No radiator in bathroom?

[Aaron Fude]

Hi,

I'm remodeling a bathroom which has a single window and a radiator under a counter and not near a window. I'm told that this location for the radiator is highly inefficient to begin with. The bathroom is small and there's no opportunity to move the radiator to the window.

As part of remodeling, we will have a door that connects the bathroom to the master bedroom. The master bedroom has two radiators which produce more than enough heat to heat the room.

I'm thinking of removing the radiator entirely and rely on A. the radiators in the adjacent bedroom and a newly installed overhead heater such as this Panasonic (search for B000F7P3DC on Google or Amazon). (Finally, I'll have heated tile and towel warmers, not that these can make any overall temperature difference.)

To this idea of having no radiator in the bathroom, some contractors react "sure, why not" while others say "bad idea and bad for resale value". I would like to hear opinions for the experts in this newsgroup.

Thank you,

Aaron Fude

[hallerb]

cold bathrooms are the pits I grew up with one:(

how about a kick plate one under the vanity? ir add a electric heater thats often part of a fan,,,,,,,

easiest to do during remodel, adds little cost to current job and prevents hassles at resale time.

I would get the opinon of a HVAC contractor.......

are you opening and insulating all wals and cielings in that bath area? using closed cell foam would help. R 6 per inch.

[RicodJour]

You need a heat source in the bathroom. The MBR radiator won't do too much when the bathroom door is shut (don't plan on showering with the bathroom door open even if the vent fan is on - all that moisture does very bad things to a house).

I'm not quite sure what you mean when you say that heated tile and towel warmers won't make an overall temperature difference. Electric radiant heat under the tile is an excellent way to go. The heat is mild and even with no hot spots so you forget the heat is on, but it certainly is enough to heat a room by itself if you've sized it correctly. Some manufacturers make lower wattage mats that are more of a supplemental heat source, but others make stand alone mats. There's nothing quite like stepping onto a warm floor on a cold morning. It really is a great feeling and the electric mats do a great job of keeping the room warm. Here's one source that uses 15 watts/SF:

The heated towel racks are less efficient at heating the room and people frequently leave insulation draped over them (towels), further reducing the efficiency.

The kickspace blower heaters also work well in adding heat, but I don't like the warmed air blowing on my feet. They also tend to attract and blow around dust.

R

[Rick Blaine]

Or just put in a small underfloor radiant heat system. Works for tile or carpet, not sure about vinyl. Something like

-- "Tell me what I should do, Annie." "Stay. Here. Forever." - Life On Mars

[Aaron Fude]

I've been told that an underfloor radiant systems is effective only if the floor surface area is suffiently large. Mine will be _minimal -

2''x10' strip so I think this may not be a good option for me. What's your opinion?

Thank you.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

If it is only 2" no, it won't work. If you mean 2', maybe.

More important is hte Btu output. There are also ceiling units and wall units that may be better suited.

[franz frippl]

As long as you are remodeling the bath, consider radiant floor heat. There are electric pads which can easily be embedded beneath tile. The floor would always be warm and comfortable. Wouldn't necessarily be expensive to run.

[DT]

I installed a Sun Touch electric mat from Lowes under my marble bathroom floor. Although they state it is not designed to provide the only means heat to the room, it certainly helps. I keep it at 80 degrees F and it is luxurious to walk on, and you can easily feel the radiant heat. I keep the warm air register in the room nearly closed.

I used a 2' x 12' mat in a 5' x 7' floor area and it works great. The backing can be cut (not the heating wires) and reconfigured, so it fit the room quite nicely once folded. They state it provides 12 watts, or 40 btus, per square foot of mat.

[DerbyDad03]

This video is entitled "Installing a Towel Warmer" but when I watched the episode, Rich Trethewey kept calling it a radiator, and was in fact replacing a floor mounted radiator with this wall mounted unit. At the end, the home owner said "and it doubles as a towel warmer."

[Edwin Pawlowski]

I guess you can use the term interchangeably as a towel warmer will radiate heat. The question is, though, does it give off enough heat? I've stayed in hotels in Europe where the towel warmer was the heat source in the bathroom. Most were a grid layout of tubes.

[DerbyDad03]

I see your point, but this site has both towel warmers and radiators...

A radiator being shown here:

and towel warmers be shown here:

What Rich was installing in place of a floor mounted radiator, and what he kept referring to as a radiator, looks more like the Myson radiator than the Myson towel warmers.