Anyone find a towel radiator enough heat for small bathroom?

[UTH]

Will shortly be getting the ensuite done, and I'm at the stage where I'm debating putting electric UFH in there as no one likes a freezing bathroom after a shower.

We will put a towel rad in there, just wondering if that might be enough to heat the room. We could go for a fairly tall one, would that be enough to warm the room, so at least it's not baltic in there after a shower?

Room measures 2.6m x 1.7m

[Khonda]

In my experience, yes. My main bathroom is 120 by 170 and has a short towel rail which is fine. My en-suite is 170 by 250 and has a tall towel rail, it needs turning down otherwise the room gets too hot.

This is in fairly efficient mid 90s house with 3 year old double glazing.

Originally there was ‘normal’ very small radiators in both, switching to these and having warm towels was lovely

[LocoBlade]

It should be do-able depending on how well the room is insulated etc, just spec it like you would any other radiator using something like this to work out your room's BTU requirement then find a suitable towel rad that outputs at least that figure, ideally more to give you some overhead.

https://www.plumbnation.co.uk/heating-calculator

[Geffg]

I’ve just replaced one in my en-suite. We found the coloured ones to have a higher btu rating than a chrome one. We originally had chrome which warmed the towels that’s it but this one now warms the bathroom too. Just have a look at the btu ratings on them.

[jb2410]

Our last house had towel rail only. Worked ok, but the trouble was that we kept towels on it, and when we did that it didn’t work at all.

New house has a towel rail and a small radiator also and is much better, imagine ufh would be better again.

[UTH]

Thanks guys, sounds like towel rails might not be quite as useless as I first thought.

[LaurasOtherHalf]

On something that size you can easily get enough BTUs to do the job from a towel rail, I would advise duel fuel however to make sure you get dry towels when the heating isn't on.

One other thing is to look at your outside walls. I always fit insulated plasterboards on bathroom external walls as it really makes a difference on to the dew point, especially should those external walls face the wrong direction.

[xx99xx]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

On something that size you can easily get enough BTUs to do the job from a towel rail, I would advise duel fuel however to make sure you get dry towels when the heating isn't on.

If it's plumbed in correctly, the towel rails will heat up when the boiler is on for hot water.

I have to turn mine down in the summer because en suite has no windows and it can get boiling in there. So yes, in my experience, a tall rail can adequately heat the room and dry towels all year round.

[LaurasOtherHalf]

xx99xx said:

If it's plumbed in correctly, the towel rails will heat up when the boiler is on for hot water.

Please explain your plumbing and heating qualifications I know it's sometimes done via the primary F&R or utilising the DHW circuit but it really shouldn't.

There's a reason why duel fuel towel rails are cheap and plentiful.

[Nickbrapp]

Yes, I have a 2x2.5 bathroom and the towel radiator is more than enough

I would go for a electric one so you can have dry towels in the summer without having to have the heating on in the rest of the house

[CharlesElliott]

Chrome towel rails are useless for radiating heat so choose another colour if you want it to warm the room.

[dhutch]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

xx99xx said:

If it's plumbed in correctly, the towel rails will heat up when the boiler is on for hot water.

Please explain your plumbing and heating qualifications I know it's sometimes done via the primary F&R or utilising the DHW circuit but it really shouldn't.

There's a reason why duel fuel towel rails are cheap and plentiful.

It does seem a bit mad to be running a towel rail on electric, when you have a boiler firing for domestic hot water twice a day, but if you have a system boiler its also daft for it not to come on with the CH, and a load of people have a combi anyway!

[CubanPete]

dhutch said:

It does seem a bit mad to be running a towel rail on electric, when you have a boiler firing for domestic hot water twice a day, but if you have a system boiler its also daft for it not to come on with the CH, and a load of people have a combi anyway!

They run off the heating, but have an additional electric element in.

We have a floor to ceiling one, mainly so we can get all the towels on it. Heats the room fine.

As above... Don't get a chrome one.

[dhutch]

CubanPete said:

They run off the heating, but have an additional electric element in.

I understand they run off the CH when it's running, but electric during summer.

[Sheepshanks]

dhutch said:

LaurasOtherHalf said:

xx99xx said:

If it's plumbed in correctly, the towel rails will heat up when the boiler is on for hot water.

Please explain your plumbing and heating qualifications I know it's sometimes done via the primary F&R or utilising the DHW circuit but it really shouldn't.

There's a reason why duel fuel towel rails are cheap and plentiful.

It does seem a bit mad to be running a towel rail on electric, when you have a boiler firing for domestic hot water twice a day, but if you have a system boiler its also daft for it not to come on with the CH, and a load of people have a combi anyway!

Ours is plumbed as a boiler bypass, but when only the hot water is on the towel radiator barely gets warm as the water takes the path of least resistance and goes through the cylinder coil. When the hot water reaches temp and its motorised valve shuts then the radiator gets warm for the 3 mins the pump runs on while the boiler is cooling down. So it's pretty useless in that mode - it's only getting warm a few times per day and then only very briefly.

[LaurasOtherHalf]

dhutch said:

LaurasOtherHalf said:

xx99xx said:

If it's plumbed in correctly, the towel rails will heat up when the boiler is on for hot water.

Please explain your plumbing and heating qualifications I know it's sometimes done via the primary F&R or utilising the DHW circuit but it really shouldn't.

There's a reason why duel fuel towel rails are cheap and plentiful.

It does seem a bit mad to be running a towel rail on electric, when you have a boiler firing for domestic hot water twice a day, but if you have a system boiler its also daft for it not to come on with the CH, and a load of people have a combi anyway!

As usual, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing;

Piped of the DHW circuit, fine in summer but in the winter it's only on for when your hot water is calling for heat so not enough time to heat the room.

Piped off Boiler F&R will most likely run as an open bypass when the TRV you inevitably have to fit opens up. So pretty much inefficient at best and a nightmare/impossible to balance.

Piped via their own two way valve with a separate circuit and control-go for it if you want the extra cost involved plus the inefficiency of running a boiler designed for say 15 rads on 3.

Or just buy a duel fuel towel radiator that uses a minimal amount of electricity when the heating isn't running in summer.

[AndrewCrown]

In two of our bathrooms we have all electric towel rails, with a supplementary Fan heater


This gets the bathroom super toasty. Quickly
https://www.cnmonline.co.uk/de-longhi-alicante-chr...

[page3]

Ours must be the exception, doing almost nothing to heat the room. The bathroom is by far the coldest room in the house. Two external walls though.

[LaurasOtherHalf]

page3 said:

Ours must be the exception, doing almost nothing to heat the room. The bathroom is by far the coldest room in the house. Two external walls though.

There is a simple calculation however to assert whether any towel rail will heat your room sufficiently, it just means that whoever installed yours didn't do it.

[xx99xx]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

dhutch said:

LaurasOtherHalf said:

xx99xx said:

If it's plumbed in correctly, the towel rails will heat up when the boiler is on for hot water.

Please explain your plumbing and heating qualifications I know it's sometimes done via the primary F&R or utilising the DHW circuit but it really shouldn't.

There's a reason why duel fuel towel rails are cheap and plentiful.

It does seem a bit mad to be running a towel rail on electric, when you have a boiler firing for domestic hot water twice a day, but if you have a system boiler its also daft for it not to come on with the CH, and a load of people have a combi anyway!

As usual, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing;

Piped of the DHW circuit, fine in summer but in the winter it's only on for when your hot water is calling for heat so not enough time to heat the room.

Piped off Boiler F&R will most likely run as an open bypass when the TRV you inevitably have to fit opens up. So pretty much inefficient at best and a nightmare/impossible to balance.

Piped via their own two way valve with a separate circuit and control-go for it if you want the extra cost involved plus the inefficiency of running a boiler designed for say 15 rads on 3.

Or just buy a duel fuel towel radiator that uses a minimal amount of electricity when the heating isn't running in summer.

I have no idea how it's plumbed in but it comes on with hot water and/or central heating which is just how I'd want it to work. I did have to research this the other day though as I couldn't get my heating/boiler to turn off (turned out to be a stuck valve thing) and came across videos/websites explaining how towel rails worked - and this setup appears to be quite common.

I'm not against dual fuel but I just assumed there was a right and wrong way to plumb in a towel rail - and would assume it's wrong if you can only use it as part of CH circuit.

Also, mine are chrome and do a great job at radiating heat.