Last Updated on October 24, 2026 by Umar Farooq
How to dry towels indoors: spin them as hard as the machine allows, hang each one open on its own bar with a gap either side, and put them in a warm room where the damp air has somewhere to go. A towel that is still wet in the middle when you fold it away is the one that smells next week.
Towels are the hardest thing on the airer. They are thick, they hold more water than anything else you wash, and they are the one item people hang folded in half over a rail and forget about. (Mine used to live like that. The smell was not a mystery.)
Why towels dry slowly and then smell
A towel is mostly loops of cotton pile, and every loop traps water. The surface can feel dry within hours while the base of the pile and the hem stay damp, because the water has to travel out through the thickest part of the fabric.
Four things make it worse, and most bathrooms have all four:
- A fold. Hung over a rail in half, the two inner faces press together and neither can dry. That fold is where the smell starts.
- A crowded rail. Towels touching each other share one pocket of humid air.
- A small room with no extraction. The drying towel adds moisture to the room, the room has nowhere to put it, and the towel slows down. If your steam lingers after every shower, fix the extractor first.
- A radiator in a closed room. It feels like the right idea. Which? warns against drying washing on radiators because it causes condensation and cuts the heat the radiator gives out.
The musty smell is what you are noticing when a towel has stayed damp long enough for things to grow in it. It is a drying failure, not a washing failure, which is why a stronger detergent rarely fixes it.
How to dry towels indoors without a musty smell: five steps
- Spin hard first. Use the highest spin your machine and the towel fabric allow. Every drop the drum removes is a drop the room does not have to absorb.
- Shake it out. Give each towel a snap so the pile stands up, then hang it open, not folded.
- One towel per bar. Drape it so the two halves hang down either side of the bar, with a hand’s width between towels. Which? says winged airers have a bigger middle section and suit towels and bedding, so use the big one if you own one.
- Pick a warm room that can lose its damp. A bathroom with a working extractor or a cracked window is fine. A shut bedroom is not.
- Add moving air, or a dehumidifier. A small fan blowing across the towels helps. A dehumidifier does more (see below).
Do not drape towels over a portable electric heater or any heater with an exposed element. Dry them near the heat, not on it.
Choose the room for its exit, not its warmth
Warmth lets a towel give up water, but the water then has to leave the room somewhere. The two ways of doing that need opposite door settings, which trips people up.
| Setup | Doors and windows | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Extractor fan or open window, no dehumidifier | Door shut to the rest of the house, window cracked or fan running | Damp air is pushed outside, not into the hallway |
| Dehumidifier running | Door and windows shut | Which? says to close them so the machine is not treating outside air |
| Nothing at all | Do not do this with a full load of towels | The moisture ends up on the cold walls and windows |
Which? tested a dehumidifier on a laundry load and found it almost halved the drying time. That was a mixed load of clothes, not towels, and I have not measured towels, so treat it as a direction rather than a promise. For the setup details see using a dehumidifier for drying clothes.
How long do towels take to dry indoors?
I can’t give you a trustworthy number, and neither can anyone who has not timed your towel on your airer in your room. It depends on the spin speed, the thickness, the room temperature and how damp the air already is.
Which? gives four to seven hours for a cotton load on a heated airer, but not for towels specifically. Heated airers also raise the condensation risk, so see whether heated airers cause damp. My own rule is simpler than a clock: a towel is dry when the thickest part, the hem and the bottom of the pile, is as dry as the middle of the towel. Press it against your cheek. If it feels cool, it is still damp.
When a smelly towel needs a rewash, not more drying
If a towel smells musty when you take it off the airer, or smells worse once it is wet again, it stayed damp for too long at some point. More drying will not remove a smell that is already there. Rewash it on the hottest cycle the care label allows, then dry it by the steps above, with more space and a better room than last time.
How often should you wash them at all? One cleaning expert quoted by Livingetc suggests after every three to four uses. Treat that as a rule of thumb, not a standard: a towel that never dries between uses needs washing sooner than one that does.
If the same room keeps making towels smell, the problem may be the room. See drying clothes indoors without mould for the wider routine, and how to dry bedding indoors for the other thick item that gets the same treatment.
A towel that dries open, spaced and in moving air does not go musty
That is the whole fix. Spin it hard, give it a bar of its own, put it in a room where the damp can leave, and do not fold it until it is genuinely dry. Everything else, from the fan to the dehumidifier, only speeds up those same four things.
FAQ
Can you dry towels on a radiator?
You can, but you should not make it a habit. Which? warns that clothes on radiators cause condensation and reduce the heat the radiator puts out, and a towel is the heaviest thing you could put there. A rail or airer in a ventilated room is better.
Why do towels smell musty even after washing?
Usually because they stayed damp too long before or after the wash, not because the wash was weak. A damp towel left in the drum or folded on a rail gives the smell time to start. Rewash it and dry it properly.
Is it OK to dry towels in the bathroom?
Yes, if the bathroom has an extractor fan or an opening window. In a small bathroom with neither, the steam from your shower and the damp from the towel pile up in the same room.
Should I fold towels when I hang them to dry?
No. Hang them open, with the two halves down either side of the bar, so that air reaches both faces. A folded towel dries from the outside in, and the fold stays damp.
How do you dry towels fast indoors?
Spin them hard, hang one per bar with a gap, and use a fan or a dehumidifier in a closed small room. I cannot give a measured time for towels, because it depends on your room.
