White towel rail paint/enamel crazing

be aware that the thermal emissivity of white is higher than that of chrome, which means that the Chrome radiator is not as effective as heating up the room as a white radiator So you will need to increase the size of the chrome radiator to get the same heating effect as the original white radiator.

Mine is 30 years old and as good as the day it was installed. It's certainly not a "premium" one. If you keep towels over most of it, the lower emissivity of chrome would not matter much.

There does seem to be an issue with enamel though Most of those electric oil filled heaters are enamelled and after some years it starts to craze and eventually drop off in lumps. I always thought it was both due to the wet clothes you drape on them and the difference in the expansion of the metal and the paint. I did buy some radiator paint, but that only lasted a couple of years. One would have thought that if your towel rail was meant to have potentially wet things on it, the design would be such that it would take it. Brian

both my white towel rails are losing their white finish from corrosion underneath from the look of it. That's 15 years on from installation and they look rubbish.

TW

My chrome towel rail has been there since before we moved into the house - and that was in 1977! Judging by the steel radiators I've had to replace, the towel rail is definately getting on in years.

I'd not go with chrome if you want a long life.

TLC do some very nice polished stainless steel - I've got one well over 10 years old and still looks like new.

Personally never had an issue with chromed rails. 30 years on looking fine?

Tim

The devil is in the detail with chrome. Not looked at prices but I guess stainless might be competitive now.

Just to add that we had a weekend away in self catering accommodation and the white towel rail there had exactly the same problem (only worse).

So it seems a fairly common problem.

Cheers

Dave R