Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Original poster

Ladder towel radiators- have them dual function or not?

29 replies

CurlyhairedAssassin · 05/02/2012 20:57

We are having a new bathroom fitted and were going to get one of those tall ladder towel radiator wotsits. I'd thought of paying a bit extra to have it made dual function so that it can be switched on when our central heating is off to dry our towels better or just to make the bathroom a bit more toasty when it's a bit too warm to have the CH on.

However the bathroom fitter was quite surprised when we said about the dual function bit as he hardly ever gets customers asking for that, they usually just want the radiator function. He doesn't reckon we would need the heat if the weather is too warm to have central heating off?

Is he right? Does anyone have a dual function one that they don't bother switching on if central heating is off? Or is it better to have that choice? I don't want to waste money on having the extra element fitted to work off the electrics if I won't end up making much use of it.

OP posts:
BoringSchoolChoiceNickname · 05/02/2012 21:01

I got it dual function despite my builder looking at me Hmm I do use the electric function in the summer to keep the towels warm and dry - it's not a must have but it is handy.

Pannacotta · 05/02/2012 21:05

We put a new shower room in last summer with dual fuel and we did use the electric option, was lovley to have warm towels even with the heating off.
Worth it IMHO.....

Quejica · 05/02/2012 21:12

Ours is plumbed in to our hot water pipes rather than the central heating system so is warm all year unless we turn it off.
It seems to work really well.

Grockle · 05/02/2012 21:19

I put mine in just on the heating. My builder wanted it to be dual purpose but I don;t need warm towels in summer and they dry properly anyway so it seemed pointless. I'm happy with mine.

Catsmamma · 05/02/2012 21:23

ours is one of two radiators that are never off....so similar to quejica

Something to do with the hot water/ch system.

Yorky · 05/02/2012 21:36

Ours is dual fuel - cos I'm spoilt and love warm towels Grin

AllPastYears · 05/02/2012 21:46

I'd like one like this. Ours is on the heating and when the heating's off the towels don't get dry. This is fine in winter but in summer we have the heating on for an hour or two each day and all the other radiators turned off just to get the towels dry.

MiladyGardenia · 05/02/2012 21:58

I would go for dual purpose if I was doing our bathroom again. We've found that our lovely summer weather Hmm isn't often up to the task of drying the towels properly and they go a bit musty. Don't really fancy putting the heating on just to dry them either.

Original poster
CurlyhairedAssassin · 06/02/2012 09:31

Dual fuel it is then! I was also thinking last night that it'd be quite handy if the central heating fails, as it usually does once a year. At least we'd have a warm bathroom!

Plus, DH sometimes gets up for work before the central heating comes on so if he could at least have a warm towel by the time he got out the shower that would be nice for him.

By the way, do these things have thermostatic radiator valves on like normal radiators? Or is it just "on or off" even when it's running off the central heating? I can check with the shop tomorrow but just wondered.

OP posts:
Yorky · 06/02/2012 10:41

We bought ours from www.geyser.co.uk here and you can choose dual or single fuel, and adjustable or on/off. Looks great and works beautifully.

When I say I'm spoilt we also have underfloor heating which is SO much nicer than a cold tile floor in the morning, and a really lazy easy way to dry the floor after 3DC in a bath!

amazonianwoman · 06/02/2012 14:06

Oh yes definitely dual, I'm thinking of taking out our central heating one and swapping for a dual function. The towels never dry during the summer when the heating is off.

Mandy21 · 06/02/2012 14:13

We had ours fitted so that we could use it independently to the heating. Few reasons :

  1. I used to have baths quite late at night - nice to warm bathroom / towels when heating wouldn't be on at that time of night.
  1. We had quite a large bathroom, fully tiled, should have had underfloor heating but cut corners (big mistake) and so the bathroom was quite cold - meant we could put towel radiator on at bathtime for children longer than the central heating was on for iyswim
  1. Summer time etc when the heating isn't on - lovely when you have babies / young children to wrap them up in warm towels when they get out of the bath.
Original poster
CurlyhairedAssassin · 06/02/2012 22:18

Thanks all, my mind is definitely made up now - dual fuel, definitely!

OP posts:
PigletJohn · 07/02/2012 12:19

have you got a hot water cylinder? If so then it is very easy, and convenient, to have it plumbed in so that it gets hot when the cylinder is being heated. You plumber will know how. With luck, the cylinder will be adjacent to the bathroom, so pipework quite short.

This is very convenient as it means the bathroom is warm while you have you bath, and the rail is hot when you put your towel over it afterwards.

Remember to have a TRV fitted to avoid wasting energy.

Energy from electricity costs two or three times as much as energy from gas, in the UK.

amazonianwoman · 07/02/2012 14:30

Pigletjohn now why didn't my plumber tell me that last week when he was here quoting for a new boiler and told me I'd have to buy new dual function rad, discard the existing (relatively new) ladder and employ an electrician to make the connection! The cylinder is virtually below the ladder towel rail.

What's a TRV?!

PigletJohn · 07/02/2012 14:34

perhaps he's not as clever as me

Thermostatic Radiator Valve.

My own bathroom rad is connected prior to the 3-port valve, so it gets hot if the heating is on, or if the cylinder is hreating, or both. That is less common but in my house was easy to do.

chocolatchaud · 07/02/2012 14:38

We had ones installed that just run with the heating - BIG MISTAKE!

It's great in the winter, but folded towels don't dry even in the summer, so we end up with them hanging over the banister and doors - grr!

PigletJohn · 07/02/2012 14:56

you can add an element to an existing radiator or towel rai www.screwfix.com/search.do;jsessionid=SSJhPx6HVxh6nzPGhKjM9nYLQsQgzTzpQJyvYlpwqL6X7ZvXb6yL!-1489140097?fh_search=radiator+element

it is essential to put it at the bottom, radiators sometimes collect gas or air at the top until bled, and the element must be immersed.

So you might need a plumber to change the flow pipe position, as well as an electrician to fit the FCU.

Chickengirl · 07/02/2012 16:32

Could you have one attached to the cylinder if the rest of the house is warm air heated, Pigletjohn?

PigletJohn · 07/02/2012 17:08

if the cylinder is heated by a hot water circuit from the boiler, yes, but warm air heating is uncommon in UK so I don't know if that's how they work.

amazonianwoman · 07/02/2012 20:48

You're right, he's not much cop whereas you are are Very Knowledgeable Grin He also quoted a ridiculous price to replace our 18 year old boiler so I won't be using him again. I'm guessing that what you are pr

amazonianwoman · 07/02/2012 20:51

Oops flipping phone. What you are proposing won't work if we switched to a combi boiler? Thanks for your expertise (not sure I understand it all! But will ask the right questions to the next plumber!)

Oh and what's an FCU?!

PigletJohn · 07/02/2012 22:08

A combi boiler does not (usually*) have a cylinder, so there will be no boiler:cylinder pipes to tap into to run the towel rail.

Occasionally people run the hot water supply through a towel rail, but unless it is a very expensive solid brass one, it will rust through in no time, and will also delay hot water arriving at the taps.

FCU is a Fused Connection Unit Sometimes inaccurately called a Fused Spur.
You are allowed one in a bathroom. You are not allowed a plug and socket in a bathroom (there are extra rules about zones and distances from a fixed bath or shower that I will not tell you)

*It is actually technically no problem to have a cylinder even if you have a combi. A combi is good for hot showers, but domestic ones are very slow to fill a bath, and are a nuisance if someone turns on another tap in the house at the same time. However most householders think that an extra cubic metre of space in the airing cupboard will solve all their storage problems, as if they will not just find and extra metre of junk to store, and installers like the ease and speed they can bung a combi in, and be off to the next job, pausing only to sell your old copper cylinder and pipes to the scrapyard, so it is not often done.

amazonianwoman · 08/02/2012 00:00

Ah yes thanks, yes I know what an FCU is when explained in full Smile

Am I right in thinking you favour a conventional boiler + cylinder over a combi then? Space isn't an issue, existing ancient boiler + large cylinder are both in the garage, kids still have baths rather than showers (probably only for couple more years though), largish 4 bed, 2 bathroom house with around 18 radiators.

Appreciate your expertise & honesty. And apologise for thread hijack Blush

PigletJohn · 08/02/2012 00:16

2 bathrooms, I wouldn't have a combi.

Run the kitchen cold tap into a bucket, time it, calculate how many litres per minute you get. It might be about 12lpm.

With a combi, that's the maximum total flow you will get, from all taps in the house, hot and cold, added together, at any one time.

So that could be one bath and one shower at 6lpm each. A 120 litre bath would take 20 minutes to fill. Or you're in the shower at 12lpm and somebody flushes a WC. While the cistern fills, your shower loses flow. Same if there is a washing machine that starts to fill, or someone turns on the kitchen cold tap to fill the kettle. None of this matters if you have a 1-bed flat and only ever turn on one tap at a time.