Can a towel heater heat a bathroom?

Alfie3121

Hi All!

New to the forum so not sure if anyone can help.

I recently moved into a new build property which is a one bedroom flat. It consists of 4 areas essentially - The hallway, the bedroom, the kitchen and the bathroom.

Each room is a fairly decent size and a radiator is fitted in every room EXCEPT the bathroom. In the bathroom the developer has chosen to install and small, chrome towel heater. Now, the bathroom is actually quite a decent size, has a tiled floor, and quite a large window and it has been completely unusable throughout the winter months - recording temperatures as low as -3 in there!

The heated towel rail also doesn't have a time and has to be switched on manually, I've only tested this once but it took in total 6 hours to fully heat the bathroom using the heated towel rail, I'd hate to think how much that cost!

Is anyone else in the same position as me? I mean the towel rail heater clearly doesn't heat the room at all, and I'm just being fobbed off by the developer that 'maybe the towel heater is faulty?' it's not faulty at all, it's just not fit for purpose! :mad:

jalexa

Alfie3121 wrote: »

I recently moved into a new build property which is a one bedroom flat. It consists of 4 areas essentially - The hallway, the bedroom, the kitchen and the bathroom.

Each room is a fairly decent size and a radiator is fitted in every room EXCEPT the bathroom. In the bathroom the developer has chosen to install and small, chrome towel heater.

First of all welcome to the forum.

There is not a single and simple answer to the problem, but first you need to confirm whether the property has gas heating (and the towel heater is electric).

If the towel heater is electric post its rating in watts.

Cardew

Welcome to the forum

You don't say if the towel rail is heated by gas or electricity?

A developer should have calculated the heat loss in all the rooms and installed sufficient heating capacity to keep rooms at recommended temperatures - this iirc is normally 20C in living rooms, 18C in bedrooms and 22C in bathrooms(when temperature is 0C outside)

I would go back to the developer and insist that he corrected the situation. Assuming you have 'wet' CH it should be a simple matter to fit a radiator instead of a towel rail.

Neil_Jones

Towel heaters do they say on the tin. This'll be a gentle heat, nothing more, they may be able to heat a small-ish bathroom if there were no towels on but that'll be about it.

Something like this would be far better - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Swan-Suitable-Kitchen-Bathroom-Garage/dp/B002KGUOFI - but it would need to be wired in "properly" to meet safety regulations with regards to electrics in bathrooms.

basil92

My towel rail is linked to my central heating system so is only on when the heating is.

However, mine does not heat the bathroom sufficiently and I really wish I had a radiator in there:(

My advice get a radiator put in if you can.

Alfie3121

Thanks all! The central heating is gas but the towel rail is 100% electric and not connected to any of the other systems. Without having it in front of me, I would say it is at the bottom end of the power scale in watts because it is once of the smaller sized ones, so I would guess at 250 watts or less.

I love the idea on Amazon Neil, but the bathroom is fitted with spotlights in this case. Also hazarding a guess at the size of the bathroom at about 2 meteres by 2 meters maybe slightly bigger.

Alfie3121

Ahhh basil, even if this particular towel heater had a timer that would be a start, not even that! On a cold day, I get up switch it on, give it about 30 mins and it's not even warm!

basil92

Alfie3121 wrote: »

Ahhh basil, even if this particular towel heater had a timer that would be a start, not even that! On a cold day, I get up switch it on, give it about 30 mins and it's not even warm!

That's a bit daft...I wonder why the developer did that? Sounds like they've cut costs and just installed a cheap one that looks nice but is no use whatsoever unless left on all the time!.......which could be quite costly!

Rupert_Bear

We have one of those big towel rails about 4ft long and is powered by gas and gets very hot. Also it is a good quality one and stays very hot for a long while after the gas is switched off.

katsclaws

Hello Alfie, what you need is a fused spur timeswitch. We have a heated towel rail in our ensuite shower room (builders forgot to put in radiator).
It is 500w and takes about an hour to heat the room.
The type of switch you need is on the timeguard website model FST11 or FST 17. Best to get an electrician to install it.

katsclaws

Alfie3121

Haha! Basil, got to say as far as those things go, it's not even a good looking one! Very small and just plain. I'm 100% confident this is a cost saving thing but if anyone knows of the regulations with these things that would be great!?