Small bathroom heater

FreeBear

Assuming you have wet central heating, is there a reason you couldn't fit a radiator ?

Sammyg

FreeBear said:

Assuming you have wet central heating, is there a reason you couldn't fit a radiator ?

Hi FreeBear
Oh I have now moved an old Vax hoover that my mother stored in the airing cupboard  and I actually found a small radiator right at the back 😮, i didn’t know this and my mother couldn’t tell me as she is unfortunately in a nursing home with dementia, anyway it seems a daft place to put a radiator in a cupboard behind a door, you would have thought it more beneficial in the actual bathroom, so naturally when I put the heating on it warms that room up, I just don’t understand my housing associations thinking. 

Sammyg

It doesn’t seem as that would warm the room up much 

Scot_39

It's an airing cupboard the heat helps lift and keep the moisture from the linens etc dried / stored their.

Although does seem strange - in many cases they rely on the leaked heat / losses from hw cylinders. My 1.5 kWh a day keeps mine warmer than the hallway outside.

matelodave

 Why do you think that there are no sockets in a bathroom and a pull cord on the lightswitch - its so you cant touch stuff and so you are protected in the case of a fault.

Any sort of portable heater in a bathroom is dangerous and probably illegal. Wet hands, wet floors and electricity are a recipe for disaster and even worse if you are using an extension lead to feed the heater. 

You should get something like the Screwfix wall mounted fan heater properly installed by an electrician and if necessary something like an electric towel rail (also properly installed) to help keep the chill off.

Scot_39

Sammyg said:

It doesn’t seem as that would warm the room up much 

A couple of kWh a day even in a living space - smaller bedroom or kitchen bathroom etc would make a large difference even in milder winter.

Smaller frost tubes are rated as low as 40-45W  - mord than enough to save say kitchen pipes or  loft tank from freezing.


My 2 bed house is using just c10kWh heat last couple of days albeit to modest temperatures - a couple of weeks ago it was using 3-4x that when sub zero - especially when had freezing fog, -7 overnight no solar gain and zero - 1 sub zero - day time highs.

And will likely be turning it down as temps forecast to be flirting with double digits for a couple of days here in my part of uk, higher in others.

Last Dec, Jan, Feb I had several no heat days. 

This Jan been much colder for me - heating alone been probably c30% more kWh energy use  (taking Jan 24, 25 totals - ave summer use as heating use for those months).  

FreeBear

Sammyg said:

FreeBear said:

Assuming you have wet central heating, is there a reason you couldn't fit a radiator ?

Hi FreeBear
Oh I have now moved an old Vax hoover that my mother stored in the airing cupboard  and I actually found a small radiator right at the back 😮, i didn’t know this and my mother couldn’t tell me as she is unfortunately in a nursing home with dementia, anyway it seems a daft place to put a radiator in a cupboard behind a door, you would have thought it more beneficial in the actual bathroom, so naturally when I put the heating on it warms that room up, I just don’t understand my housing associations thinking. 

Have (had) an airing cupboard that used to house an old copper hot water tank. This got scrapped when I switched to a combi boiler. Am debating whether to pop a small radiator in there (have pipes running under the floor), or to get rid of the cupboard all together... Decisions, decisions...

With yours being a HA property, making any changes is going to require approval. So that kinda knocks it on the head installing electric heaters on the wall or adding another radiator. Wouldn't hurt to contact the HA and ask them to improve the heating though.

Sammyg

FreeBear said:

Sammyg said:

FreeBear said:

Assuming you have wet central heating, is there a reason you couldn't fit a radiator ?

Hi FreeBear
Oh I have now moved an old Vax hoover that my mother stored in the airing cupboard  and I actually found a small radiator right at the back 😮, i didn’t know this and my mother couldn’t tell me as she is unfortunately in a nursing home with dementia, anyway it seems a daft place to put a radiator in a cupboard behind a door, you would have thought it more beneficial in the actual bathroom, so naturally when I put the heating on it warms that room up, I just don’t understand my housing associations thinking. 

Have (had) an airing cupboard that used to house an old copper hot water tank. This got scrapped when I switched to a combi boiler. Am debating whether to pop a small radiator in there (have pipes running under the floor), or to get rid of the cupboard all together... Decisions, decisions...

With yours being a HA property, making any changes is going to require approval. So that kinda knocks it on the head installing electric heaters on the wall or adding another radiator. Wouldn't hurt to contact the HA and ask them to improve the heating though.

Thank you FreeBear, I must say my situation seems like yours as I have a new boiler now in the kitchen,, but we were left with the cupboard, I was just a bit miffed to see a radiator in there on the highest setting 🫤 so I turned it off, is that a no no then Scott, as all that’s really in there are towels, old multi purpose vax cleaner/hoover, which I have to get rid of sometime 🙄, oh and that old fan heater,?

Anyway now I feel an email coming on, as FreeBear kindly suggested to ask if they can improve the heating system in there, 🤞 although I don’t hold out much hope as the L&Q HA states everything in the house is the tenants responsibility, even the shower, even though they had a company called Mitre put in, but I will ask anyway.

FreeBear

Sammyg said: Anyway now I feel an email coming on, as FreeBear kindly suggested to ask if they can improve the heating system in there, 🤞 although I don’t hold out much hope as the L&Q HA states everything in the house is the tenants responsibility, even the shower, even though they had a company called Mitre put in, but I will ask anyway.

From their handbook - https://www.lqgroup.org.uk/-/media/files/tenants/landq-repairs-responsibilities-booklet-2023.pdf

Our responsibilities as your landlord:

 * To keep the structure and exterior of your home safe, secure and weatherproof

 * To make sure all fixtures and fittings for the supply of water, gas, electricity, heating and sanitation are in working order

Whilst minor repairs (filling in small cracks, unblocking sinks, etc) are your responsibility if it only involves common basic hand tools, anything more needs their permission. So shower, radiator or anything else that is screwed down, is for L&Q to sort out.

Scot_39

It's likely to be damper potentially if the cupboard is in tge bathroom. 

I'd heat I modestly or store linens elsewhere personally.

Id leave the radiator on low - if it has a trv - but I heat even unused spaces to 14 min to reduce risk of common black mould - you can always open the door - just leave it ajar to heat the bathroom once ventilated away any shower or bath related high humidity levels if concerned about heat waste.

Having seen bad damp get into even bedroom wardrobes and ruin content, in past in others homes let alone the common sites on external walls and windows in more obviously damp bathrooms and  kitchens  it's not worth the risk.