Bathroom and bedroom heating options

[stargirl04]

Hi guys,

I'm wondering if anyone can help?

I have a small bathroom with a shower and the only form of heating is a not very efficient wall-mounted towel rail, which takes forever to heat up - about an hour! It will cost a fortune to keep it on constantly and is therefore not practical.

So I'm looking for a safe bathroom heater that will give me instant heat. (But not a plinth heater).

I understand that infra-red or fan heaters are the best option. Can anyone recommend anything that is good and gives off good, instant heat, which is safe in the shower room? I'd prefer something that isn't too noisy but realise that may be asking too much.....

Also, I want a wall-mounted ultra-slim electric heater for my bedroom - does anyone know of a good one please?

I have some modern wall-mounted heater in my lounge that was installed by the previous occupants - it looks nice but it's rubbish. Hence my request for recommendations :-)

My flat is electricity only.

Many thanks in advance!
Stargirl

All electric panel and convection heaters are equally efficient in the amount of heat they give out per unit of electricity. 1kWh of electricity gives 1kWh of heat.

Some fraudsters will try to convince you that they can produce more heat from less electricity. It is not true and it is a trick to make you pay a higher price for a magic heater.

So you just need to decide how much you want to pay and what you like the look of. Dimplex are stylish and expensive, Glen are not.

Browse here

I prefer oil-filled heaters because they give out a more even heat, and do not have high-temperature elements. Some other heaters can start a fire if you make the mistake of draping clothes on them, or if a curtain touches them. They are not thin, though.

For a medium to large bedroom I would get a 2kW or 3kW heater with hi/med/low settings. The low setting will be about 500W-700W and adequate overnight once you have warmed the room quickly with a higher setting.

Get a heater with a thermostat to maintain your chosen temperature, but not a timer because that is the part that will go wrong.

As you have an all-electric flat, have you considered "Economy 7" type tariffs? They are not as good as gas CH but worth looking at, because heat from full-price electricity costs three times as much as heat from gas.

And for the bathroom, if you want to heat it quickly, I would suggest an infra-red heater which is quick and silent. I would go for a 1200W one which should be more than you need (better than paying the same price for one that is less than you need) and will warm the room quickly. It is essential that you have a good bathroom extractor fan. A room that is not continually warm will be prone to condensation.

It will need to be connected to the socket circuit and you will need an electrician who is a member of a self-certification scheme such as NICIC (look at their website). The circuit needs to be connected to an RCD and probably bonded to the pipework. The heater should be out of reach close to the ceiling and far away from the bath or shower.

Hi PigletJohn - great to hear from you and I hope you're well!

Thanks so much for your sterling advice.

(That pipe leak you told me how to fix last February hasn't come back either! )

I am already on an Economy 7 tariff, but the heaters in my flat are conventional heaters and therefore don't "store" heat overnight when the cheaper Economy 7 tariff kicks in.

As the previous occupants removed the heater from the wall in my main bedroom (which is quite small, at about 10 and a half foot by 10 foot), I'm currently heating it with a portable Argos electric heater that has different heat settings (it's a very efficient heater and was an absolute bargain for about £22 two years ago). But it gets in the way and I'd prefer a slimline one attached to the wall.

Thanks for your recommendations - I'll be having a look at them.

The only thing with the bathroom heater is that you say I need a very good extractor fan.

That's the problem: the extractor fan I have in my bathroom, which looks old and doesn't have a brand name, does work but isn't great. It takes quite some time to clear all the steam from the bathroom. So bearing that in mind, would it be dangerous to use the same heater, as it does seem to be just what I'm looking for.

Having it connected to the socket circuit etc by an approved electrician etc sounds an expensive job. Do you have rough idea how much that would cost as I haven't a clue (I'm in London).

Many thanks!
Stargirl

Oh, and the bathroom doesn't have any windows either..... if this is useful or relevant....

Perhaps another option is just to get a much taller towel heater to replace the existing shorter one?

I spoke to an electrician about the bathroom heater yesterday as he came round to get it working, and he said I should get a new towel heater - the same as the one I've got, but a taller one reaching up to the top of the door, or slightly above.

He said the reason my existing heater takes so long to heat up is because it's old and hasn't been used for a long time. But a new heater would heat up much more quickly.

Would a towel rail that's twice as tall efficiently heat the bathroom fairly swiftly?

First pic is the existing heater; second pic is the wall space above which the taller heater would take up.

Thanks for reading:

Towel rails are not much good as heaters, especially when they are wrapped in a thick insulating layer of towels to stop the heat escaping.

You could replace your towel rail with a more powerful heater (this would save the cost of having a new electrical outlet fitted) and have a non-heated rail or rings on the wall. They should not be in a position where they can fall or flop onto the heater. Or preferably a more powerful and wider (not taller) rail. Tall rails and tall radiators send the heat to the ceiling, which is only useful if you are a spider. Turn off the MCB for your sockets to confirm that the heater is connected to your socket circuit and not the lighting circuit.

Try to see if your existing fan goes into a 100mm duct or if it is bigger. There should be a fan isolating switch to turn it off before you touch it. Does it go through the wall or the ceiling? Post a photo. I expect it is a cheap 80cu.m builders fan.

Age and lack of use does not electric heaters work any worse than new ones. There might possibly be a wattage marked on yours. It will still be the same power as when it was new.

I just looked up some electric towel rails, and they were mostly in the 60W to 200W range, which is not powerful enough to heat a room. The most powerful was 350W.

IMO a bathroom needs 500-1000W, with a thermostat to prevent it getting too hot.

Thanks guys - this is really helpful info.

Downstairs mix-up: what brand of fan heater do you have? And is it noisy? And which bedroom heater do you have please?

Piglet John: Thanks for this - good job I didn't go for that tall towel rail there and then, as the electrician said he could get one and do the job for me that day. I was very tempted to go for it and have the problem sorted out - but thought it best to have a think about it. Glad I did!

I'll get a picture of the bathroom ceiling fan - it is so noisy and not even very good. I don't know where the switch is to turn it off though, so daren't touch it!

The writing on the radiator (see pic to come) - if it makes any sense - is: I-9 HT54766 W150 V230 1090326901 IP64.

Thanks so much once again

Piglet John - here are those pics. Will have to run now to get to work on time and won't finish till after midnight so won't get a chance to post much till tomorrow.

Thanks so much - really, really appreciate your help!

IP64 means it is protected against water splash so safe to use in a bathroom

W150 means that it is 150 watts, which might be enough to warm your towels, but not to heat a room.

You might find a panel heater that has a towel rail attached to the front, ask Dimplex to send you a catalogue. I think 600Watts is the minimum worth looking at.

If you go for a fan heater or an infrared, it will have to be up high and away from the bath and shower, so unless there is already an electrical outlet it will be more costly to fit, and need redecoration. Or possibly the wall could be drilled through from the airing cupboard.

Looking at your second picture, that is probably the round fan impeller you can glimpse. It will probably be either 100mm or 150mm diameter.

There should be a fan isolating switch inside or close to the bathroom, so you can make it safe for cleaning and maintenance. Go to my TLC link and search "fan isolating switch" it is like a light switch but with a much wider rocker.

Hi Piglet John,

Sorry it's taken me a couple of days to get back to you.

I found the isolating switch for the extractor fan in the bathroom - I would REALLY like to have it replaced anyway as it is so awfully noisy.

The whole unit seems to be about 140mm wide at either side, and the recess beneath that is smaller, I measured it at about 135mm, but don't know what on earth I'm doing anyway so what do I know?

I've also been searching for NICEIC approved electricians too and have shortlisted a few. Thanks for this tip as I would probably have unwittingly got some dodgy geezer in.

So if I got that crappy extractor fan replaced I could get the nice, silent IR heater. Or I could live with the fan heater I suppose. I accept it may involve rewiring but one of the contractors I found will give me a free quote and it might still be cheaper than installing another alternative.

The other option is to get a proper wall radiator with towel rail, as per Dimplex - but I'm not crazy about the aesthetics of it.

I would prefer something like this
www.diy.com/departments/kudox-vertice-radiator-chrome-h800-w600mm/34687_BQ.prd

But it is less than 400W - my bathroom is small though - it measures 6ft by 8ft with average height ceilings (newish build flat).

But not very practical as it leaves me without a towel rail, which I would then have to buy and have installed etc.....

You've got me thinking anyway, PigletJohn....

Many thanks!