The clue is in the moniker; heated towel rails offer an excellent manner for making sure your towels are kept dry and cosy warm to the touch.
But how do heated towel rails actually work?
This blog will cover every aspect you need to know to get the very best heated towel rail performance possible. We’ll touch upon how to turn heated towel rails on and off, and explain the differences in operation between gas and electric versions, as well as dual fuel towel rails and more.
Read on to discover all the essentials surrounding heated towel rails and how they work.
Exploring How Different Heated Towel Rails Work
There’s a significant difference in the ways that different types of towel rails work, comparing gas or central heating heated towel rails with electric HTR models and dual fuel towel rails too. Below is a synopsis of how alternate types of heated towel rails work.
How Do Central Heating Heated Towel Rails Work?
Firstly, central heating heated towel rails will operate largely by the same token as the most common household heating solution, hot water radiators. They draw hot water from the main boiler or central heating supply, which in turn courses through the heated towel rails to allow them to warm up and leave you with lovely snug towels to wrap up in. This also allows them to heat your bathroom, or other spaces like the kitchen or hallway, accordingly.
How Do Electric Heated Towel Rails Work?
There’s a different answer entirely to the question of how electric heated towel rails work. It is true that electric towel rails do not require a hot water supply to heat up, and therefore don’t need to be connected to a household piping network. They instead operate independently and are simply plugged in to be powered by the mains electricity supply in a home.
With that known, how electric heated towel rails heat up owes to an included electric heating element of which there are two main types – standard and thermostatic.
The standard single heating elements make sure electric heated towel rails remain at a specified set temperature when turned on. By contrast, the thermostatic versions enable users to adjust their electric towel rail temperature whilst in use. All electric heated towel racks are filled with a mixture of water and inhibitor solution to prevent corrosion. These elements heat up when the towel rails are switched on, in turn warming up the fluid within to allow the device to distribute heat around the room.
How Do Dual Fuel Heated Towel Rails Work?
Finally, dual fuel heated towel rails are the other towel rail type to assess the workings of. In many regards, dual fuel towel rails offer the best of both worlds – they connect to a household central heating system but include an electric heating element too, so they can work separately from the boiler as well.
The profile of dual fuel heated towel racks has much appeal in the warmer months of the year, where you might only want to heat individual rooms such as the bathroom, with no requirement for the heating to be turned on throughout the home.
This degree of flexibility is undoubtedly one of the determining factors in the rising popularity of dual fuel towel rails on the whole.
How To Turn Heated Towel Rails On And Off
As is to be expected from different variations of heated towel rails, they are switched on and adjusted in different ways in terms of gas versions, electric towel racks, and dual fuel models.
For standard gas towel rails, there isn’t an on/off switch as such, and the devices will generally heat up in line with the household central heating being turned on. Contrastingly, electric heated towel rails are wired into the electrical supply of the home, so can provide an economical and energy efficient performance in turning on and off at the simple flick of a switch. Further to this, they can be used to just warm up a single room or space when needed as opposed to the entire building.
In the case of how dual fuel towel rails work, again it is a case of either/or and the best of both worlds in how you wish for them to operate. The appliances will connect to the central heating system and warm up when the boiler is at full throttle, but they also have an additional switch for the use of the electric mode when necessary. In order to actually adjust to the central heating supply, it will typically take the turning of the input valve in an anti-clockwise direction as far as possible.
How Much Does It Cost To Install Heated Towel Rails?
Electric heated towel rails - £200
Central heating heated towel rails - £300
Dual fuel heated towel rails - £400
When you have selected your ideal heated towel rail design, whatever type it may be, you should consider how much it will cost to fit the towel rail.
You might be wondering which is the cheapest heated towel rail to install, and electric models would be the answer. An electric towel rail fitting can be completed by an electrician, who will add the wiring in behind or beneath flooring or tiles. You can expect to pay around £200 for an electric heated towel rail installation.
For hot water heated towel rails, the assistance of a professional plumber will be needed to team the device with the central heating system. This is the middle tier in terms of fitting outlay. You can expect to pay around £300 for a central heating heated towel rail installation.
Dual fuel towel rails are the most expensive type to install, as the services of both a plumber and an electrician are needed for a central heating connection and safe wiring. You can expect to pay around £400 for a dual fuel heated towel rail installation.
Can You Leave A Heated Towel Rail On All The Time?
It is safe to leave a heated towel rail on overnight and to keep them in near constant operation. But whether you should do is another matter.
As standard heated towel rails work alongside central heating, they’ll stay on in line with the boiler at a specified temperature without overheating. But, particularly in the summertime, it is not ideal to leave heated towel rails or other heating devices on all the time, and the likelihood is your central heating won’t be turned on constantly in these warmer periods either.
For modern towel rails that run off electricity and dual fuel models, they will tend to feature a timer function that enables them to shut off automatically at set times, so they are only used when required.
The latter practice is obviously recommended where possible in order to improve energy efficiency and keep heating bills as low as possible.
What Size Heated Towel Rail Do I Need?
A number of factors will determine what size heated towel rail you need, including if there are any additional heat sources in the bathroom, the size and height of the space, and what you want to actually achieve with the addition of a towel rack.
You can use our BTU Calculator to help work out what size heated towel rail you need.
Why Is My Towel Rail Not Heating Up?
If your towel rail is not heating up, the most common cause is trapped air within the system. Typically, you can bleed your heated towel rail the same way you would bleed a radiator to solve the issue.
Browse Our Heated Towel Rail Collection
Be sure to see our extensive collection of heated towel rails, and shop online with Bathroom Takeaway today. We supply an impressive range of stunning heated towel rails in many stunning designs, including straight towel rails and curved towel racks to meet your preferred style criteria.
There’s also multiple attractive colours to choose from, with anthracite heated towel rails and black towel racks just some alternative options to the traditionally most popular chrome towel rails.
Compare with models included in our Essential Radiator Buying Guide and decide for yourself are heated towel rails as good as radiators? Plus, our BTU Calculator can help you work out what size heated towel rail you need.
