Heating a bathroom.

[aaronfude]

Hi,

I gut-renovating a bathroom connected to the master bedroom (so it's already getting a little bit of heat). It is very small (7x8) and has a radiator which is in a bad place. Rather than move it, I'm looking for an alternative.

I'm evaluating two:

1. A towel-warmer looking heater. Incredibly expensive (00+) and expensive electrical work.

1. Radiant heating. A good idea?

Thanks!

Aaron Fude

[m Ransley]

Your boiler temp is alot hotter than a floor or you can handle, usualy

140 to 180f, but even up to 195, unless you can temper it to 110f or so forget it. Why not a baseboard for low temp water.

[PipeDown]

You're gojng to have to compromise somehwere. Price-effecinecy or utility.

The optimal solution would consider the size of the floor, the floor size to room volume ratio and your climate.

If you mean radiant floor heating, you need most of the room to have a floor. If like my bath, the floor is small and most af the area is taken by the shower and tub and vanity then in my case floor heating would be insufficient. I think you can get these systems with electric elements but you would also need a dedicated high current circuit.

If you consider Radinat IR lamp (quartz, not one of those red 150W floodlights). I find these to heat unevenly and can be uncomfortably hot if you go too close. That plus the red lighting it imparts would make it hard for the ladies to put on makeup. On the more creative side, how about a Quartz IR lamp shining onto a sheet of metal which warms up and reradiates the heat. This can be arranged in kind of a chandelier arrangement and the metal could be corrigated to increase surface area. The red light would reflect back up the the cieling creating a more pleasing glow and less intense direct heating effect. Many of these lamps are sold for outdoor heating purposes.

If you live in a mild climate like CA then maybe you don't need that much heat and a portable 750/1500W space heater plugged into a GFCI and placed on the floor plus whatever heat leaks in from the MBR will be enough. If you have a large bath with tile and an outside wall and live in a cold climate, you will definately want more.

An in wall elecctric space heater is probably cheaper than that towel warmer but the electric supply will be dedicated for any perminant mounted heating appliance and thus be as much work. A 1500W plug in heater can run on any

20A circuit and does not need to be dedicated as long as the plug is not hardwired. Wire has gotten very expensive very fast. Expect any quote for new circuits to be at least $100-$300 higher than last year.

You can get heaters built into cieling ventilating fans too. Usually 1500W max though. Might be your simplist drop in solution though.