although if you want to go for a giant multi-tiered model be prepared to pay up to £200. This is much cheaper than a Best Buy tumble dryer.
• Cheaper to run with small loads: If you can fit your laundry loads on the clothes airer in one go, a heated airer could save you money in the long run compared with vented and condenser tumble dryers. For example, drying three separate 2.15kg cotton loads a week (about a quarter-filled tumble dryer) will cost £56 a year for the average heated airer we've tested. This is about £71 less than doing the same with a condenser tumble dryer.

Cons

• Slower than tumble dryers: Even drying synthetic clothes in a well-ventilated, warm room on a heated clothes airer can take longer than it would with the slowest tumble dryers. However, heated clothes airers are much faster than air drying your clothes.
• More expensive to run with big loads: If you would need to use a heated airer multiple times to dry one load, a tumble dryer will be more cost effective. We calculate it would cost £130 a year for the average heated airer we've tested, to dry three large loads a week. A heat pump dryer will typically do this for £50.
• Space required: Even though all the heated clothes airers we've tested fold away handily and are fairly straightforward to set up, the largest-capacity models will still be a bit of a headache if you live in a smaller property.
• Larger items are tricky to fit on: Most models we’ve tested struggle to fit larger items on them, such as jeans, dresses and bed sheets.
• Risk of damp: The moisture coming off your clothes doesn't just disappear, which is why ventilation is so important when drying indoors. Avoid using your heated airer in a room with little or no air circulation, as the moisture will often collect in the corners of ceilings and invite mould to grow. If you do suffer with damp, see our pick of the best window vacs to suck up all the condensation. 

Our verdict

If you can’t have a tumble dryer installed, a heated airer is an alternative for faster and more consistent drying times than air drying. Plus, you can save a bit on running costs if you tend to wash small loads of clothes.

Otherwise, a tumble dryer will more than likely be quicker, cheaper and more convenient.

Best heated clothes airers — discover our latest test results and find the airers which are the best combination of being quick to dry and cheap to run

Drying pods

Drying pods are essentially big hair dryers for your clothes. They use a fan and heating element to blow hot air through clothes hanging inside a pod.

Most are standalone products, but we've started to see kits that convert a standard clothes airer into a drying pod appear in shops.

Pros

• Fast: They dry clothes much more quickly than a heated clothes airer. The ones we’ve tested took an average of two hours to dry a small cotton load. Most tumble dryers will still be marginally quicker than this.
• Relatively cheap to buy: Most drying pods cost less than £100, which is cheaper than a tumble dryer and some heated clothes airers.
• Better suited to larger garments: We found in our tests that larger items, such as jeans and dresses, are much easier to fit into a drying pod than on a heated clothes airer. A tumble dryer still takes the crown for capacity.

Cons

• You have to dismantle them, rather than folding them up: This makes them a little trickier to set up and put away than heated airers.
• Small capacity: Most drying pods only have enough room for 12 to 18 garments. If you have large loads of washing, and therefore need to use the drying pod multiple times, your electricity bills will start to climb rapidly.
• Expensive to run: Heated clothes airers typically draw between 200W to 300W of power, whereas the heated fan of a drying pod typically draws 1,000W (1kW) or more. The average drying pod we've tested costs 25p an hour – almost three times more expensive than a heated airer. It's this combination of small drying capacity combined with higher hourly running costs that means you'll be watching that smart meter whizz round.

Our verdict

You could pay a significant amount in running costs if you use a drying pod as the main method to dry your clothes in winter. 

However, if you don't have a tumble dryer and want something that will gets the job done in a similar amount of time, a drying pod might be worth considering.

Best drying pods and heated airers — read our review of the new kit that converts your existing clothes airer into a drying pod

Dehumidifiers

A dehumidifier not only helps to dry your clothes more quickly, it can also help deal with the moisture that evaporates into the air.

There are two types of dehumidifier:

• Refrigerant (also known as compressor) dehumidifiers condense warm, damp air via a cold surface into a water storage tank.
• Desiccant dehumidifiers work like a sponge, using an absorbent material to extract water from the air. Desiccant dehumidifiers work better than refrigerant types in colder temperatures.

Both types have some models with a specific laundry setting, which whacks the fan speed up to maximum, recreating the conditions you would have outside on a warm, breezy day.

Our Best Buy dehumidifiers start from around £150, but you can get ones from £99. Our tests have found that the cheapest models tend to struggle to get the job done.

Pros

• Multipurpose: If your home has high humidity or your bathroom has poor ventilation, a dehumidifier can deal with these as well as speeding up drying.
• Gentle drying: As they don’t use heat, dehumidifiers shouldn’t cause shrinking or damage fabrics.
• Fights damp: The unique advantage of using a dehumidifier over other methods of indoor drying is that it also lowers the risk of damp and mould forming. Dehumidifiers actively keep condensation at bay by lowering the overall humidity in the home. In fact, when using a dehumidifier you should close windows so damp air outside isn’t drawn in.

Cons

• Water tank: As with condenser and heat pump tumble dryers, you’ll need to empty the water tank once it’s full. Some dehumidifiers can be set up for continuous drainage if you have access to a drain hose outlet.
• Relatively noisy: While the noise isn't awful, dehumidifiers are louder when running than a heated clothes airer.
• Running costs vary: The average running cost for Best Buy dehumidifiers is 7p an hour. However, while all the heated airers we’ve tested cost this amount (plus or minus a couple of pennies), the range of running costs for Best Buy dehumidifiers is wider: 3p to 14p an hour. Desiccant dehumidifiers are more expensive to run than refrigerant models.

Our verdict

If you have damp or mould issues, poorly vented bathrooms, and don’t want to exacerbate things by drying clothes indoors, then kill all these birds with one stone and go for a dehumidifier.

Best dehumidifiers — we reveal the cost per litre of water extracted for each of the dehumidifiers we've tested

Washer-dryers

Unlike tumble dryers, the dryer part of a washer-dryer is always a condenser heat pump.

As washer-dryers double up as washing machines, there isn't usually any need to empty any water tanks. Waste water from drying drains out the same way as it does during wash cycles.

Pros

• Space-saving: Washer-dryers remove the need for a separate washer and tumble dryer, making them a good option if space is tight.
• Minimal effort: With the ability to combine wash and dry programs, what went in dirty will come out both clean and dry. Doing laundry doesn't get simpler.

Cons

• Smaller capacities for drying: The drying capacity of a washer-dryer is around half the wash capacity, so if you've got a 9kg washer-dryer, you'll only be able to wash and dry 5kg of washing in one go. This is less than in a dedicated tumble dryer of the equivalent size. You could take half your washing out and run two separate drying cycles – but that's both inconvenient and more costly.
• High energy use: Our tests have found washer-dryers to be quite high on energy use. The washer-dryers we've tested cost around £209 a year on average to wash and dry your clothes, over four times the running costs for a heat pump tumble dryer, or £137 to just dry. If longer drying times don't bother you, a heated airer would cost a little bit less than a washer-dryer to dry a similar load size.
• They're expensive: The cheapest Best Buy washer-dryer costs about £400, which is about the same as our Best Buy tumble dryers, but much more upfront than a heat airer or dehumidifier. 

Our verdict

If space is too tight for a tumble dryer, and you don't like the slower drying times of a heated airer, then a washer-dryer combo might be the most convenient option for you. Just know that the smaller capacity and running costs mean it isn’t the cheapest option.

Best washer-dryers — take a look at our top recommendations and find out the key features you need to consider

Heated towel rails

Radiators can start overheating if you put clothes on them, which is one of the reasons (see more below) why it's not recommended you do this. 

However, heated towel rails are radiators specifically designed for drying fabrics. They will heat to the temperature you set them at, even if you cover them with an armful of damp socks.

You can get gas and electric models, but if you want to dry your clothes in the summer without also heating up your home, it's best to get an electric version you can control separately from your central heating.

Pros

• Quick: As with every drying method, the type of fabric and level of dampness will largely dictate the drying time, but in most cases cranking up the heat on your towel rail will dry your clothes in a few hours.

Cons

• Small capacity: Most heated towel rails only have room for a few items, certainly not enough space for a full washing machine load.
• Expensive: If the towel rail is connected to your central heating, you’ll be adding to your gas bills every time you keep the heating on longer than you usually would because you’re waiting for clothes to dry. If you opt for an electric radiator it’s your electricity bills that will take the hit. The amount will depend on the wattage of the rail, but a typical 1kW towel rail will cost on average 24p an hour to run.
• Risk of damp: Just like all indoor methods of drying clothes, ventilation is important to avoid damp. Hopefully your heated towel rail is located in a bathroom, which most will already be equipped with a vent or extractor fan to handle the steam from showering.

Our verdict

Heated towel rails could be useful if you already have one for quickly drying larger items, such as towels, or speeding up the drying process on damper garments. 

However, the cost and limited capacity mean for full loads of laundry it’s better to use an alternative primary method for indoor drying.

Which? and Octopus Energy launch solar panel and heat pump discount offer — save money on installing a low-carbon energy systems this winter

Why you should never dry clothes on your radiator

Radiators can seem a handy option for drying  laundry. You'll likely have them in your home already, so popping your clothes on one could seem a simple and easy way to save money.

But drying your clothes on your radiator could end up being the most expensive option of all.

• Radiators work to establish an ambient temperature in your home. If you switch the heating on and set it to 20°C, your radiators will work to pump out heat until your home is at that temperature.
• Putting cold and wet laundry on your radiators means your clothes act as a barrier between the heat your radiators give off and the temperature of your home. Your radiators will function as if your home is the temperature of your clothes.
• This will make the radiators work much harder than they need to, as they'll ramp up the heat to try to remedy such a drop in temperature.
• This can cause your heating bills to rise. You might end up with dry clothes, but you'll also end up with a colder home and bigger energy bills.

How to get the best energy deal — find out how to choose the best gas and electricity tariff for you

All prices are correct as of October 2024. Running costs assume an electricity cost of 24.5p per kWh. Annual running costs based on estimated use.