Maintenance Costs
A water coil will not bring additional costs if it is tapped into the central heating system of an apartment building. The presence of this device is not taken into account in the calculations. The verdict on the receipt depends on the area, rates and heat consumption rates established in the region. But the owners of their own cottage with a boiler can feel the impact of the towel radiator on their wallet.
The electric heater of a modern design is not a ravenous oil radiator, but a modest heating cable, which consumes 50-120 W / h. If to include it on necessity once or twice a week, the loss you will not even notice.
Water or electric towel dryer: which is better?
Do you need a towel warmer for the bathroom? If you’re tired of the damp, wet towels, then you definitely need. On sale you can find products that operate on electricity, heating system, water supply. It is impossible to unequivocally answer, which towel dryer is better. water or electric.
It all depends on a number of nuances. the presence of a socket in the room, the quality of water supply, power outages, the place of installation. Electric models require enclosed wiring, while water models require a high heat transfer fluid temperature.
Shapes of towel dryers
Advantages and disadvantages of water towel dryers
Water towel warmers are connected to the hot water system (DHW) or to the heating system of your choice.When connecting the towel dryer to the heating system, the dryer temperature will be higher. But it is worth remembering that in Russian conditions it will be hot only during the heating season.
The most suitable is the first option with the connection to the hot water supply.
How to choose the heated towel rail? Advantages of water and electric towel rails.
The connection can be in series, in series with bypass and parallel.
Higher heat output if connected in series, but only suitable for DHW systems with normal pressure and high water temperature.
Water towel rails are more efficient and economical, but you should pay attention to the nuances.
Don’t forget that a water towel dryer can leak during a water hammer, so you need to use a wiring scheme that supports shutting off the dryer when no one is home.
Also, water towel dryers do not have a built-in thermostat, so the metal surface can get burned (it is important to consider this nuance, if there are children in the house).
Advantages and disadvantages of electric towel rails
Electric towel dryers are connected to a network of 220 Volts.
For connection it is necessary to have special protected from a moisture sockets, separate RCD and grounding.Heating of such a towel radiator is carried out in two ways:
Models with an electric heater heat up more slowly, but to a higher temperature, as well as the power consumption of such dryers is higher. There is an adjustment of temperature of a surface.
Models with a cable heat faster, but up to a maximum of 60 degrees. They do not adjust the temperature, but have a thermostat that turns off heating when the desired temperature is reached.
- installation at any stage
- temperature control
- independence from hot water
- it is easy to mount
- installation in any place
The main problem with electric towel rails in the implementation of the grounding, since not all apartment buildings can make it, given all the requirements.
They heat weaker than water and are not quite suitable for heating. It will be warmer in the bathroom, but they will not replace heating.Otherwise, the electric towel rails are superior to the water ones. they are less of a hassle, can be installed almost anywhere, and are safer and more reliable.
If you have read the article up to this point, you have come to the conclusion that you often do not have to choose, because one of the options is often not available (no possibility to realize grounding, are in a remote place, weak hot water pressure, etc.).д.).
But if both variants are available, it is possible to proceed from the following logic: If heating of the bathroom is important, it makes sense to buy a water towel dryer, because an electric one will not cope with this task well.
If you only need a dryer that slightly heats the room, the electric models are better suited. And in general, both options are not ideal and in each you can find your minuses or pluses, depending on whether you’re an optimist or pessimist.
Materials of radiators: pros and cons
Most towel rails are made of black or stainless steel, less often non-ferrous metals and their alloys are used. The cheapest option. black steel, but in this case, the savings are not justified by the low resistance of products to corrosion. To prevent rust, polymer enamel is applied to the surface of the pipes, but over time, the coating cracks, forming s of corrosion.
Models made of stainless steel are more durable, especially if the pipes are coated with chrome, which prolongs the life of the device and improves its appearance. The more shiny surfaces, the brighter and more spacious the room seems, so the chrome heated towel rail will be an asset for a small bathroom. The weak side of stainless steel dryers. fragile threaded connections; in order to avoid damage it is better to entrust the installation of the device to a specialist. Radiators made of aluminum and brass are superior to steel radiators in terms of heat output, but they cannot always boast of strength and durability. The exception. expensive copper towel dryers, but not everyone can afford such a pleasure.
How to choose an electric towel dryer?
Towel rail. an indispensable attribute of every bathroom. But this device is not always located where we would like it, and it is expensive and time-consuming to change completely the arrangement of pipes in order to install a favorite water product. How to be? Here electric towel dryers come to the rescue.
What electric towel dryer to choose for a bathroom? The question is not simple! Let’s first understand the pros and cons of these devices compared to their watery counterparts.
What towel dryer to choose: water or electric??
Water or electric? In short and to the point weigh up all the pros and cons in our brief informative article.
The towel dryer in the bathroom quickly dries wet things, heats the room and even becomes a real highlight of the interior, if you decide to choose a design model. But the main question is: which product is better to choose. a water or electric?? Let’s find out.
Features of electric towel rails
Regardless of the inner filling of the electric heater can be a wall and floor-mounted. The first option is familiar, but deprives mobility. And the devices of the second type do not require installation, they can be carried around the apartment without problems. Which device is better, depends on your goals. If you want comfort in the bathroom, then the classic model for wall mounting is more suitable. And if you want a compromise between a heater and a dryer, choose the mobile unit. As for the power, you should choose the towel dryers at the rate of 150 watts per 1 square meter.
As electric models do not depend on the availability of hot water, so during preventive maintenance and accidents you will not have to forget about comfort. In case of breakage the appliance simply stops working, the neighbors will not be flooded while you are not at home. Durability depends on the type of heating element. Heating elements fail in 3-5 years, electric cables last 10 years and more. The temperature regulator prolongs the life of the device for several years. The choice of metal can be taken lightly, in a closed system there is no oxygen, so there is nothing to fear of corrosion. And also in electric towel dryers there is no strong pressure, therefore the thickness of walls is not principal. You can even choose a device made of inexpensive black steel, which does not feel in contact with water.
Selection according to connection possibilities
The main factor for choosing between the electric towel dryer and the one connected to the central heating system is the possibility of connection, the desired installation location and the efficiency of the heating system.
Possibilities of connection of towel dryers
First of all we proceed from the possibility of connection to the heating system. The mere presence of such a system casts doubt on the necessity of electric towel dryer installation in view of the need for additional electricity costs.
- Ideally, the towel dryer should be connected to the hot water system of the house. And the hot water system should be looped, so the water does not stagnate in the pipes and does not cool down when no one is using it.
- In this case the electric towel dryer can become necessary only if you have special requirements to a place of its installation. Or are there any other reasons. In other cases the electric towel dryer is not expedient.
- But unfortunately not all houses have an electric towel dryer, as the instruction says. Quite often the towel dryer is connected to the heating system in the house. In this case, when the heating is turned off, it stops working, too.
- In this case it is advisable to use an electric towel dryer in summer and its colleague connected to the heating system in winter. But you should not install two towel dryers for the sake of it? To avoid this there are so-called combined models. They are connected to the heating system in the winter and in the summer they are separated from it with valves and work like a simple electric towel dryer.
- The third option, when the choice becomes water or electric towel dryer is when it is connected to the hot water system, but when was the hot water you have already forgotten. Or, when the hot water system is not looped. Or maybe you just have an autonomous heating system and it does not go into the bathroom.
- In this case the question what is better a water or electric towel dryer disappears by itself. After all it is possible to install only an electric device.
The requirements for the place of installation of a towel dryer
But the possibility of connection does not always mean the obligation of this action. After all quite often after the redevelopment of rooms or the heating system to connect a towel dryer to the heating system is almost impossible or impractical.
- If you have any special requirements to the place of connection, in this case the electric towel dryer is practically without any alternative. It can be put even on the balcony.
- At the same time if it is some exotic place in the room, it is quite realistic to bring the central heating pipes to the water towel rail. And even if it will be a combined unit, it is more economically viable than installing an electric counterpart.
- We shouldn’t forget that when installing an electric towel rail in the bathroom, the electrical grid should be retrofitted. According to the item.7.1.48 PUE the installation of a socket in the bathroom is permitted only with the installation of RCD fuse no more than 30mA leakage current.
- On this basis it may be necessary either to re-equip the existing electrical network, or to install special outlets with built-in circuit breaker RCD. The price of such outlets will be an additional disadvantage for electric towel rails.
