Electric towel rail

My previous towel rails have been plumbed into the hot water system. I'm pretty sure the best of these was made from chromed brass tubing.

Now I'm looking at electrically heated towel rails. I did think that these were generally oil filled but it seems that most are made from chromed steel tube and are water filled. Even with a rust inhibitor in the water is this the best I can hope to find theses days?

Reply to
Mike Halmarack
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Slightly surprised to hear this, but provided they are adequately sealed it shouldn't matter.

Reply to
newshound

Not entirely surprising, as you can have a conventional towel rail on your central heating system, with an additional electric element for use when the heating is off in the summer. It's probably easier to supply one of those with the pipe connection holes bunged up than a dedicated, oil-filled one.

SteveW

Reply to
Steve Walker

Water filled? Really? Seems an odd choice especially when you consider a failing thermostat might cause boiling!

Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff (Sofa)

Question, what is the real point of a heated towel rail? It will surely only dry the bit on the rail. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff (Sofa)

Yes but in the central heating ones they are not sealed up are they? Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff (Sofa)

Yes but in the central heating ones they are not sealed up are they? Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff (Sofa)

As long as there is an air-gap for expansion. Thinking about it, it would be quite possible for a towel radiator that has been fully bled to then be isolated at the valves - which won't happen with an electric only one.

SteveW

Reply to
Steve Walker

Mine is polished stainless steel. Think it came from TLC. Runs off the central heating. Many years old, and still fine.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Convection. Same way as any such rad works.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Well, one thing it does, apart from drying towels, is warm the bathroom.

I see now that oil filled towel rails, made from the most suitable metal are much more expensive than the mild steel, water filled variety. And for the larger, more accommodating sizes, many hundreds of pounds dearer.

Reply to
Mike Halmarack

But not much, if covered with towels. I have a rad too.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Depends on the details, though. Mine (on the heating) does in fact provide enough heat (although it isn't normally completely covered with towels, since we mostly use a separate shower room).

Reply to
newshound

That doesn?t heat or dry much of a towel tho. Tho I spose it does heat or dry the middle of the towel which is where its mostly wet after use.

Reply to
Chang

I have a large CH rad in the bathroom for fast heat and a fancy designer towel rail with an electric element and integrated adjustable thermostat on a time switch for drying/warming the towels especially in the summer. Installation instructions were to almost fill with water , heat up to max with bleed plug out for a while then top up and close bleed plug . I added a little fennox rad treatment as well !

Reply to
Robert

My current towel rail is a small oil filled electrically heat one. It's switched on all the time. It not only dries the couple of towels it will comfortably hold, it warms the whole bathroom easily, even through a layer of toweling. It's just that I want a much larger one that will double as a clothes dryer.

Reply to
Mike Halmarack

That seems to be the type of towel rail that I've seen most of in my searches. To save a few hundred quid I might settle for one of those.

Reply to
Mike Halmarack

The heat output of a typical towel rail tends not to be sufficient to cope with the heat loss of the room in winter, unless you have a very well-insulated property.

Neighbour made the mistake of replacing a 600x600 double panel bathroom radiator with a towel rail as part of the bathroom refurn, and wife soon decided that the bathroom was too then cold.

Reply to
Andrew

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