Electric heated towel rail: device, principle of operation, characteristics, how to choose and connect correctly

The humidity in the bathroom is always high, and after you bathe you need to dry a towel. Towel dryers are used for this. If you have a classic “water” heated towel rail, you are familiar with the problem when it also gets cold with the end of the heating season. You have to take towels to the balcony, and this is not always convenient and not always possible, and not everyone has balconies.

To dry things and towels in the bathroom all year round, you need to install an electric heated towel rail. In addition to the main task, drying fabrics, these devices are also used as a source of additional room heating. Let's figure out what they are and how to connect it correctly.

Main characteristics and power selection

Nevertheless, the choice of a heated towel rail is based on its technical and functional characteristics. In addition to drying clothes and towels, it can be used as a heater in the bathroom, thus becoming warmer and less humidity, reducing the likelihood of mold and mildew.

The following calculated value appears on the network, for a typical room for selecting heaters, they take about 100 W per 1 m2. The air in the bathroom is humid, usually in such conditions a person is more sensitive to cold, therefore it is recommended for the bathroom to increase the power of heating devices to 140 W per 1 m2.

When buying, you should pay attention to the following parameters:

1. The design. The standard model is a "ladder" when between two vertical tubes are horizontal, like a ladder. Another option is zigzag dryers, the pipes in them twist in zigzags like a snake.

2. Heat transfer area significantly depends on the design, the larger the device, the faster the room will warm up, but the dryer itself will be longer to warm up.

3. Material. Corrosion-proof models are durable, and you can return it to its original state by polishing it all. Painted models lose their appearance over time. There are exotic options, such as glass, where the heating part is located behind a thick heat-resistant glass.

4. Type of heating element: dry and wet heating elements and heating wires. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages, and more about them will be described in the next section of the article.

5. By type of connection: with hidden and open connection. In the first case, you need to make a strobe in the wall and to connect it, and in the second you connect to the nearest outlet, we will also consider the advantages and disadvantages of the methods.

Types of heating elements

A heated towel rail is a set of pipes remotely resembling a ladder. The more pipes, the more heat you get.

Electric heated towel rails can be divided into two types, according to the method of heating the body:

1. With the help of TEN.

2. Using a heating cable. Such a cable is used for underfloor heating and to prevent freezing of water pipes.

Models with a heating element are usually more powerful, their design is as follows:

The heater located in the lower part of the device heats the heat carrier, water or oil.

When installing, note that the heater must be completely immersed in water, otherwise it will burn. Therefore, installation is not allowed when the heater is on top. “Wet TEN” looks like a shiny tube with a smooth surface.

On its lower part there is an operating mode regulator. This is a normal temperature controller that maintains a given temperature, turning on and off the heater.

Some models have functions such as daily and weekly programming, usually cost more.

There are models with a “dry” heating element, they differ in that there is no liquid in it. This facilitates maintenance, as when replacing the heating element, it is not necessary to drain and refill the liquid, and achieve tightness after that. Moreover, “Wet Ten” will work from 2 to 5 years, and “dry” from 5 or more. But it is worthwhile to understand that no one is safe from power surges in the electric network and any device can fail prematurely. The photo below shows its appearance.

Models with heating elements usually have a power of 300 watts or more. In some models, two heating elements can be installed, this is necessary to quickly heat the device and maintain a certain temperature.

The electric heated towel rail with heating cable has a completely different design.

A heating cable is laid along the entire length of the device pipes. This is such a cable, in which a conductor with a high resistance is selected as the material from which the cores are made.The photo above shows the internal structure of the heating cable.

A dryer with a heating cable is usually less power than its analogues with heating elements - about a couple of hundred watts. Service life is more than 5, sometimes 10 years.

Unlike heated towel rails with a liquid heat carrier, they quickly cool down, this is a significant minus, while "liquid" dryers give off the accumulated heat for a long time. On the other hand, it’s convenient when in the summer after drying the clothes the dryer cools down quickly, you don’t have to endure the heat in the bathroom.

Other articles about electrical equipment in the bathroom:

Household fans for the bathroom - how to choose and connect

Outlets in the bathroom

Fixtures for the bathroom

Why is electric shock in the bathroom and what to do to solve this problem

How to connect

Towel dryers are divided according to the type of connection:

• For hidden wiring;

• For open wiring.

Accordingly, models for hidden connection need a strobe and cable laying, and dryers for open connection are connected to the nearest outlet.

The power of the device is small, basically it does not exceed kW, so it can be connected to any outlet and you do not need to mount a separate cable with a large cross section, 1.5-2.5 mm2 is enough.

It is worth considering that the bathroom has all the conditions for electric shock, and a hidden connection in this case is preferable!

Conclusion

The choice of a heated towel rail should be based on technical specifications, aesthetic preferences and design solutions for the bathroom. Modern industry produces models of different designs and capacities, so that everyone can choose according to their needs. Moreover, the service life of the heated towel rail rarely exceeds 10 years.