Heated towel rail

Towel Rails (ones connected to a central heating system) work as per radiators although, especially when covered in towels radiate much less heat into the room than would a radiator of the same sort of dimensions. This is because they have less surface area, are generally polished chrome and are not designed to create a convection current up the back as most radiators do.

no and when covered by towels will emit very little heat.

I’ve replaced many radiators in bathrooms for towel rails and have never had a problem until recently. The home owner asked me to change their radiator for a towel rail. Some weeks after, they contacted me to say that their WC is freezing, even when the towel rail is too hot to touch. In fact... even when the towel rail is scalding hot, you can hold your hand a few centimetres above it and can not feel any heat off it at all. That said... the towel rail in my en-suite turns the room into a sauna. It’s always worth doing a BTU calculation before changing a radiator for a towel rail. This will tell you the minimum BTU requirements of a particular room. You can then compare this to the BTU rating of the radiator/towel rail you intend on fitting to ascertain whether it is sufficient or not.