How can I heat the hot water towel rails without putting the heating on ?

[Talay]

My property has gas central heating without a tank running a NCB700 ON combi gas boiler.

The central heating works fine and I have unlimited hot water on demand but the existing towel rails in my bathrooms are fed from the central heating system.

We never use the "hot water" option as without a tank, we never need, just hot water, so that bit of programming is never used.

I am thinking if the system could be adapted so that if we chose the hot water on 24/7/365, it would just feed the towel rails.

With the warmer weather coming, the heating won't be on enough to heat the towel rails enough and I am loathe to strip them out and replace with electric or a dual fuel.

Any thoughts or ideas most welcome. Thanks.

 

[danfre]

Simplest solution would be to have dual towel rail that is heated by electric as well as central heating.
The other solution would involve altering pipework and installing zone valves which would no doubt be much more expensive
Or just turn off all the other radiators

 

[ericmark]

What will work, and what is economically viable, are not the same. My own towel rail is off all summer, the boiler could heat towel rail and DHW, but I found using 5 times as much energy to use oil to using electric, so even if oil 5 times cheaper, it still means only the same cost, and with off-peak oil is not 5 times cheaper.

As to cost to run a combi boiler v an electric under sink heater, not in a position to find out. Distance boiler to tapes means every home is different, but the phrase was "the price of a match" from the days of steam hauled trains, it is how much it costs to heat up the boiler, even if no hot water/steam is used.

So it is not what it costs to heat up a towel rail, but what it costs to heat up all the pipework and boiler as well, maybe even include cost to run the AC to cool the house where DHW has heated up the house.

With TRVs on all radiators should be able to heat just the towel rail, and fitting an element in the towel rail also should work, but if the water circulates, then that element may heat more than the towel rail, so is the easiest method simply an electric towel rail?

We have been debating under sink electric water heater v using the cylinder, latter feeds all 5 outlets, so we have continued using the immersion heater, have not got a combi boiler any more, but late mothers house even with boiler next to the sink, with Eco on, i.e. it does not hold a small tank of hot water inside the boiler, we would get nearly a bowl of cold water before the hot arrived, so there must be a bowl of water in the pipes and boiler, which is cold by time we run a tap again.

Combi boiler for a bath or shower, very cheap, but cost just to wash hands in hot water, after going to loo, seems rather high. I tend to use cold instead.

 

[Talay]

Simplest solution would be to have dual towel rail that is heated by electric as well as central heating.
The other solution would involve altering pipework and installing zone valves which would no doubt be much more expensive
Or just turn off all the other radiators

Yeah, we have being doing the other radiators off thing for a couple of years but it is a PITA !

 

[Talay]

For contrast, I have a 600w electric towel rail and I can't honestly work out the cost to run it except that 0.6kW x 24 x say 20p per kWh would be £2.88 per day or £86 per month which seems implausible.

Is my maths wrong ?

 

[endecotp]

For contrast, I have a 600w electric towel rail and I can't honestly work out the cost to run it except that 0.6kW x 24 x say 20p per kWh would be £2.88 per day or £86 per month which seems implausible.

Is my maths wrong ?

Does that seem too high or too low to you?

20p per kWh seems rather cheap.

I think that a 600W electric towel rail will not not be running constantly, unless it is very large, i.e. there will be a thermostat of some kind. So the average power will be a fair bit less than 600W.

 

[ericmark]

Is my maths wrong ?

I think that a 600W electric towel rail will not not be running constantly, unless it is very large, i.e. there will be a thermostat of some kind. So the average power will be a fair bit less than 600W.

I would agree, I would temporarily fit with a plug and run through a monitor,

or turn everything else off, and use the smart meter.

 

[Talay]

Does that seem too high or too low to you?

20p per kWh seems rather cheap.

I think that a 600W electric towel rail will not not be running constantly, unless it is very large, i.e. there will be a thermostat of some kind. So the average power will be a fair bit less than 600W.

If it was thermostatic then yes, it would regulate by temperature but if not thermostatic, it would presumably just keep drawing 600w ?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Yeah, we have being doing the other radiators off thing for a couple of years but it is a PITA !

For a cheaper, simpler install - Maybe consider, some other type of self-contained electric heater, and include thermostat, and timer to limit when it is on.

 

[robinbanks]

Yeah, we have being doing the other radiators off thing for a couple of years but it is a PITA !

You can get electronic remote controlled thermostat valves you could do at the tap of an app button. While you’re packing up in Spain to return home too, for example

Google “smart tmv” or “wireless radiator valve” etc

 

[Lower]

I have a towel radiator that is heated by the central heating in the winter and a 600w electric element in the summer. I control the electric element with a wifi relay that also measures power consumption. I turn it on for an hour and twenty minutes each day around the time we finish showering just to dry the towels. It's usually on from May to September. Last year the peak month for power consumption was June where it used 16kwh.

Edit: i actually don't turn it on around the time we finish showering, i have it scheduled to turn on at 4.00am whilst we're getting the benefit of cheap overnight electricity with our EV tariff. But it being on for an hour and twenty minutes is sufficient to keep it warm enough to dry the towels after we finish showering at about 7.30am.

We currently pay £0.05/kwh so £0.80 in the most expensive month.