towel radiator heating element

[Stephen]

Hello,

How do I match a heating element to a towel radiator? If the rad. is rated at 200W, do I fit a 200W element? OTOH if the radiator emits heat as fast as the element supplies it, does this mean the radiator will never heat up?

I had a 400W element in a 400W radiator but it took 20 minutes or so to warm up, so you had to plan in advance to switch it on. I think rapid warming by a bigger element would be useful.

What prevents the element from boiling the water if it is left on forever? Did I read that they have a thermal cut out and that if triggered they have to be sent back to the manufacturers to be reset or have I misunderstood?

Mine are plumbed into the CH so I guess any problems of prolonged heating any expansion and excess heat would be absorbed by the rest of the system but I presume you have to be very careful if it is a stand alone radiator?

[Bob Mannix]

I have recently fitted one. I went for 1200W as I wanted fast heating. This was probably a mistake. We have it on a timer (you will need this anyway). To avoid using a timer in the bathroom I wired the towel rail to a j/b and fed this from outisde the bathroom, where the timer is situated.

The element "kettles" the water in the towel rail and this is audible in the bedroom (next door and because it's connected to the heating system). Of course it has a thermostat and turns on and off (they all do/should) - at that power it is cycling on and off noisily early in the morning. This is only a problem in summer of course.With hindsight, as it comes on with a timer anyway, 1200W is too much, we would have been better with ~500W. The towel rail is about 500x800 overall size.

HTH

[Roger Mills]

Of course not!

The only way the radiator can emit heat is by being *hotter* than the surroundings. So you reach a state of equilibrium where the heat generated by the element is emitted into the room - and in which the radiator is substantially above room temperature.

[Roger Morton]

I'm pretty sure ours have proper thermostats inside them. I can hear them clicking on and off while they're switched on, once the rail has got up to temperature.