Heated Towel Rail (merged threads)

MiM

Does anyone know if a largish heated shower rail should be sufficient to heat a small bathroom or are they meant to be secondary to an existing radiator?

Ta

MATH

When we redesigned our bathroom we removed a large rad and replaced with a similar sized towel rail. Although it is OK cos our bathroom is quite small it does no chuck out the same amount of heat that the rad did. HTH

plumb1_2

shower rail or towel rail?as posted above it depends on the size of your bathroom,you will need to work out the BTU req,lengthx widthxheight.

Plasticman

A heated towel rail may be OK for a small, warm (well insulated) bathroom but otherwise they aren't ideal - especially when you've got them covered in towels.

chalky_bertie

We got both now as when we had the bathroom done-out there was only a small radiator so we decided to have both in and get it really warm for those cold winter mornings when i get up at 4am.

It's better to be warm than cold!

divadee

when i had my bathroom re done the bathroom designer informed me that the white towel rads chuck out more heat than the chrome ones. i really wanted the chrome look so went for that, but i think he was telling the truth cos the white ones were cheaper as well. so it wasnt just for the sale.

MiM

Many thanks all. Might get a white one. Unfortunately I'm a bit restricted as the gap between my pipes - now freshly tiled in - is 805mm and the towel rails (not shower rails, sorry Plumb1!) normally only go up to 600mm with the odd 750mm.

greecemad

MiM wrote:

Many thanks all. Might get a white one. Unfortunately I'm a bit restricted as the gap between my pipes - now freshly tiled in - is 805mm and the towel rails (not shower rails, sorry Plumb1!) normally only go up to 600mm with the odd 750mm.

The 805mm is no problem as the pipes can be adjusted in or out to meet the towel rail. Towel rails are a fashion item and will not give out as much heat as a radiator. You can compare the btu ratings but you will find that the towel rail has to be very much bigger than the radiator. I installed one in our bathroom and it gets too hot to touch but with no towels on it it makes little difference to bathroom temperature.I also installed an electric blower heater above the door which heats the bathroom in minutes.

MiM

I've found one and it's 2391 btu/h. Is that any good?

I've selected the white one which it says gives out 20 per cent more heat - nd it much cheaper!

MiM

Or should I stop being daft and buy a radiator?

Sorry about all the indecision!

summerday

On the same subject, we have a gas central heating radiator in our bathroom, when we get it redone I would love one of those heated towel rails but think they are electric so I guess this is not possible instead of the radiator?

Thanks, sarah.