Anybody using heated towel rails?

[wylie]

I'm at the pointy end of arranging our bathroom remodel and keen to hear from anybody who uses heated towel rails. I've never had one, and have never thought I'm missing out on anything, but now is the time to install one when we gut the room, even if we never use it ourselves.

I've looked at the ladder types and the single rails further apart with the wiring behind the wall types.

With the ladder style, do we drape the towel over the top rung so it touches several rungs to get warm?

If that is so, I could put two ladder types in this bathroom. There are only three of us using this room, so we could manage with two ladder rails. I cannot imagine any of us trying to weave our wet towel through the fiddly close-together rungs so one towel per ladder is how we'd probably use it. Is this right?

The other type I've seen is normal looking single towel racks with the power supply behind the wall sheeting. They can be installed like a ladder, but further apart, so three towels could be hung on the wall but the only part of the towel touching the heat would be where it is resting on the rung. Is this pointless?

Is the point of the ladder types that the towel is touching several of the heated rails?

Sorry for the silly question, but I've never used one.

I've googled the running costs of these and can see an "annual" cost of running one, but it is not clear if this is from running it all day, or do people just turn them on half an hour before they want a warm towel.

I'm in Brisbane, so our coldest days are not really that cold, but a warm towel would be nice.

I'm thinking of just going for it, and we can turn it on if we want to on the coldest nights. Or is it just a high end gimmick that is a waste of time and money.

 

[lizzie]

I am further south but would never intentially reno without one.

Towels (undies socks stockings etc) always dry so don't get that whiffy smell after a day or two when the weather is damp - warm in winter (but dry is more important) - don't need as much towel space as the towels can be folded rather than spread ...

 

[wylie]

I am further south but would never intentially reno without one.

Towels (undies socks stockings etc) always dry so don't get that whiffy smell after a day or two when the weather is damp - warm in winter (but dry is more important) - don't need as much towel space as the towels can be folded rather than spread ...

Ah! Folded and not spread. I hadn't thought of this, which explains why these ladder types are not wide enough for a full towel.

Do you leave it on all day, or turn it on before you want to shower with enough time for it to heat up?

And would a single heated rail per towel be useless (I guess so)?

 

[depreciator]

They're good. I put a ladder one in when I did my bathroom reno. As per Lizzie, I like them because they dry towels - especially in winter. The fact that they warm them, too, is incidental. People who are more energy conscious than me would run them in off peak times. I run ours when the towels and bathmats and other stuff need drying.

 

[Thunder]

Hi Wylie,

I have a big ladder one about 1500h x 700w. I love it, yes it's colder in Melb but its like having a fresh towel everyday and they don't smell.

We got the big one as we prefer bath sheet size towels and hang a folded towel from the top rung and a second towel half way down. We can also fit next to that a hand towel and folded floor mat. Great having a dry mat underfoot too.

We have ours on a timer for a couple hours around 5.30am and again at around 10pm at night. Depends on how many times you shower a day. You can of course change that with the seasons.

Do it, you won't regret it.

 

[neeko]

just put it in front of a heater if you want a warm towel. simple

 

[wylie]

just put it in front of a heater if you want a warm towel. simple

Ahhh!! Not so simple. The reason I'm looking at these is not because I want warm towels or have trouble drying towels in Brisbane (most of the time) but because I'm splitting up a shower over bath and this means I'm losing wall space. I should probably have said that earlier .

The ladder style towel rail means I can hang several towels on the part of the wall where we would normally hang only one.

I know I'm too lazy to thread a towel through one of these though, but if I buy a large one with a gap between the top ladder and bottom ladder sections (I've been looking on ebay) that will work for me.

I cannot believe how much time I've spent researching baths, shower sizes, fittings, tiles, toilets etc. First world problem I know, but I want to get it right seeing as I'll be living with it for the next 20 years.

 

[Ausprop]

had one in a previous house, really do miss that. never turned it off in 7 years

 

[Tillie]

I had one when we bought the house. Never used it, just normal handrail set on the top of ducted heating outlet did the better job. When renovated the bathroom got rid off it and never missed.

 

[neeko]

Ahhh!! Not so simple. The reason I'm looking at these is not because I want warm towels or have trouble drying towels in Brisbane (most of the time) but because I'm splitting up a shower over bath and this means I'm losing wall space. I should probably have said that earlier .

The ladder style towel rail means I can hang several towels on the part of the wall where we would normally hang only one.

I know I'm too lazy to thread a towel through one of these though, but if I buy a large one with a gap between the top ladder and bottom ladder sections (I've been looking on ebay) that will work for me.

I cannot believe how much time I've spent researching baths, shower sizes, fittings, tiles, toilets etc. First world problem I know, but I want to get it right seeing as I'll be living with it for the next 20 years.

well if thats the case you can get bathroom vanitys that have towel holes for them, you just roll them up and put them in, saving you a shitload of space! i had them in somerville and they were brilliant!!!!!

 

[geoffw]

Aldi have heated towel rails coming this week. About $70. I don't know if that is a good price. They can be self standing or wall mounted.

 

[Nemo30]

I've never had a heated towel rail and until I read this thread didn't realise what I was missing out on!

 

[lizzie]

I had one when we bought the house. Never used it, just normal handrail set on the top of ducted heating outlet did the better job. When renovated the bathroom got rid off it and never missed.

Ducted heating outlets would be nice too ... not very common outside Canberra tho

 

[fernfurn]

Timely topic, just renovated daughters bathroom and she hasnt any space for towel rails so I suggested heated. she was on the understanding that you have to turn them off once the towel is dry or else they are a fire hazard. Lovely to know you can get them with a timer.

 

[lizzie]

you don't have to turn them off as that don't give off that much heat to cause a fire - I used to leave mine on all winter

 

[wylie]

Update. Our sparkie called me this morning to see how the light is from our new LED spotlights that he installed last week.

I took the opportunity of asking him if we can do a heated towel rail. He knows he will be wiring up the new bathroom in a month, and he knows the room because we all stood in it discussing this last week.

We cannot do heated towel rail because it would be too close to the end of the bath. He said there cannot be anything electrical like that within 600mm of a "water envelope" or words like that. Our bath will take up the whole width at the end of the room under a window with less than 600mm between the edge and each wall, so it is a "no can do" situation.

I still may buy a ladder style because the only place on the walls we can do towel rails is at each end of the bath, and I don't want it to look like a commercial laundry with towels everywhere. It just won't be heated.

Thanks for all the feedback and help.

 

[lizzie]

Can you do a smaller version 600mm above the lip of the bath.

The rail doesn't need to envelope the entire towel as the heat travels through the towel itself - and two rungs at the top of the towel would suffice.