Bathroom towel rail and/or radiator 30 November 2022 at 7:18PM in In my home (includes DIY) MoneySaving 25 replies 660 views

jennifernil

I do not think these towel rail rads can heat other than a very small bathroom, certainly not to the temperature I like when showering, and  especially not when covered in towels.

We have an ordinary radiator on the CH, with a simple  towel rail above for hand towels, and an electric only towel warmer for warming/drying bath towels, operated by a  timer.  You  could also fit a dual fuel towel warmer for using at different times of the year.

We also have an electric fan heater to use when the CH is not on.

Ajmason42

Towel rail equals a warmer for towels as all the heat goes into them. We have the same issue I want to add a separate radiator but we just don’t have space at the moment hence bathroom chilly in the morning so considering going back to a normal rad and some form of ladder rail above 

diystarter7

You can have small/common tower rails, wider and taller ones and or narrow and very tall towel rails and or designer ones.
The standard chrome towel raisl don't suit the modern shower rooms IMO and like the OP's pic, you can get desginer ones and much bigger than that, we have. If your heating is working properly, even a small one at full blast heats up a big bathroom but 
CARE is needed if you have young kids/toddlers and or frail people as they can get very hot so a bigger rad/towel rail with a mid temp over a larger areas is better IMO.

Thnaks

plumb1_2

Don’t have a towel rail, fit a vertical radiator.

Doozergirl

Don't worry about having a towel rail.  They're so over rated and radiators are innocuous looking in most other rooms in the house, so why do we insist on paltry but samey looking chrome rails in bathrooms when you really need to be warm!! 

I'd definitely choose BTUs first. 

IF you did opt for a towel rail, white ones have heat outputs double that of chrome ones - so you can sometimes get the right amount of heat from a towel rail. 

But I will often put a radiator in with just a rail on the wall over it to hang towels.  Old school style works well or you can even buy clip on towel rails for vertical radiators like the Milano from Best Heating.   

FreeBear

Doozergirl said: Don't worry about having a towel rail.  They're so over rated and radiators are innocuous looking in most other rooms in the house, so why do we insist on paltry but samey looking chrome rails in bathrooms when you really need to be warm!! 

I'd definitely choose BTUs first.

Got a small (600x600) type 21 radiator in my small bathroom. It is only 2.4m by 1.8m, and the ~2700BTU/800W output is plenty to keep it warm. If I need a towel heated up, I just drape it over the radiator whilst soaking in the bath (assuming the CH is running).

Apodemus

An added benefit of a standard radiator (rather than vertical) is that if you place a mirror on the wall above it, the mirror will remain free of condensation while you shower.

Mutton_Geoff

Apodemus said:

An added benefit of a standard radiator (rather than vertical) is that if you place a mirror on the wall above it, the mirror will remain free of condensation while you shower.

I always stick a demister pad on the back of the mirror and connect it via the lighting circuit.

https://www.heatershop.co.uk/demista-mirror-demisters-mirror-heat-pads

horsewithnoname

I’ve got dual fuel chrome towel radiators and they seem fine. Bathrooms are small (less than 2x2 metres). It is really nice to be able to have warm dry towels on days when you don’t need the heating on, but it’s too cold for them to dry on their own. 

As far as I can tell, dual fuel just means you put an electrical heating element in an otherwise ‘normal’ radiator. 

twopenny

Wow some great tips there!!

I've inherited some 1950s looking double towel rails that are no beauties but the towels don't slide off them with the radiator under and you can rest your morning clothes on the top to be warm on a cold day. I love this.
As they say 'don't change anything until you've lived with it a while.

So I'm working around the vintage theme by the look of it.