Electric towel rails

[Teeth2k]

Are they expensive to run?


Can they be fitted to immersion heaters?

 

[sparkwright]

Depends what you call expensive, and how long you use it for.

Ideally any water heater circuit shouldn't have anything else tapped into it, so I wouldn't recommend it - though it does happen a lot.

There may well be another way of connecting the towel rail, from a nearby socket circuit perhaps.

 

[Teeth2k]

Well if the rail was on for say a few hours in the morning and a few at night

 

[EFLImpudence]

The wattage varies and so, therefore, does the cost but they are usually quite low.

If you mean can they be connected to the immersion heater circuit -
if is is the 'usual' 15/16A immersion circuit, then yes as long as done properly, of course.

 

[flameport]

Compared to other fuels, electricity is usually the most expensive by far.
Best avoided unless there is no other option.

 

[Teeth2k]

We only have electric so I'm looking into options for winter heating

 

[EFLImpudence]

Ideally any water heater circuit shouldn't have anything else tapped into it

That's not really true.

Alter the label on the CU and then it becomes a dedicated water heater/towel rail circuit.

 

[westie101]

as the electrical size seems to vary use

Electrical power in Watts divided by 1000 x your unit cost of electricity per kilowatt hour.
That will give you the hourly cost

 

[winston1]

As an approx each watt on 24/7 equals £1 per year.

 

[Teeth2k]

So 200watt £200 a year?

 

[Taylortwocities]

We only have electric so I'm looking into options for winter heating

Your average electric towel rail is only about 120watts (a couple of the old style light bulbs). Its enought to dry and warm your towels,but won't heat the room up much/.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I wonder if a plumber could add a closed loop with pump to the cylinder to pass hot water through a wet kickspace heater?

 

[ericmark]

Towel rails vary from 60W to around 250W some are thermostatically controlled and some use water and some use oil to spread the heat along the rail.

Those using water may be able to connect to hot water system but clearly it's OK for immersion heater to warm towel rail but you don't want towel rail heating the cistern. Neither do you want the towel rail to be able to run dry.

I know in one house the hot water to all taps in bathroom ran through the towel rail so rail was warmed each time a tap was used. But not convinced it worked as one had to run so much water before taps got hot.

My towel rail runs off central heating so at this time of year it's not heated neither is there any need. Even with central heating running it is not hot all the time only hot when boiler kicks in. So likely a timer could heat towel rail twice a day and it would be enough.

 

[Diyisfun]

I recently fitted 2 electric towel rails, both with t/stats, so depending on the setting will alter the running cost.
One is 90w & I think the other is 120w, so if they are both on for 50% of the time you can do the maths.
I wish I had put them on a timer also, so bear that in mind.

 

[JohnW2]

So 200watt £200 a year?

That's actually a bit optimistic, since it implies that you can find electricity for about 11.4p per unit. Around £250 (about 14p per unit) might be more realistic.

However, that's for 24/7 - and assumes that it is 'on' for all that 24/7 which it may well not be, if there is a thermostat). If you ran it for, say, 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours at night, the cost would be one quarter of the above - and if it was not all-year-round, it would be even lower. It might also be appreciably lower still if the rail were thermostatically controlled.

Kind Regards, John