With households watching every spin of the smart meter, Lidl is about to stock an item that chimes neatly with Martin Lewis’s cold-weather motto: focus on warming yourself and your immediate space, not every unused bedroom. The supermarket’s latest winter special is a low-watt heated clothes airer with a cover – and it could become this season’s most-wanted bit of kit.
Lidl’s new winter launch: a heated airer that earns its plug
From next week, Lidl will be selling a plug-in heated clothes airer, complete with a fitted cover designed to trap warmth around damp laundry. It’s the sort of straightforward, no-frills gadget that consumer champion Martin Lewis has been praising for years when he talks about “heat the human, not the home”.
The idea is simple. Instead of firing up a power-hungry tumble dryer or blasting central heating across the whole house, you run a small electric frame that gently warms metal rails. Clothes and towels are draped over them, and the fabric dries in a concentrated pocket of warm air under the cover.
This gadget aims to shrink both your laundry backlog and your energy bill, using pennies of power instead of pounds.
Unlike a radiator groaning away in an empty hallway, the airer sits where you actually live: near the sofa, by a desk, or in a box room that doubles as a home office. That way, the heat produced is doing double duty – drying laundry and nudging up the temperature in the space you’re sitting in.
Cost per hour: how little does it really use?
Lidl has not confirmed the final wattage at the time of writing, but similar heated airers typically use around 230 watts. On a standard variable electricity tariff of roughly 29p per kilowatt hour, that works out at about 7p for each hour it’s switched on.
Put that next to a typical vented or condenser tumble dryer, which can easily draw 2–3kWh for a single full cycle. At the same 29p rate, that’s roughly 58p to 87p every time you press start. That difference builds up fast once the wet weather sets in and washing racks take over the house.
| Appliance | Typical power use | Approximate cost per use |
|---|---|---|
| Heated airer (with cover) | 230W for 5 hours | About 35p |
| Tumble dryer (standard cycle) | 2–3kWh per cycle | Around 58p–87p |
| Central heating boost | Varies, but often >10kWh for whole-home heat-up | Several pounds per evening |
Dry two loads per week through winter on the airer instead of the tumble and you might save around £1–£2 weekly, depending on your tariff and habits. Over a soggy, six‑month heating season, that could mean £25–£50 that stays in your bank account – not a windfall, but real money when food prices are stubbornly high.
Why Martin Lewis’s “heat the human” rule fits this gadget
Martin Lewis has repeatedly advised households to be smarter, not colder: use targeted, low-watt items like heated throws, electric blankets and airers to keep warm where you are, instead of automatically cranking the thermostat.
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Rather than blasting every room to 21°C, the strategy is to build small “warm zones” that cost far less to maintain.
A heated airer fits that thinking almost perfectly:
- It focuses warmth in one corner of your home, not the whole house.
- It earns its keep by drying laundry at the same time.
- The heat is gentle, so clothes experience less wear than in a dryer.
- You can sit right next to it and feel a noticeable local temperature boost.
While Lewis has not stamped his approval on this specific Lidl-branded unit, the category itself is one he often highlights when talking about stretching energy budgets through winter.
Getting the most warmth for the least money
Placement matters. Put the airer in a room you actually use – living room, bedroom, or home office – and keep the door mostly closed to trap warmth. The included cover is not just a dust shield; it’s a mini tent of warm air that speeds up drying significantly.
To use it efficiently:
- Leave small gaps between garments so air can move freely.
- Rotate thick items like jeans or hoodies halfway through.
- Run it in 60–90 minute bursts rather than leaving it on all day.
- Partially open the cover on the side where you’re sitting to let warmth drift towards you.
- Use the highest spin cycle your washing machine allows to start with drier clothes.
Many people make the same few mistakes: piling clothes on in several layers, hiding the airer in a cold, unused room, or shutting every vent and window for hours so moisture builds up. That’s when you end up with slow drying, foggy windows and that familiar damp smell.
Humidity, damp and why a dehumidifier helps
When you dry clothes indoors, you’re effectively releasing litres of water into the air. That raises humidity, and once it creeps above roughly 60%, a room can feel chilly and clammy even at a reasonable temperature.
Pairing a heated airer with a small dehumidifier can cut drying time and make the room feel warmer at the same thermostat setting.
The dehumidifier pulls moisture out of the air, and that encourages more water to leave your clothes. It also helps protect walls and window frames from mould patches – a growing concern in many rental properties and small homes.
If a dehumidifier isn’t in the budget, even a cheap digital hygrometer (a device that displays humidity) can help you judge when to crack a window for ten minutes. That short, sharp airing can be enough to flush out moisture without stripping away all your hard-won heat.
Safety, practicality and who this is best for
Any device with heated rails needs a bit of common sense. Keep it stable on a flat surface, avoid trailing cables across walkways, and don’t pile clothes over the plug or control area. As with any electric heater, give it some breathing space away from curtains, bedding and furniture.
This kind of airer particularly suits:
- Families with constant school uniforms and sports kits to wash.
- Flat-dwellers with no outdoor space or strict rules on balcony drying.
- People on prepayment meters, who want predictable running costs per hour.
- Anyone working from home in one room who wants a bit of extra warmth.
For large households with several loads a day, a heated airer may not replace the tumble dryer entirely, but it can shoulder a good portion of the washing that would otherwise cost more to dry.
What “low wattage” really means for your bill
When retailers advertise something as “low watt”, it simply refers to how much power it draws at any moment. A 230W heater uses less than a quarter of the electricity of a 1kW electric heater, for example.
The cost you see on your bill is based on kilowatt hours (kWh) – basically watts multiplied by time. So an appliance that uses a small amount of power for many hours can end up costing the same as a more powerful device used briefly. With a heated airer, the advantage is that you genuinely need several hours of low, steady heat, rather than a quick, intense blast.
Imagine two scenarios on a cold, wet weekday evening:
- You run the tumble dryer once at 2.5kWh for an 80p cycle, then still turn up the heating for the living room.
- You run the heated airer for five hours at roughly 35p, sit beside it in a jumper and blanket, and skip that extra boiler boost.
Across a whole season, repeating that second approach a few nights a week can quietly flatten the peaks in your energy use, which is what many households are trying to achieve.
Lidl’s middle aisle timing – and what to expect on launch day
Lidl’s Specialbuys – the famous middle-aisle drops – are rarely permanent. This heated airer is expected in stores nationwide next week, but stock is limited and varies by branch. If past winters are any guide, these will not sit on shelves for long once word spreads on local Facebook groups and in WhatsApp chats.
The combination of low running cost, visible savings and Martin Lewis-style logic makes this exactly the sort of product that sparks early-morning queues.
Shoppers looking to grab one might want to check their local store leaflet or app for precise timing, then head in early in the week. Look for units that include the fitted cover – that’s the feature that turns a simple heated rack into a mini drying cabinet, and it’s where a lot of the efficiency gain comes from.
For many households, this won’t be a glamour purchase. It’s not a new TV or a designer coat. It’s a practical response to a tough energy landscape: a small, controllable gadget that lets you stay a bit warmer, keep clothes turning over, and watch the smart meter tick up more slowly on those long, dark winter evenings.