Towel Rad Heating Element Watts Question

[Swell1]

Hello, my electric Rica PW-1 towel heater element says 100 - 2000 watts.
I'm trying to work out the costs to use this and I cannot find a user manual online.
It has 9 numbers on the dail so is it number 1 is 100W and 9 is 2000W?
Any advice appreciated.
Thanks

 

[ericmark]

I have seen under floor heating using a chemical which increases in resistance as it gets warm so self regulating and variable wattage but seems unlikely same idea with a towel rail more likely the control is simply switching the element on/off, but however controlled the warmer it is the more power used.

My concern with a towel rail is if the water flows when the central heating is off. But would be interested to put an ammeter on the unit and see what it used, but not really worth the effort to actually test it.

 

[stem]

Generally electric towel thermostats have a thermostat that switches a fixed capacity heating element on and off to regulate the temperature. However, I have seen one that instead of switching the element on and off regulates it based on a % of its capacity. It maybe yours is like that.

It maybe that the controller is rated at 100W to 2000W so it can control any element between those ratings.

The example below can control a 2000W maximum element and can be regulated down to 20% of that.