As we bid farewell to drying our clothes outside on a warm summer’s day until next year, it’s back to figuring out the best way to dry them as quickly and cheaply as possible inside.

One of the other downsides to drying clothes indoors is the amount of moisture it creates around the house, often leading to damp and mouldy conditions.

But if you favour drying most of your jeans, tops and pyjamas on radiators in the bedroom, kitchen or living room, you might be wondering if it’s one of the cheapest ways to do so, especially with the cost of energy bills these days.

The Northern Echo: How often do you dry clothes on a radiator?How often do you dry clothes on a radiator? (Image: Getty)

Is it cheaper to dry clothes on a radiator?

Using your radiator to dry clothes could increase your energy bill, according to This is Money.

Jon Phillips, head of product management at boiler manufacturer Baxi told the publication: “Yes – drying clothes on radiators makes your boiler work harder than it needs to.

“This is because the clothes can prevent heat from being released, so your boiler uses more energy (and money) to keep the whole room warm.

“The extra moisture in the air also means that it takes more energy to heat the whole room. 

How you can reduce your energy bills

“There's also the added problem that it can create a lot of condensation in your home, potentially leading to damp and mould problems.”

A spokesperson for Energy Helpline also explained to This is Money how drying your clothes on radiators can affect your energy bills.

They said: “As water has a much higher heat capacity than air, it takes four times as much heat to increase the temperature of water than air.

“This means the radiator will essentially have to heat up the water and the clothes before this heat can be transferred to the air.

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“Clothes and any other objects left on top of a radiator will insulate the heat.

“Despite the name, radiators actually heat a room via convection, whereby air that is heated will rise away from the radiator, pulling in cold air to be warmed up by the radiator.”

The expert added: “Therefore a layer of damp clothes will trap the heat, preventing the air from effectively warming up and circulating.

“However, occasionally drying clothes on a radiator is unlikely to increase your energy bills substantially.”

It’s recommended that the best way to dry clothes is on a drying rack as they will dry even if radiators are turned off as long as it’s not extremely cold.

The spokesperson for Energy Helpline continued to say: “This will be more efficient as the radiator will be able to heat the room to a comfortable temperature first, which will then dry the clothes, rather than having to heat up the clothes first before inefficiently heating up the room.”