Installing Towel Radiator

[Wesley]

I want to replace a 63cm X 60cm radiator in the bathroom with a towel radiator as a straight swap. It's an open vented CH system.

I thought it was just a question of turning off the inlet and outlet valves on the old radiator, removing it and replacing it with the new towel radiator.

I've come across instructions on the net which state you need to drain the system before replacing a radiator in an open vented system. However, there are also instructions on how to temporarily remove a radiator for decorating without having to drain the system

I'm puzzled - which is correct?

[hugh]

In message , Wesley writes

May be desirable once in a while to drain it down, refill and top up with inhibitor.

Done it many times

Whichever you want to do.

[Tim+]

Just remember, a towel rail covered in towels will put out a lot less heat than a conventional radiator.

Tim

[Andrew Gabriel]

Assume pretty much nothing.

A towel rail with no towels on it will still output only a fraction of the power of a similar sized radiator.

[Frank Erskine]

Warm towels do radiate a bit of heat :-) I did the same in my (admittedly small) bathroom a couple of years or so ago. I replaced the convector radiator with a physically somewhat bigger stainless steel towel rail and noticed little difference in the room temperature at bath/shower time, but the towels are much more user-friendly.

I'm currently considering a similar replacement in the kitchen (which realistically needs very little additional heat, especially being south-facing) - but it's nice to have somewhere to hang that little towel to dry your hands after rinsing 'em numerous times a day.

[John Rumm]

That depends... if the valve position lines up, and the threads on the rad tails are the same, then its an easy swap with no system draining. (you will still need to drain the rad itself obviously by loosening one of the connections to it and opening the bleed valve so that it can drain into a container placed under it)

If for any reason you need to take the valve off the pipe, then it gets harder... It *is* still possibly to swap valves etc without draining the whole system but it takes a bit more nerve and you will spill some water (which may be black and likely to stain carpets etc).