What is a Victorian Clothes Airer?

These types of airers are based on an old Victorian design – they effectively do a similar job to traditional or contemporary ones, however they're much more efficient and their design sets them apart in the style stakes too. 

Victorian Clothes Airers are a type of ceiling airer, which means they are suspended high in a room, as opposed to a contemporary one which stands on the floor of a room and folds away. This isn't the only marked difference between an ordinary one and a Victorian model, because Victorian dryers can hold bigger loads due to their traditional design and features.

So what is the design of a traditional Victorian Clothes Airer? Well, as mentioned they are suspended high in the air, and just like normal ones, they have slats for you to hang the drying clothes. However rather than having a small area to hang the drying clothes, these ones are much longer, allowing for a larger space to hang wet washing.

There are four parallel wooden slats that can range in length, but can be anywhere between 1 metre and 2.5 metres long. These four slats can hang up to 30Kg of washing, giving fantastic capacity. The slats are held in place using cast iron ends, where each slat is placed through the cast iron end and held securely. Not only that, but they also use a time-honoured tradition of pulley wheels and rope to position the airer high in the middle of the ceiling.  

The cast iron ends have circular holes on top to allow for the rope to be attached, the rope is then fed through the ceiling fixing and then through the pulleys, which are also attached to the ceiling, to allow for ease of movement. They're incredibly easy to install and operate, which is probably why it was the choice of clothes dryer for pre industrial Britain.

Victorian clothes airer's have maintained popularity, especially amongst users who are environmentally friendly and economically conscious. That's because they are hugely beneficial to those looking to cut their carbon footprint, and cut their electricity bill in the long run. In fact tumble dryers contribute to 0.15 tonnes of carbon emissions a year and because tumble dryers are so expensive, if you were to use this type of airer instead, you will save yourself more than the cost of the airer in just a year.

Not only that but the slats used in Victorian clothes airers are placed at a wider distance than ordinary ones, this makes them far more effective when it comes to drying the clothes using the heat trapped from the ceilings.

These types of airers are suspended high up towards the ceiling and dried via the hot air built up within that room. In this sense a Victorian clothes airer can be used in rooms with fire places, cooking ovens or stoves, wood burners or any room with heating such as a radiator or heater. This will allow for an effective drying as the hot air in the room rises and dries the clothes placed on the airier. You don't necessarily need to have the room heated; however it certainly helps for quick and effective drying.