Which electric heated towel rail is better to choose?
Type of heating
There are three types of heating: cable ("dry"), liquid ("wet") and combined. Briefly consider the advantages and disadvantages of each variety.
In the first case, the pipes are heated by an insulated cable inside. It is recommended to choose this option if you only need to dry the towels in the bathroom. If you decide to choose an electric heated towel rail to heat the room, the cable model will not work, because most often has a small power. This is the main disadvantage of “dry” heating. At the same time, the positive point of the choice is that cable models are cheaper, spend less electricity, gain temperature faster and are also much easier to install.
It is recommended to choose a liquid electric heated towel rail if you need to additionally heat the bathroom. Devices with “wet” heating have a higher power, and also stay warm longer if you turn them off (but at the same time and take longer to heat). At the same time, the disadvantage of such models is the higher cost, increased electricity consumption and the need for a strictly vertical installation. As for the latter, this cannot be called a disadvantage, because in 99 out of 100 cases installation of an electric heated towel rail carried out strictly upright for aesthetic reasons.
Well, the last, combined models are recommended to be selected if there is enough money, because the cost of devices operating both from central heating and from the mains is much higher. The advantage of these devices is that they can work from heating in the autumn-winter period and, when the hot water is turned off, they can function from the network.
You can see the review and reviews of specialists on this issue in the video below:
We figured out the device options. Now let's talk about how to choose an electric heated towel rail according to other parameters: power, material of manufacture, form and manufacturer.
Power
The second, no less important selection criterion is the capacity of the heated towel rail. To choose the right model of the device, it is recommended to calculate by area - 140 W / m2 , which is quite enough for drying things and additional heating the bathroom, even if the room has a small window.If the room does not need heating, for example, you decide make electric underfloor heating under the tile in the bathroom, you can choose less power without applying the calculation of the area.
Here, again, we do not forget that the models with "dry" heating are much weaker and at the same time cheaper!
Production material
Most often, electric heated towel rails are made of ordinary steel, stainless steel or non-ferrous metals. As you know, the first version is the most budgetary, but at the same time the most short-lived. This is due to the fact that the steel is additionally coated with an enamel coating, which over time begins to swell and collapse. We recommend that you choose a stainless steel heated towel rail for your home and apartment, which is also chrome plated. Such a model will be optimal in price and quality and at the same time durable. Devices made of non-ferrous metals (mainly copper, brass or aluminum alloys) have the highest heat transfer, but due to the fact that they have a high price, they are used much less often.
The form
As for the form, you can choose an electric heated towel rail of any performance. Today devices of the following form are popular:
- ladder;
- E-shaped;
- the snake;
- M-shaped;
- U - shaped;
- with top shelf;
- rotary.
The most popular is the staircase, which perfectly complements the interior of the room and is also practical to use - you can hang a lot of towels and linen. When choosing, we recommend that you pay attention to products with an upper shelf, on which you can put clean towels, saving space in the bathroom.
I would like to pay special attention to mobile electric heated towel rails. Their advantage is that the device can easily be rolled to the balcony or to the kitchen. In addition, the installation does not need to drill walls. If the bathroom is large, consider choosing a heated towel rail.
Well, there are designer models of products that not only cope with drying towels, but also complement the interior of the bathroom. The most interesting designs we provided in the photo below:
In size, you yourself can choose the appropriate option, based on the area of the room. It is clear that the larger the product, the better the heating will occur.
The presence of a temperature controller
It is very important that a regulator is installed on the case, with which you can set a specific temperature regime. Regulators are more common on liquid models than on cable versions. This is due to the fact that the former have higher power (up to 2 kW), which must be regulated for the economical operation of the device.
We strongly recommend that you choose an electric heated towel rail with a thermostat so that you can set the appropriate temperature not only for drying towels, but also for heating the bathroom.
Manufacturers
Well, the last thing I would like to talk about is which manufacturers of towel rails, powered by the mains, are considered the best. Today, reliable firms are:
- Energy
- Termosmart
- Zorg
- Navin
- Argo
- Nika
If you opted for one of these manufacturers, included in our rating, then you can not worry about the quality and reliability of the purchase.The only thing is that we recommend that before buying a device, read reviews on the selected model on the forums to be sure that you were not mistaken in your choice.
We recommend that you also see a comparison of models operating from the mains and central heating:
We hope you now know how to choose an electric heated towel rail for the bathroom! As you can see, there are not too many parameters, so choosing the right ones for your own conditions will not be difficult!
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