Wet UFH for small bathroom or heated towel rail?

[MetricMs]

Hi, I’m completely redoing a small bathroom and I’d love some thoughts on wet UFH. One builder said that for the size I’d be better off just having a heated towel rack.

It’s a ground floor bathroom, I will be replacing the current floor tiles with new tiles. I don’t know what is under the tiles, the living areas are wood but the kitchen seems to be concrete, there’s a chance the bathroom is also concrete (1920’s house).

I have mould issues despite having a half decent fan as the room is so small. It’s my ‘family’ bathroom used by myself and teens (who spend far too long in there...). I thought that the UFH may help evaporate some of the condensation faster to help relieve the mould growth?

Any thoughts?

wet underfloor heating for me every time, and a heated towel rail too that can be switched on and off independently.

Having whole-house wet undrerfloor heating nearly convinced me to stay with XDH...

Lol my brain! What I am forgetting is that there are dual fuel towel radiators - gas and electric powered - so you can have benefit from the gas when the central heating is on, and electric in the summer. Perfect!

We have wet underfloor heating and the WC is on the same loop (or whatever you call it) as the entrance hall it is off from and works from the hall thermostat. It also has an electric heated towel rail, a window and an extractor fan. It works well.

Zone not loop!

If you are having a new window fitted get one with a trickle vent - it will also help

This is what we have. It is switched off and on at the bottom right. Yes, that's a cat bed (and cat) on the floor (underfloor heating is back on and the bathroom has the underfloor piping laid closest together).

I nag the house to switch it on when they go for a shower and fold their towels onto it when they're done during the months when we don't have the heating on. It seems to stop us getting damp towels.

We have electric UFH in our tiled bathrooms and they cost pennies to run. Also have large ladder towel rails so that the towels dry and can also use in summer if required. The towel rails can be heated as part of the wet heating system or used on electric. Wouldn't be without either and if you have tiled floors definately worth having the UFH as tiles are cold in the winter!

quite a lot of pennies I think.

If, for example, you have 1kW of electric heating, it will be about 17p per hour.

How many hours per day per year do you use it?

Energy from electricity costs about five times as much as energy from gas.

I plan on using wet UFH when I finally do the kitchen but it seems for such a small area electric won’t be such as issue (cost wise) in the bathroom. Although maybe I don’t really need it in there at all. I’ll check the running costs

I will get a dual fuel towel rail. The rail/radiator combos look brilliant @Tomatalillo I’ll see if I can find one that has enough actual towel rails for myself and the teens, so we’re not taking too much of the heat meant for the room, if that makes sense.

Thank you @PigletJohn I have taken note of both of those, would they be better than the airflow icon - if I’m reading the specs correctly the icon measures humidity whereas your suggestions measure airflow. Can I compare or am I best not to?

@Madcats I’m trying to keep my cats out of the bathroom!

@Purplewithred that ship sailed several years ago and UFH would not have persuaded me otherwise 😂

Thank you everyone for your suggestions - I feel like I have half a chance to spend my money wisely at least!

The Icon is not as powerful, and the larger S&P is about three times the power

however the Icon does have ability to trickle at low speed. I don't know how that would compare if you ran it 24 hours a day. Even at its full speed, I don't consider the Icon would be adequate for a steamy shower, but it would be enough for a bath or WC. Apart from the price, it is typical of the weak fans that builders usually fit.

If you run a 100mm duct via the room upstairs, you can get a ducted fan that will be quieter as well as more powerful. It is however quite rare and more expensive to have a bathroom extractor with variable speed.

If you already have a 100mm hole in the wall, it is fairly hard to enlarge it to 150mm, because the usual boring tool will not work. It would be easier to make a new hole.

Thank you PigletJohn!

@maofteens

Electric ufh is the way to go - much easier to install. Mind you I've only ever had heated towel rails in bathrooms and they heat them up just fine. But it would be nice not to have cold tiles floors!

electric is very expensive to run

OP, I have wet ufh on a larger area downstairs. It's great, but I don't think it'd be worth it in a small bathroom. I'd just go with a heated towel rack/ trendy radiator.

For mould issues you need to make sure you are squeegeeing after showers and opening windows

We have electric UFH and a dual-control towel rail. Heaven!

I have electric UFH and a heated towel rail in my new small ensuite. I love it - makes the room really warm. The main bathroom (not done by us) only has a heated towel rail and it does not heat the room and is so cold in winter!

@PigletJohn I'm interested about the hot water cylinder to heat towel rails (you mentioned upthread).

Am in a position to get this fitted (Emmy renovation is down to the walls - pipe work etc all ripped out).

We're looking at dual powered rads too for bathrooms etc (there'll be 3). Where can I learn more about these cylinders?

If you have a hot water cylinder near the bathroom, the boiler will send heat to the cylinder on demand. This will be when the timer is "HW ON" and the cylinder thermostat is below target temperature.

The pipes to the cylinder can be tapped to feed a small proportion of the flow to a radiator or towel rail.

An experienced heating engineer will be familiar with this.

If you have a conventional boiler and the 3-port valve is nearby (it is often in the airing cupboard) you can tap off the pipes upstream of it so the radiator will be heated both when the cylinder is being heated, and when the radiators are being heated. Modern system boilers may not support this.

The radiator or towel rail must have a TRV to prevent overheating the room.

We had a radiator removed and put a towel rail in. It’s freezing.
I’m currently waiting to have the radiator put back in.

A wide, low radiator with a towel rack on the wall well above it (so towels do not engulf the radiator) can be a reasonable compromise.

@PigletJohn

If you have a hot water cylinder near the bathroom, the boiler will send heat to the cylinder on demand. This will be when the timer is "HW ON" and the cylinder thermostat is below target temperature.

The pipes to the cylinder can be tapped to feed a small proportion of the flow to a radiator or towel rail.

An experienced heating engineer will be familiar with this.

If you have a conventional boiler and the 3-port valve is nearby (it is often in the airing cupboard) you can tap off the pipes upstream of it so the radiator will be heated both when the cylinder is being heated, and when the radiators are being heated. Modern system boilers may not support this.

The radiator or towel rail must have a TRV to prevent overheating the room.

Thanks @PigletJohn