My electric towel element is cr*p!! Why?

[matt84]

Hi

I put in a heated towel rail that runs off both the boiler and a Rico Aquarius electric element.

The central heating makes it it give out an insane amount of heat.

However, close the valves and leave one slightly open then flick the fused spur and it's a complete flop.

I can leave it on for a good few hours and it gets barely warm to the touch. Now the rating is right for the size of the rail and it's getting power.

It's thermostatic so I'm trying to get it hot but I may as well bin it.

Now is this common or I do have a faulty element?

Thanks

 

[JohnD]

How many watts is the electric element?

Why don't you have a TRV on it?

 

[bazdaman]

Whats a trv got to do with anthing? If the element is sized right and not heating the rail it could be faulty isthe stat turned up full? Can you check resistance on element?

 

[JohnD]

Whats a trv got to do with anthing?

"Insane amount of heat"

How many watts do you think "sized right" means?

 

[matt84]

Insane as in it gets very hot and worms very efficiently. Boiler says about 75 degrees in the CH for water.

The element is 300w but after a couple of hours I bleed it to check how hot the water is and it's just luke warm.

Towel rail is possibly about 1m?

I know they're not meant to be as hot as central heating but it's awful.

Thanks for the replies

 

[matt84]

Also the stat is up to the Max. Still luke warm.

 

[bernardgreen]

If the water valves are open then maybe some of the "electric" heat is being carried away from the towel rail by water flowing through the towel rail.
I did read

close the valves and leave one slightly open

With only 300 watts of heat it will not need much water flow to keep the towel rail cool. A leaky valve ( not totally shut ) will allow enough water to flow. And it won't need much air flow over the towel rail to dissipate 300 watts of heat either.

 

[Jackrae]

With the central heating pump OFF, the element will take about 30 minutes to build up any detectable warmth. 300 watts is pretty low value for a decent sized towel rail but, as you haven't detailed dimensions, it's difficult to give a decent answer. As others have stated ANY flow of water will dissipate the heat as fast as it's generated.

I have element heaters in my towel rails but only use them when CH is OFF and hence I don't need to fiddle about with valves.

 

[simond]

If you turn both valves off and the electric heater on - better hope there's some air in the rad.....

From what you say, the element is not working correctly, so change it. Evohome is an excellent, but expensive way, of getting towel rails to come on at demand. And it will soon run/monitor your alarm and CCTV, too.