Hi All,

Happy Christmas / Bah Humbug (delete as appropriate).

In the olden times, it was recommended to plumb the towel rail into the hot water circuit rather than the heating circuit.

What was the thinking behind this?

And is it necessary today?

TIA

Chris

On 25/12/2019 08:27, wrote:
Hi All,

Happy Christmas / Bah Humbug (delete as appropriate).

In the olden times, it was recommended to plumb the towel rail into the hot water circuit rather than the heating circuit.

What was the thinking behind this?


Warm towels when you have a bath.

And is it necessary today?


Electric element and the rad on with the CH? Done it at lots of places I
have worked at. Usually just with a countdown timer.

And it's a Happy Christmas:-)

--
Adam

On Wed, 25 Dec 2019 00:27:50 -0800 (PST), wrote:

Hi All,

deleted Bah Humbug (delete as appropriate).

Not religious, not got young children, won't 'buy into' the whole
commercial deal. No tree, cards, presents or special food ... or
stress, but happy. [1]. ;-)

In the olden times, it was recommended to plumb the towel rail into the hot water circuit rather than the heating circuit.

Yeah, my Mums old gravity system is like that.

What was the thinking behind this?

I think the idea was that it not only dried any lightly damp towels
(pre tumble dryers and when it's damp outside) but also provided the
heat to the bathroom?

And is it necessary today?

With better insulated houses and tumble dryers then probably not?

I wonder what percentage of people, (living as a long term couple
especially) put a large towel in the washing machine then dry it
*every* time it's used, even after just a quick shower (rather than
just hanging it up to dry and be re-used)? I mean, you don't generally
use your hand towels only once do you?

I mean, it's not going to be 'dirty' as you have just washed and if
you have a quick dry down with a flannel first [2], not necessarily
even that wet?

Cheers, T i m


[1] I needed a USB pen drive yesterday and picked one up from Argos.
Luckily it wasn't too busy in there and the sales assistant commented
on it being a last minute Xmas present? I said 'no, it's just because
I need one myself now'. ;-)

[2] A trick we learned when motorcycle or cycle camping and only
having a travel towel each etc.

p.s. We also went to Toolstation, a pet shop and Sainsbury's for
'everyday stuff' and four were reasonably quiet, as was the traffic
(thank goodness). Roll on normality! ;-)

Yes well enjoying the rest from stuff, but apart from that a normal day
really. When you cannot see, I guess the pretty stuff and cards of Christmas
seem a wee bit pointless. Never let anyone tell you that being on your own
and being lonely are the same thing either. Certainly you can be lonely when
in a crowd of shoppers who seem to have nothing in common with you, just as
easily as when on ones own, its probably a state of mind, not anything to do
with other people.
Brian

--
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This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
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"T i m" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 25 Dec 2019 00:27:50 -0800 (PST), wrote:

Hi All,

deleted Bah Humbug (delete as appropriate).

Not religious, not got young children, won't 'buy into' the whole
commercial deal. No tree, cards, presents or special food ... or
stress, but happy. [1]. ;-)

In the olden times, it was recommended to plumb the towel rail into the
hot water circuit rather than the heating circuit.

Yeah, my Mums old gravity system is like that.

What was the thinking behind this?

I think the idea was that it not only dried any lightly damp towels
(pre tumble dryers and when it's damp outside) but also provided the
heat to the bathroom?

And is it necessary today?

With better insulated houses and tumble dryers then probably not?

I wonder what percentage of people, (living as a long term couple
especially) put a large towel in the washing machine then dry it
*every* time it's used, even after just a quick shower (rather than
just hanging it up to dry and be re-used)? I mean, you don't generally
use your hand towels only once do you?

I mean, it's not going to be 'dirty' as you have just washed and if
you have a quick dry down with a flannel first [2], not necessarily
even that wet?

Cheers, T i m


[1] I needed a USB pen drive yesterday and picked one up from Argos.
Luckily it wasn't too busy in there and the sales assistant commented
on it being a last minute Xmas present? I said 'no, it's just because
I need one myself now'. ;-)

[2] A trick we learned when motorcycle or cycle camping and only
having a travel towel each etc.

p.s. We also went to Toolstation, a pet shop and Sainsbury's for
'everyday stuff' and four were reasonably quiet, as was the traffic
(thank goodness). Roll on normality! ;-)

On Wed, 25 Dec 2019 00:27:50 -0800 (PST), wrote:

Hi All,

Happy Christmas / Bah Humbug (delete as appropriate).

In the olden times, it was recommended to plumb the towel rail into the hot water circuit rather than the heating circuit.

What was the thinking behind this?

And is it necessary today?

TIA

Chris
Have seen it done that way, on old CH systems, so that it acts as a
bypass loop, if both HW and CH zone valves are shut. These days regs
call for a bypass loop with an auto bypass valve in it where the pump
might be running when all zone valves are closed eg. on pump over run.

In article ,
wrote:
Hi All,

Happy Christmas / Bah Humbug (delete as appropriate).

In the olden times, it was recommended to plumb the towel rail into the
hot water circuit rather than the heating circuit.

What was the thinking behind this?


Once you'd filled the bath, the hot water would need replenishing, so you
had hot towels when you got out of the bath.

And is it necessary today?

That's up to you. I re-plumbed mine on to the heating circuit.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle

On Wed, 25 Dec 2019 09:26:57 -0000, "Brian Gaff \(Sofa 2\)"
wrote:

Yes well enjoying the rest from stuff, but apart from that a normal day
really.

Which is all it really is to millions of folk of course.

When you cannot see, I guess the pretty stuff and cards of Christmas
seem a wee bit pointless.

If you feel what you feel for others *anyway*, I'm not sure what some
fairy lights or a card offer extra, certainly over a visit or phone
call and chat? I would much rather forgo all that and really be there
for someone in need or know they were there for me. We stick 20 quid
in the Isabel Hospice box instead of all the cards we don't send and
the environment is happier as well. ;-)

Never let anyone tell you that being on your own
and being lonely are the same thing either. Certainly you can be lonely when
in a crowd of shoppers who seem to have nothing in common with you, just as
easily as when on ones own, its probably a state of mind, not anything to do
with other people.

Oh, absolutely ... and the same for many elderly especially is they
haven't embraced technology or had the opportunity to, helped by
family members and so can make new friends that way. My Mrs plays
Words with Friends and has made a few virtual friends as a result. My
Mum who is nearly 90 keeps in touch with her extended family through
her iPad and because she's hard of hearing, IM works very well for
her.

One of the most saddening things is to hear from someone caring for a
partner with dementia is that they miss having someone to talk to
(where 'to' used to equal an rational conversation). You are with
someone but they aren't often with you or it. ;-(

Cheers, T i m

On 25/12/2019 08:27, wrote:
Hi All,

Happy Christmas / Bah Humbug (delete as appropriate).

In the olden times, it was recommended to plumb the towel rail into
the hot water circuit rather than the heating circuit.

What was the thinking behind this?

It would get heated each time the cylinder is reheated - so that is
likely to be after you have drawn off significant amounts of hot water,
like filling a bath.

Some might also configure it as an "always open" path through the system
to create a bypass.

And is it necessary today?

Not often done. Dual fuel rails are probably more common.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 25/12/2019 08:27, wrote:
Hi All,

Happy Christmas / Bah Humbug (delete as appropriate).

In the olden times, it was recommended to plumb the towel rail into the hot water circuit rather than the heating circuit.

What was the thinking behind this?

And is it necessary today?

Heat dump on old gravity feed systems.

It was plumbed in parallel to the hot water tank to prevent the H/W tank
from boiling and spewing out boiling water (and steam) into the header tank.

My first house had a single pipe C/H system simply connected across the
gravity feed pipes from the coal fired Parkray supposedly using the
entire C/H as a heat dump but the single pipe system which had a
manually switched circulation pump under the lounge floorboards was so
useless the H/W tank used to pump steam into the loft space!

I ripped out the whole lot, put a thermostatic (hot water tank
thermostat) on the flow pipe from the parkray and one on the H/W tank to
automate the whole process so when the fire was lit the gravity flow
(rising) pipe fire the circulation pump which initially heated the hot
water tank and as soon as that reached the temp on the tank stat the 3
port valve would then divert all water through the Central heating.

It worked brilliantly but I still added a heat-dump radiator on the
landing bypassing all valves etc just in case the valve, pump or t/stat
failed so there was always a directly connected escape route for the hot
water given that it was an un-switchable solid fuel source.

On 25/12/2019 08:27, wrote:
Hi All,

Happy Christmas / Bah Humbug (delete as appropriate).

In the olden times, it was recommended to plumb the towel rail into the hot water circuit rather than the heating circuit.

What was the thinking behind this?

And is it necessary today?

TIA

Chris

It's sometimes useful to warm the towels while the hot water is being
heated - including in the summer when the central heating is off.

But I wouldn't want that as the only source of heating in the bathroom
for two reasons:
1.Towel rails have a low heat output and are not a lot of use for space
heating.
2. In the winter, you usually need to heat the bathroom whenever the CH
is on - not just when the HW is being heated

--
Cheers,
Roger

The central heating system my parents installed in the 60s was a single pipe pumped system controlled by a room stat for the CH whilst the DHW was gravity feed relying on the boiler thermostat to control water temperature. I do believe the bathroom radiator was hooked into the DHW system.

Richard

On 25/12/2019 20:27, Tricky Dicky wrote:
The central heating system my parents installed in the 60s was a single pipe pumped system controlled by a room stat for the CH whilst the DHW was gravity feed relying on the boiler thermostat to control water temperature. I do believe the bathroom radiator was hooked into the DHW system.

Richard


That would make sense in that case, because the bathroom radiator would
be hot whenever the boiler was running, unlike a fully pumped zoned system.

--
Cheers,
Roger

In message ,
writes

In the olden times, it was recommended to plumb the towel rail into the
hot water circuit rather than the heating circuit.

What was the thinking behind this?

I think ideally a bathroom would have a radiator on the CH side and
towel rail on the DHW side so that the towel rail still gets hot during
the summer, providing a nice warm towel for drying, then drying the
towel afterwards.
--
Graeme

On 25/12/2019 09:56, charles wrote:
In article ,
wrote:
Hi All,

Happy Christmas / Bah Humbug (delete as appropriate).

In the olden times, it was recommended to plumb the towel rail into the
hot water circuit rather than the heating circuit.

What was the thinking behind this?


Once you'd filled the bath, the hot water would need replenishing, so you
had hot towels when you got out of the bath.

I would only replenish it the next time I needed a bath.




--
Adam