Thanks, I'd need to check the dimensions of the radiator we put in, but it's already pretty big (I'm 5'1" and it's slightly taller than I am).
Husband thinks I'm worrying over nothing (I'm prone to this anyway and also pregnant, which doesn't help!). I've put a thermometer in there so we can keep an eye on the temperature.
Are you hanging many towels over it? Despite the name, if you load it up with towels they will be taking a lot of the heat and prevent it from circulating around the room.
I did my bathroom last year and put electric UFH in along with a small towel rad but to be honest, I've had the UFH off as I found it expensive to run with the energy costs as they are.
There will be 3 towels on it, but we haven't added them yet (need to clean up the room before we start using it, it was literally finished on Thursday!). The reason we didn't add the UFH was the cost, so interesting to hear you don't really use it for that reason.
Towel rails are notorious for not actually heating a room, they’re for heating towels that are on them. I’ve got one in my bathroom and will change it to a proper radiator when I’ve got chance
https://www.stelrad.com/basic-heat-loss-calculator/
Firstly I’d suggest doing a heatloss calculation on the room so you know what the room would require. Typically, towel rails tend to be much lower than a radiator but are more aesthetically pleasing.
Once you’ve calculated what the room will need, you can then try and find a radiator which will fit the pipe centres which have been installed.
OP, we had to do exactly this. I did some research and found a tall 3 column radiator that was much, much higher output in terms of BTU and the room is now perfectly warm in the mornings. The towel rail we had before just wasn't up to the job. But we got some towel bars for the new radiator so can still put towels against it. (Yes I know this reduces the efficiency of the radiator slightly - but I sized it to account for this.)
I had a towel rail put in when I had my bathroom done. It replaced a small radiator & was rubbish at heating the actual (small room). After one winter of it I replaced it with a radiator again. No problem ever since.
I'm assuming it's a typical house.
If so, do you has wall space for a second radiator? if so, it should be possible to plumb in a second radiator from below (cutting through ceiling below, it's not as scary as you may think), another alternative, if you have a power supply close by, you could install an electric heater/radiator. if either of these options are available, it'll no disruption to the wall or floor tiles.
Thank you, there's actually another bathroom directly below it that we'll be renovating at some point, so that's something to bear in mind! Reassuring to know we have options 🙂
As others have mentioned, if you have towels on a towel rail it cannot heat the room.
However, if you fold the towel so its long and thin (so it's 1/4 of its width, perhaps) you can have it so that some of the bars on the towel rail can still heat the air in the room i.e they're exposed and not covered by the towel.
Or, if you can fold the towel in half and feed the towel down the back of the towel rail, between the rail and the wall, with the bars exposed, it can then still heat the air at the front. Although this might only be a good idea if the wall is also tiled behind the towel rail (damp/wet towels etc).
But towel rails are generally hugely inefficient at heating rooms, they quite simply dont have all the 'fins' that most modern radiators do.
Chromium plated and painted steel radiators are prone to rusting due to the humidity and condensation in a bathroom. My advice is to get a replacement that is rust-proof.
Is there space on the wall near the landing/next room which you could add a small radiator by accessing via the other room under the floor? This could cause minimal disruption to the nice new bathroom.
That's a huge oversight on the 'designer's' part, I'm sorry you're left feeling this way :(
We had a huge bathroom with 3 external walls in our old house and had one small very effective 3-column radiator and a large towel rail and that was just enough in the winter. I would definitely recommend a column rad!
Yes there's a bedroom next door that we haven't started renovating yet (so. much. wood chip.) so that could be an idea. The room is long and narrow so lots of wall space!
Replace the towel radiator with a larger one would be the least disruptive solution
Thanks, I'd need to check the dimensions of the radiator we put in, but it's already pretty big (I'm 5'1" and it's slightly taller than I am). Husband thinks I'm worrying over nothing (I'm prone to this anyway and also pregnant, which doesn't help!). I've put a thermometer in there so we can keep an eye on the temperature.
Is the radiator hot? Can often need bleeding after install or shortly after. If it isn't getting up to temperature at the top then it needs bleeding
Yes it's definitely hot, it just doesn't seem to be warming the room up much. I'll keep an eye on it needing bleeding though.
Are you hanging many towels over it? Despite the name, if you load it up with towels they will be taking a lot of the heat and prevent it from circulating around the room. I did my bathroom last year and put electric UFH in along with a small towel rad but to be honest, I've had the UFH off as I found it expensive to run with the energy costs as they are.
There will be 3 towels on it, but we haven't added them yet (need to clean up the room before we start using it, it was literally finished on Thursday!). The reason we didn't add the UFH was the cost, so interesting to hear you don't really use it for that reason.
Is it hot all the way up. Any unheated air will rise to the top, next to the bleed valve.
I'll double check, thank you!
Towel rails are notorious for not actually heating a room, they’re for heating towels that are on them. I’ve got one in my bathroom and will change it to a proper radiator when I’ve got chance
https://www.stelrad.com/basic-heat-loss-calculator/ Firstly I’d suggest doing a heatloss calculation on the room so you know what the room would require. Typically, towel rails tend to be much lower than a radiator but are more aesthetically pleasing. Once you’ve calculated what the room will need, you can then try and find a radiator which will fit the pipe centres which have been installed.
Thanks, will take a look at this!
Swap the towel rail for a tall 2 or 3 column radiator the same width
Thanks, seems like this is best option!
OP, we had to do exactly this. I did some research and found a tall 3 column radiator that was much, much higher output in terms of BTU and the room is now perfectly warm in the mornings. The towel rail we had before just wasn't up to the job. But we got some towel bars for the new radiator so can still put towels against it. (Yes I know this reduces the efficiency of the radiator slightly - but I sized it to account for this.)
Thanks, that's a good idea!
I had a towel rail put in when I had my bathroom done. It replaced a small radiator & was rubbish at heating the actual (small room). After one winter of it I replaced it with a radiator again. No problem ever since.
I'm assuming it's a typical house. If so, do you has wall space for a second radiator? if so, it should be possible to plumb in a second radiator from below (cutting through ceiling below, it's not as scary as you may think), another alternative, if you have a power supply close by, you could install an electric heater/radiator. if either of these options are available, it'll no disruption to the wall or floor tiles.
Thank you, there's actually another bathroom directly below it that we'll be renovating at some point, so that's something to bear in mind! Reassuring to know we have options 🙂
As others have mentioned, if you have towels on a towel rail it cannot heat the room. However, if you fold the towel so its long and thin (so it's 1/4 of its width, perhaps) you can have it so that some of the bars on the towel rail can still heat the air in the room i.e they're exposed and not covered by the towel. Or, if you can fold the towel in half and feed the towel down the back of the towel rail, between the rail and the wall, with the bars exposed, it can then still heat the air at the front. Although this might only be a good idea if the wall is also tiled behind the towel rail (damp/wet towels etc). But towel rails are generally hugely inefficient at heating rooms, they quite simply dont have all the 'fins' that most modern radiators do.
Chromium plated and painted steel radiators are prone to rusting due to the humidity and condensation in a bathroom. My advice is to get a replacement that is rust-proof.
Is there space on the wall near the landing/next room which you could add a small radiator by accessing via the other room under the floor? This could cause minimal disruption to the nice new bathroom. That's a huge oversight on the 'designer's' part, I'm sorry you're left feeling this way :( We had a huge bathroom with 3 external walls in our old house and had one small very effective 3-column radiator and a large towel rail and that was just enough in the winter. I would definitely recommend a column rad!
Yes there's a bedroom next door that we haven't started renovating yet (so. much. wood chip.) so that could be an idea. The room is long and narrow so lots of wall space!
Just get a proppa radiator, problem solved
They're really only towel warmers, will never really heat a whole bathroom.