Towel Radiator size Issue

[christopher]

My bathroom is currently heated by a 26"" by 24" radiator ( single). there is also a Dimplex 150w Electric Towel Rail with no time clock etc. which is on most of the time but does not need to be. Both are situated on the same internal wall.

I'm minded as a money saving exercise to replace the above with a Towel Radiator with an electric element for summer/occasional use.

I have two questions

Firstly how large would it need to be to supply the same heat output as the existing radiator.

Secondly I would like to get three biggish towels on it , so how physically large would it need to be ,given the heat output question above.

Many thanks

Chris

[MuddyMike]

We have a 2.1m tall ladder style towel rail in or bathroom. It struggles to heat the room when full of towels, but does ok with only 2 or 3 towels on it.

Mike

[Roger Mills]

Size for size, towel radiators have much less surface area - and thus much lower heat outputs - than panel radiators. Also, draping towels over them reduces the output even more.

You don't say whether your current radiator has fins or not. Assuming that it doesn't, and that your system is running at a DeltaT[1] of

50degC, the output from your radiator will be just over 400 watts. [If it's finned, it will be about 650 watts.]

You need to check the rated output of a few towel rads, and find one with maybe 50% greater output than your current panel to allow for draping towels over it. It could end up quite big.

[1] DeltaT is the difference between the mean radiator temperature and that of the room. So a value of 50 might represent a flow temp of 75 and return of 65 (mean 70) and a room temp of 20.

[TheScullster]

wrote

There is a big difference between using the towel radiator to pre-warm dry towels - as opposed to using it as a means of drying used wet towels.

The former will result in significant but (probably) bearable reduction in room warming effect from the radiator. The latter will cripple the output of the towel radiator as all of the heat will be used to evaporate moisture from the towels. Also, this will lead to condensation, mould and nasty smells in the bathroom - do you have a good extractor fan?

Phil

[christopher]

Radiator is finned.

Towels currently dry on the dimplex with no condensation issues- only

2 people in the house.

Thanks for your imput.

Chris

[The Medway Handyman]

In the summer SWMBO insisted on me removing the rad & replacing it with a towel rail.

I warned her about the reduced heat output, but she insisted.

Now "its too cold in the bathroom" & she wants a heater installed. Wiring is going to be a right bugger of a job.....

Mutter...

[Tim Streater]

Why not put the rad back with a towel rail above it?

[S Viemeister]

That's what I did. Works quite well, and cheap, too.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I'm not a fan of towel rails. As many people here have said, they give off little heat for their size, and none at all when smothered in towels.

In my own bathroom, I have an ordinary radiator, and high on the wall above it, an (unheated) towel shelf/rail. Towels draped over that dry in the convected heat from the radiator, but the radiator is always there heating the room.

In some other peoples' bathrooms I've done, where they've insisted on having a heated towel rail, I have ignored it for the purpose of heating the room, and done something else for the room heating. The most successful, which was an experiment, was to snake a pair of 10mm copper tube runs up and down between each floor joist, supported on small battens about 2" below the floor. It was a small first floor bathroom, and I did two circuits. There's a TRV valve above the floor controlling it. It works really well, and the ceramic tiles on the floor never feel cold to walk on, and the room is kept warm.