A towel rails radiator or a heated towel rail is a feature designed to heat

towels A towel is a piece of absorbent cloth or paper used for drying or wiping a surface. Towels draw moisture through direct contact. In households, several types of towels are used, such as hand towels, bath towels, and kitchen towels. Paper towel ...

before using them. For many years, European

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

s have used them as combined towel- dryers/racks. The towel warmer is a bathroom heater suitable for both drying and heating towels and the environment. There are two versions: traditional ones that are plumbed like a radiator with water heated from a central boiler, and electric ones where an

electrical resistance The electrical resistance of an object is a measure of its opposition to the flow of electric current. Its reciprocal quantity is , measuring the ease with which an electric current passes. Electrical resistance shares some conceptual parallels ...

heats water or oil contained in the unit.

Composition and functioning

Towel dryers can be made from different

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

s such as

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

stainless steel Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's corros ...

, or

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

. In some types,

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

is used. The finish can be in

chrome plating Chrome plating (less commonly chromium plating) is a technique of electroplating a thin layer of chromium onto a metal object. A chrome-plated item is called ''chrome''. The chromed layer can be decorative, provide corrosion resistance, ease ...

, polished steel, or

lacquer Lacquer is a type of hard and usually shiny coating or finish applied to materials such as wood or metal. It is most often made from resin extracted from trees and waxes and has been in use since antiquity. Asian lacquerware, which may be ca ...

. Dryers can be heated electrically (heating cartridge or heating cable), or by circulating hot water (connected to the

central heating A central heating system provides warmth to a number of spaces within a building from one main source of heat. It is a component of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (short: HVAC) systems, which can both cool and warm interior spaces. ...

). Often, a combination of the methods is used. In these cases, the dryer is heated by hot water in wintertime, and by

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

in the summer. A towel dryer, with high output, can also serve as a

radiator Radiators are heat exchangers used to transfer thermal energy from one medium to another for the purpose of cooling and heating. The majority of radiators are constructed to function in cars, buildings, and electronics. A radiator is always a ...

in a small

bathroom A bathroom or washroom is a room, typically in a home or other residential building, that contains either a bathtub or a shower (or both). The inclusion of a wash basin is common. In some parts of the world e.g. India, a toilet is typically i ...

.Heating process
/ref> Dryers come in a variety of appearances, including: ladder types, turnable types, and others.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages

The first advantage of this radiator is the aesthetic value that can help to enrich rooms with a touch of style. Another advantage is obviously the possibility of drying

towel A towel is a piece of absorbent cloth or paper used for drying or wiping a surface. Towels draw moisture through direct contact. In households, several types of towels are used, such as hand towels, bath towels, and kitchen towels. Paper towels ...

s more quickly because they are put in direct contact with the radiant body. The towel warmer uses less

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

than a classic plate radiator or a cast iron radiator, so it is considered a little more

ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

and more economical in terms of consumption. Its shapes are very different from each other and this can allow us to structure radiator, adapting it perfectly to rooms. There are towel warmers of different sizes, from the smallest (even of 27 in × 20 in - 70 cm × 50 cm) to larger ones that can even reach 79 in (2 meters) in height.

Disadvantages

The first disadvantage is directly linked to one of its advantages, namely the possibility of drying our towels faster. The problem is that covering part of the

pipes Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to: Objects * Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules ** Piping, the use of pipes in industry * Smoking pipe ** Tobacco pipe * Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circula ...

and the radiant body, the energy, consumption and time required to bring the room to

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...

will be bigger than a radiator free of “obstacles”. It is from this need that radiator accessories and hangers have been developed, in this specific case to maintain the advantages by eliminating some disadvantages. Another shortcoming is the poor heating power, linked to the positioning of the tubes which is reverse to the sense of convection. To heat larger

room In a building or large vehicle, like a ship, a room is any enclosed space within a number of walls to which entry is possible only via a door or other dividing structure that connects it to either a passage (architecture), passageway, another roo ...

s, it needs to be larger, losing the aesthetic value.

Composition and functioning

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages

Disadvantages

Note

See also