Energy Efficient Clothes Drying: Use a Ceiling Airer!

While many people in Canada and the United States have no idea what a ceiling airer even is, people in the United Kingdom and Europe are very familiar with this energy saving device-and they’ve been using it for over a hundred years. This age-old device is simple to use and the ideal way to dry clothes and maximize energy efficiency at the same time. It costs nothing to use and utilizes the warm air that rises up near the ceiling in your home to dry laundry on the wooden rails of the device which is raised up and out of the way.

Drying clothes on a ceiling airer is easy. You lower it down where you can reach it easily, hang damp or wet laundry on the rails, and then raise it up again. Most of the time it is near ceiling level, out of the way, and naturally drying the laundry in the warm air that rises up by the ceiling.

A ceiling airer uses several horizontal wooden rails, or “laths,” that are held at the ends in a cast iron holder, which separates the rails and attaches to cords that raise and lower it. The cords run from the metal ends to pulleys mounted on the ceiling and are then kept out of the way in a cleat mounted on the wall.

While indoor spin dryers are common, they can use up quite a lot of electricity. With utility bills high in winter anyway, using a ceiling airer can help you take the best advantage of the situation by using the warm air within your house to dry your clothes naturally and gently. It’s ideal for drying jumpers and shirts, and models that have clothes hanger attachments for shirts will minimize the amount of ironing you’ll have.

While the basic design is similar and has been around for about 100 years, ceiling clothes airers do come in a few different styles. For instance, some units have only three laths and are designed to fit into small areas. The Sheila Maid is a model that’s been around for a long time and has four laths set into curved cast iron ends. All of the ceiling clothes airer kits come with the necessary cords, pulleys, and cleat hook. Of course, assembly and installation instructions are also provided.

Another of the early models was called the “Kitchen Maid. This one looks Victorian in design and again has cast iron ends with laths usually made of pine wood. The pine laths are sanded smooth and finished to prevent snagging and can dry 30 kg of clothes overnight. This is one of the most ecological and earth friendly ways to dry clothes.

For families with children that do a lot of washing, you can even get “stacker” ceiling airers that double the amount of laundry that can be dried by the warm air in your house. They can be installed from several hard ceiling surfaces, and can often be customized as to the number of laths on the rack. On some models, the laths are flat, so that the racks can be used for storage or as hanging shelves.

As previously mentioned, small dryers are available for small homes. Shorter and made with fewer laths, they are still a great energy efficient way to dry clothes instead of a tumbling electric or gas-powered dryer.

You may want to install your first ceiling clothes airer in the fall, right before the heating season begins. This is the ideal time since you will soon have warm air rising toward the ceiling from your heating system. Why let it go to waste when you can use it to dry your laundry for free? You can install these systems on any hard ceiling surface just about anywhere in your home-even over a staircase or on a slanted ceiling! And they’re great to use all year long if you don’t have outdoor clotheslines or are having rainy weather, too. They can save you money on your energy bills year round!

Learn more about the ceiling clothes airer. Stop by Gary Nickless’s site where you can find out all about modern ceiling clothes airers and drying racks and what they can do for you.

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