Towel rails
 

SWMBO wants the rad in the bathroom replaced with a heated towel rail.

I've noticed that white ones give out more BTU's than chrome. For a
1000 x 550 the white ts rated at 1493 and the chrome at 1119.

And curved ones give out slightly more than flat.

Why's that then?


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

Towel rails
 

The Medway Handyman wrote:
SWMBO wants the rad in the bathroom replaced with a heated towel rail.

I've noticed that white ones give out more BTU's than chrome. For a 1000
x 550 the white ts rated at 1493 and the chrome at 1119.

Emissivity

And curved ones give out slightly more than flat.

Why's that then?


Presumably slightly greater surface area.

Tim

Towel rails
 

In article

, Tim+ writes
The Medway Handyman wrote:
SWMBO wants the rad in the bathroom replaced with a heated towel rail.

I've noticed that white ones give out more BTU's than chrome. For a 1000
x 550 the white ts rated at 1493 and the chrome at 1119.

Emissivity

And curved ones give out slightly more than flat.

Why's that then?

Presumably slightly greater surface area.

The overriding rule is that they give out next to fook all if there are
any towels on the rails. By all means have a towel rail rad but don't
expect it to heat the room, have a separate rad for that.
--
fred
it's a ba-na-na . . . .

Towel rails
 

On Sat, 15 Dec 2012 18:25:55 +0000, fred wrote:


The overriding rule is that they give out next to fook all if there are
any towels on the rails. By all means have a towel rail rad but don't
expect it to heat the room, have a separate rad for that.

Indeed. All form and no function. I've attached a row of coat hooks
above our smallish towel rad. Towels hang above and clear of rad.
Dries towels AND warms room.

Towel rails
 

In article ,
Simon Cee writes:
On Sat, 15 Dec 2012 18:25:55 +0000, fred wrote:


The overriding rule is that they give out next to fook all if there are
any towels on the rails. By all means have a towel rail rad but don't
expect it to heat the room, have a separate rad for that.

Indeed. All form and no function. I've attached a row of coat hooks
above our smallish towel rad. Towels hang above and clear of rad.
Dries towels AND warms room.

+1

Unheated towel rack well above the radiator in my case.

In a relative's bathroom I did a few years ago where SWMBO
required a heated towel rail, I put in underfloor heating
to actually heat the room.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

Towel rails
 

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
...
SWMBO wants the rad in the bathroom replaced with a heated towel rail.

I've noticed that white ones give out more BTU's than chrome. For a 1000
x 550 the white ts rated at 1493 and the chrome at 1119.

And curved ones give out slightly more than flat.

Why's that then?


Allegedly chrome is less conductive to heat than white paint.
And a curved towel rail has more surface area (longer pipes) than a flat one
of the same overall width.

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

Towel rails
 

On Saturday, 15 December 2012 18:03:48 UTC+1, The Medway Handyman wrote:
SWMBO wants the rad in the bathroom replaced with a heated towel rail.



I've noticed that white ones give out more BTU's than chrome. For a

1000 x 550 the white ts rated at 1493 and the chrome at 1119.



And curved ones give out slightly more than flat.



Why's that then?

Curved has a bit more surface area than flat.
If you really want your chromed towel rail to put out maximum heat, respray it mat black. It'll look ****in' 'orrible, but will be more efficient.

Towel rails
 

In article ,
writes:
If you really want your chromed towel rail to put out maximum heat, respray it mat black. It'll look ****in' 'orrible, but will be more efficient.

In the infra-red, most paints are close enough to matt black (even
white paint). The common things which aren't are some metalic
surfaces, such as copper and chrome.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

Towel rails
 

On 15/12/2012 17:03, The Medway Handyman wrote:
SWMBO wants the rad in the bathroom replaced with a heated towel rail.

I've noticed that white ones give out more BTU's than chrome. For a
1000 x 550 the white ts rated at 1493 and the chrome at 1119.

And curved ones give out slightly more than flat.

Why's that then?


I threw out a towel rail and fitted a radiator, simply for warmth.

To cope with the towels I fitted an Ikea Grundtal shelf with some of the
bars removed. I cut it down a bit, so it does not stick out as much as
the shelf would.

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/00011428/

I would tell SWMBO that she has a choice between a stylish but freezing
bathroom with a towel rail, or keeping the rad and fitting a rail above it.

Towel rails
 

"Andrew Gabriel" wrote in message ...

In article ,
Simon Cee writes:
On Sat, 15 Dec 2012 18:25:55 +0000, fred wrote:


The overriding rule is that they give out next to fook all if there are
any towels on the rails. By all means have a towel rail rad but don't
expect it to heat the room, have a separate rad for that.

Indeed. All form and no function. I've attached a row of coat hooks
above our smallish towel rad. Towels hang above and clear of rad.
Dries towels AND warms room.

+1

Unheated towel rack well above the radiator in my case.


+1
works far better than a heated towel rail and far more useful to heat room

Towel rails
 

In article ,
GB writes:
I threw out a towel rail and fitted a radiator, simply for warmth.

To cope with the towels I fitted an Ikea Grundtal shelf with some of the
bars removed. I cut it down a bit, so it does not stick out as much as
the shelf would.

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/00011428/

Exactly what I did (without cutting down) - was much better
and cheaper than any of the real ones I could find.

Shortly after I mentioned doing this on here, they introduced
another version with half the bars, as a towel rail/shelf!

I would tell SWMBO that she has a choice between a stylish but freezing
bathroom with a towel rail, or keeping the rad and fitting a rail above it.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

Towel rails
 

On 16/12/2012 10:28, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
GB writes:
I threw out a towel rail and fitted a radiator, simply for warmth.

To cope with the towels I fitted an Ikea Grundtal shelf with some of the
bars removed. I cut it down a bit, so it does not stick out as much as
the shelf would.

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/00011428/

Exactly what I did (without cutting down) - was much better
and cheaper than any of the real ones I could find.

Shortly after I mentioned doing this on here, they introduced
another version with half the bars, as a towel rail/shelf!

I think that I got the idea from you. Thanks! :)




I would tell SWMBO that she has a choice between a stylish but freezing
bathroom with a towel rail, or keeping the rad and fitting a rail above it.

Towel rails
 

"fred" wrote in message ...

In article

, Tim+ writes
The Medway Handyman wrote:
SWMBO wants the rad in the bathroom replaced with a heated towel rail.

I've noticed that white ones give out more BTU's than chrome. For a
1000
x 550 the white ts rated at 1493 and the chrome at 1119.

Emissivity

And curved ones give out slightly more than flat.

Why's that then?

Presumably slightly greater surface area.

The overriding rule is that they give out next to fook all if there are any
towels on the rails. By all means have a towel rail rad but don't expect it
to heat the room, have a separate rad for that.

We have two white "ladder" style towel rails, both much taller than needed
just for the towels and they work well at both heating the room and drying
towels. I fitted electric elements in them both so they can be heated when
the central heating is off.

Mike

Towel rails
 

On Sat, 15 Dec 2012 17:03:48 +0000, The Medway Handyman
wrote:

SWMBO wants the rad in the bathroom replaced with a heated towel rail.

I've noticed that white ones give out more BTU's than chrome. For a
1000 x 550 the white ts rated at 1493 and the chrome at 1119.

And curved ones give out slightly more than flat.

Why's that then?

How big is your existing rad?

If it's between 450mm and 600mm wide I have a possible alternative
solution that I could be persuaded to part with (as in I bought it
years ago on the spur of the moment and it turned out not to fit our
bathroom radiator):

http://goo.gl/9IZlv

Towel rails
 

In article ,
The Medway Handyman wrote:
SWMBO wants the rad in the bathroom replaced with a heated towel rail.

I've noticed that white ones give out more BTU's than chrome. For a
1000 x 550 the white ts rated at 1493 and the chrome at 1119.

And curved ones give out slightly more than flat.

Why's that then?

Generally, replacing a properly sized rad with a towel rail will result in
a cold bathroom. Remember the towel rail is covered most of the time so
won't give it's rated output towards heating the room. Can you fit one in
addition to the rad? Nothing wasted if you have TRVs.

--
*Go the extra mile. It makes your boss look like an incompetent slacker *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Towel rails
 

On 15/12/2012 18:25, fred wrote:

The overriding rule is that they give out next to fook all if there are
any towels on the rails. By all means have a towel rail rad but don't
expect it to heat the room, have a separate rad for that.

We have four and all of the rooms are as warm as we need (even warmer
when Management tweaks the TRVs) even when they're loaded with towels.

It's just a case of sizing them correctly. Three (kitchen, shower room,
bathroom) are near enough 6' tall and the one in the toilet is ~3' tall.

--
F