Will a towel rail heat the bathroom or do we need a radiator

TanDiy

Hi, we are about to have new central heating installed and the company have suggested a towel rail in the bathroom. They have said that it would heat the room just like a radiator. The room is around 8 foot square and they have suggested a tall rail 500mm wide x 1500mm high. This would be connected to the central heating. We just wondered if anybody here has a towel rail and could let us know if it works ok at heating the room. Thanks for your help.

Jonesya

A typical towel rail has a lower heat output than a radiator of a similar size, so don't assume it will heat the bathroom as well.

To be certain, measure up your exiting radiator and note whether it's a single or double panel then have a look on Screwfix or Toolstation to find a similar sized radiator and check the rated heat output. Compare it to the towel rail you're proposing to fit and check for any heat reduction.

If you've got the space to have a towel rail and a radiator then consider having a separate electrically heated towel rail because then it's available all year round and it's more controllable. Having it run off the central heating makes it lower cost to run, but unless you have a supplemental electric element fitted then it won't dry the towels during the summer when you're not using the heating.

Doozergirl

https://www.bestheating.com/btu-calculator

You can calculate the output required in BTUs here.  Most of the time a towel rail is fine.  I tend to put in white ones because they give off twice the heat of the exact sized chrome one!  

Clive_Woody

When we had our bathrooms replaced we did get heated towel rails to replace the radiators, but we also had underfloor heating fitted and are very pleased. Walking into the bathroom on a winter morning and having nice warm tiles underfoot and hot towels is a real luxury,

ka7e

I have an electric heated towel rail and find the amount of heat radiated into the room is greatly reduced by the fact that it is covered in towels! The best set-up I've found, has been a radiator with a towel rail above it. We have a 3- bar one with a shelf above for spare hand towels.https://www.dunelm.com/product/shelf-towel-rail-1000083212

The_Warned

Mine does, but then I have loads of insulation in that area of the house and heated rooms both sides of it. Can you be sure yours is similar?

The devil is always in the detail

The_Warned

Jonesya said:

If you've got the space to have a towel rail and a radiator then consider having a separate electrically heated towel rail because then it's available all year round and it's more controllable. Having it run off the central heating makes it lower cost to run, but unless you have a supplemental electric element fitted then it won't dry the towels during the summer when you're not using the heating.

But if you do have one of those, make sure to fit a controller that turns it on/off, or at least have one with a warning light, or you may be like Matron and forget.

rob7475

Our bathroom is quite small (about 2.5 x 2.1m) When I fitted ours, I used a heated towel rail but looked for one with a high output. Alongside this, I used an electric underfloor heating mat under the tiles. Both working together keep the bathroom nice and warm.
the towel rail will have some of the heat blocked as it will have towels over it so make sure you oversize it if you use one of the BTU calculators..

GDB2222

ka7e said:

I have an electric heated towel rail and find the amount of heat radiated into the room is greatly reduced by the fact that it is covered in towels! The best set-up I've found, has been a radiator with a towel rail above it. We have a 3- bar one with a shelf above for spare hand towels.https://www.dunelm.com/product/shelf-towel-rail-1000083212

We removed the towel rail, and fitted a double radiator. It made a huge difference. 

To hang the towels Ikea Grundtal is excellent.

rach_k

We have one that is tall like a towel rail and has the chrome bars to hang the towels, but has a main white radiator bit in the centre.  If you Google image search for 'traditional towel radiator' you'll see the kind of thing.  It heats the room like a normal radiator.

We don't keep towels other than a hand towel on there unless somebody is using the bathroom.  

scottishblondie

We have both in our en-suite, which is good when it's very cold as the towel rail is covered top to toe in towels which restricts the heat output to the room.  We fitted a "dual fuel" one which is on the central heating but also has an electric element which we have on a timer in the summer to make sure the towels get dried even when we have no heating on.
Our other bathrooms only have small heated towel rails.  We're intending to swap them out for bigger ones (taller) with additional electric elements at some point, as those bathrooms are noticeably chillier.