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

LandyAndy

My bathroom is about 8ft x 16ft and has two towel rails. It is never cold.

Jack_Cork

I've got one in the en-suite and it really doesn't heat the room very well at all. Would definitely recommend underfloor heating as well. as others have said 

coffeehound

Bear in mind that towel rails vary widely in heat output.  Electric ones go from 50 watts up to over 1000, and ones on the radiator hot water circuit will vary similarly.

rob7475

Agree with the above. The output can vary widely depending on brand, material etc. a 600 x 1200 towel rad can be anywhere between around 1500 and 3500 BTU depending on which model you choose. They can look identical but it's the BTU you need to be checking.

giraffe69

Inherited towel rails running of the central heating in both bathrooms. They are effective and have never felt the need for a radiator as well. My only complaint is that whilst the radiators almost never need bleeding both rails do so every six weeks or so!

Rosa_Damascena

What does 8ft sq mean, 2'x4', or 8'x8'? Because a standard chrome towel rail of yesteryear won't be enough for the larger size because of the pathetic heat output. Go for a snazzy tall flat radiator with rails instead.

Davesnave

Rosa_Damascena said:

What does 8ft sq mean, 2'x4', or 8'x8'? Because a standard chrome towel rail of yesteryear won't be enough for the larger size because of the pathetic heat output. Go for a snazzy tall flat radiator with rails instead.

It must be the latter, as the former would be a cupboard. Eight feet square is perfectly understandable, as is 8 square feet.

But on topic, how much output is required must depend on a multitude of factors, so its probably best to over specify and use a thermo valve. The rest of your post sounds just the thing, if we had a link. Being a pensioner, I'm not up with these modern terms like 'snazzy.' Is that like 'cool,' only hot? Don't tell me it's 'sick' I've just cleaned up after the cat!

Rosa_Damascena

Davesnave said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

What does 8ft sq mean, 2'x4', or 8'x8'? Because a standard chrome towel rail of yesteryear won't be enough for the larger size because of the pathetic heat output. Go for a snazzy tall flat radiator with rails instead.

It must be the latter, as the former would be a cupboard. Eight feet square is perfectly understandable, as is 8 square feet.

But on topic, how much output is required must depend on a multitude of factors, so its probably best to over specify and use a thermo valve. The rest of your post sounds just the thing, if we had a link. Being a pensioner, I'm not up with these modern terms like 'snazzy.' Is that like 'cool,' only hot? Don't tell me it's 'sick' I've just cleaned up after the cat!

I've just had 2 bathrooms gutted and re-built. I wanted a decent heat output from radiators in both because I have a morbid fear of condensation, and fitted these.


They do exactly that, and look the business! I pity whoever fished the old chrome towel rail out of the skip, because it's not worth having!