Heated towel rail

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Trixsie1989
Trixsie1989 Posts: 489 Forumite
in In my home (includes DIY) MoneySaving
Yes or no from anyone who has these please? Currently planning our new bathroom :)
Debt free finally :j
First house purchase ... 2018 :j
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  • Novice_investor101
    Novice_investor101 Posts: 873 Forumite
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    I replaced a radiator with a chrome towel rail when I got my bathroom redone, when I bought my house.
    Honestly, it was useless!
    The bathroom was always cold cos it let off (radiated?) absolutely no heat & it did a pretty poor job of actually heating a towel because of the non existent surface area. I paid £100 to change back to a radiator a year later.
    I think they're just a good looking gimmick.
    If you need to actually heat the bathroom, don't bother. & A proper radiator does a much better jobs of actually heating the towel in the 10-15 minutes I drape it over it for.
  • martinthebandit
    martinthebandit Posts: 4,422 Forumite
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    We have both a heated towel rail and a radiator in our bathroom. If I could only have one or the other it would be a proper radiator every time.

    Towel rails are good for warming towels but next to useless at warming a bathroom.
  • Jonesya
    Jonesya Posts: 1,823 Forumite
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    edited 5 August 2018 at 9:35AM
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    Yes, but if possible I'd have both a towel rail and a radiator because the heat output from a towel rail is not normally enough to heat a bathroom. The towel rail is good because being separate to the radiator you can use it all year round so towels are always dry.

    Also when getting a towel rail installed, assuming its electric, get your electrician to install a timeswitch because it might cost a big more upfront, you'll easily get that back on the electricity savings.

    (150w towel rail, just left switched on continuously costs around £180 a year to run, put it on a timeswitch so it's on for say 4 hours in the morning, 4 in the evening, saves yourself £120 a year in electric)
  • alanobrien
    alanobrien Posts: 3,308 Forumite
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    They are useful but they do corrode quickly. The white ones more so than the chrome ones. You can get stainless steel towel rails but they are somewhat expensive.
  • Trixsie1989
    Trixsie1989 Posts: 489 Forumite
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    Thank you, I think we will just avoid and have a decent radiator put in then :)
    Debt free finally :j
    First house purchase ... 2018 :j
  • traineepensioner
    traineepensioner Posts: 329 Forumite
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    Trixsie1989 wrote: »
    Yes or no from anyone who has these please? Currently planning our new bathroom :)

    We have a standard c/h ladder style radiator in our bathroom with an electric element fitted inside. The electric element works great in summer when you don't have the central heating on but it's not as efficient & more expensive to run.
    Also, it's constantly being left on! :( ...If you're going down this route I would fit some sort of timer (30/60 min countdown) and a highly visible indicator that it's switched on. :cool:
    No longer trainee :o
    Retired in 2012 (54) :)
    State pension due 2024 (66) :(
  • mrschaucer
    mrschaucer Posts: 953 Forumite
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    The reason people complain about cold bathrooms with towel warmers is that their towel warmer simply isn't big enough. Just like with a radiator, you need calculate what output you need for the room size - toasty warm ones do exist but tend to be quite tall.
  • ben501
    ben501 Posts: 668 Forumite
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    mrschaucer wrote: »
    The reason people complain about cold bathrooms with towel warmers is that their towel warmer simply isn't big enough. Just like with a radiator, you need calculate what output you need for the room size - toasty warm ones do exist but tend to be quite tall.
    Agreed. I had a towel rail instead of a radiator when I had my bathroom refitted. Just use a BTU calculator to make sure you get one big enough.
    I've only a small bathroom so it was quite easy for me though.
  • d0nkeyk0ng
    d0nkeyk0ng Posts: 873 Forumite
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    We have a "proper" radiator with a heated towel bar. It's all connected through the central heating and means the bathroom is lovely and warm in winter.
  • ashe
    ashe Posts: 1,551 Forumite
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    Our bathroom heats up just fine from the towel rail, people with problems have probably installed one that is too small.
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