Cold Bathroom | Mumsnet

Onemorejob · 2023-04-20T10:02:23+00:00

Retro-fit Underfloor Heating or a radiator. Seem to be the alternatives. Recently moved and we have the coldest bathroom ever. North facing, a heat sink. Only a heated towelrail. Any experience of doing this anyone? There is a walk-in shower.

Geneticsbunny · 21/04/2023 10:03

Is the ceiling insulated? Is there no radiator at all?

Badbudgeter · 21/04/2023 10:11

I had this and replaced the heated towel rail with an infra red panel heater. It heats the items/ people in the room rather than the air. It’s a much nicer place to be post shower. A bit like being in bright sunshine on a cold day. The ambient temp isn’t warm but you feel warm. It’s pretty instant so you don’t need to leave it on all the time.

Geneticsbunny · 21/04/2023 10:17

Is the heated towel rail plumbed in or electric or both?

BarrelOfOtters · 21/04/2023 13:27

Towel rails aren't designed to heat rooms.

We were re-doing the bathroom when we moved in so had a load of insulating board put in the bathroom - which has 3 external walls - a proper radiator and electric underfloor heating put in. It made a huge difference. It's actually a nice place to be now...

KievLoverTwo · 21/04/2023 13:28

Badbudgeter · 21/04/2023 10:11

I had this and replaced the heated towel rail with an infra red panel heater. It heats the items/ people in the room rather than the air. It’s a much nicer place to be post shower. A bit like being in bright sunshine on a cold day. The ambient temp isn’t warm but you feel warm. It’s pretty instant so you don’t need to leave it on all the time.

Actual wizardry. Are they quite low cost to run, too?

We have Victorian style towel radiators in our rental and turned them all off when we realised they were using 8-10kwh each per day.

theemmadilemma · 21/04/2023 13:33

We have this, 2 external walls and no loft space above, ceiling is roof level. The towel rail does nothing.

We have found running the shower for a minute or two before stepping in tends to heat the air enough with steam to make it comfortable. But then you have the steam issue.

Not enough room to add insulation board really. I have been looking at thermal wall paper.

snoodrops · 21/04/2023 13:43

I feel your pain my bathroom is freezing too, in winter it is unbearable. I'm gearing up to do a refurb of the entire bathroom mainly to try and make it a bit warmer. These are the things on my hit list so far are:
•Take out as many tiles as possible. Tricky, as it's a small bathroom, but it's currently entirely tiled and I'm sure that's not helping. I'll keep the tiles around the bath, but put LVT that's suitable for bathrooms on the floor, and tongue and groove wood panelling on at least some of the walls.
•I was advised to get a radiator as well as a towel rail, but unfortunately I don't have space for both, so I'm going to get the biggest towel radiator I can squeeze into the space. I've read on here a few times that white ones seem to throw out the heat more efficiently than chrome ones, so that's what I'm going for. You can also get dual fuel radiators and towel rails for bathrooms, so if the heating is off everywhere else in the house you can still have the heating on in your bathroom.
•I was also advised that if I'm stripping everything back to the bare plaster anyway I might as well add some insulating plasterboard to the walls before re-tiling/panelling, basically just fixing it to the bare walls. You can get special insulating plasterboard that's suitable for bathrooms; it's a bit spendy, but it seems a good opportunity to put a bit more insulation in.
•I'm also going to fit either a thermal roller blind or some shutters too- they're both meant to help keep the heat in.

Originally I was going to put some underfloor heating in too, but I ruled it out in the end- an electric system is is expensive to run and a wet system seems disruptive to fit and I'd need to find a home for the manifold. Hopefully everything else will make enough of a difference!

BarrelOfOtters · 21/04/2023 14:16

Our electric ufh is on in the winter for an hour in the morning to back up the radiator. It's a small space so even this winter it didn't seem to cost much.

Badbudgeter · 21/04/2023 14:27

KievLoverTwo · 21/04/2023 13:28

Actual wizardry. Are they quite low cost to run, too?

We have Victorian style towel radiators in our rental and turned them all off when we realised they were using 8-10kwh each per day.

Show quote history

My heater is 300w. I don’t think I have it on more than an hour a day so 10pish? Obviously ran it more in winter but because it’s an instant heat you don’t leave it running all the time like you would a radiator. It’s quite nice to get dry in front of tbh.

Original poster

Onemorejob · 21/04/2023 17:20

Thanks for all the comments.
Our towel rail is hot water from C heating only. No use at all!
The Infrared heaters, that is new to me, The transparent glass at 800w. magic indeed.
I think one of the mirrors or plain panel where the towel rail is.
My first idea was wet underfloor heating from the towel rail pipes. We are considering Solar Panels but have other work to do first; the budget will not stand it. 7 year payback is not good for us.

A more efficient roller blind is a good thought.

OP posts:

Persipan · 21/04/2023 18:21

My bathroom is also freezing and I'm thinking I'll probably go with an infrared panel but one of the ones that's also a mirror.