Hello everyone,
I currently have a small problem in my apartment. We usually don’t heat the entire 130 m² (1400 sq ft), especially not at night, but only the rooms where we spend time.
However, this means that our towels in the unheated bathroom dry very poorly and quickly start to smell musty.
We usually shower in the evening and don’t heat the bathroom at night.
One option would be to heat the bathroom at night just to dry the towels. The towels hang about 3 m (10 ft) away from the radiator on the wall, so the room would need to be heated well for quite a while to dry the towels properly.
A second option would be to install a second radiator. However, the connection would have to be done by the landlord (or their plumbing contractor), and an energy meter from ista would need to be installed. This would involve significant additional costs.
The third option would be an electric bathroom heater that is only turned on in the evenings to dry the towels.
Option 3 actually seems like the simplest and, at first glance, potentially the most efficient solution. But I’m curious how efficient these actually are. The model would be about 1600 x 700 mm (63 x 28 inches) with 900 W. If the heater would only need to run for 10 minutes to generate enough heat to dry the towels, it could be cheaper/more efficient than heating the entire room via district heating.
But if the heater has to run for an hour or longer, consuming more than 1 kWh per day just for towel drying, it might be less attractive.
Does anyone have experience with electric heaters or maybe even advice on this specific issue?
Thanks a lot for your opinions
AleXSR700
I currently have a small problem in my apartment. We usually don’t heat the entire 130 m² (1400 sq ft), especially not at night, but only the rooms where we spend time.
However, this means that our towels in the unheated bathroom dry very poorly and quickly start to smell musty.
We usually shower in the evening and don’t heat the bathroom at night.
One option would be to heat the bathroom at night just to dry the towels. The towels hang about 3 m (10 ft) away from the radiator on the wall, so the room would need to be heated well for quite a while to dry the towels properly.
A second option would be to install a second radiator. However, the connection would have to be done by the landlord (or their plumbing contractor), and an energy meter from ista would need to be installed. This would involve significant additional costs.
The third option would be an electric bathroom heater that is only turned on in the evenings to dry the towels.
Option 3 actually seems like the simplest and, at first glance, potentially the most efficient solution. But I’m curious how efficient these actually are. The model would be about 1600 x 700 mm (63 x 28 inches) with 900 W. If the heater would only need to run for 10 minutes to generate enough heat to dry the towels, it could be cheaper/more efficient than heating the entire room via district heating.
But if the heater has to run for an hour or longer, consuming more than 1 kWh per day just for towel drying, it might be less attractive.
Does anyone have experience with electric heaters or maybe even advice on this specific issue?
Thanks a lot for your opinions
AleXSR700
Start by heating your apartment properly, which your landlord is actually allowed to require—you do have a duty of care.
Why don’t you hang the towels over an existing, switched-on heater?
Why not put them in the dryer?
An additional electric heater is the most expensive option you can choose. Purchase and operation cost money, and it needs to be on at 20–30°C (68–86°F) to get sufficiently warm.
This all seems quite contrived.
It’s like pushing your car to work to save fuel. Absurd.
Why don’t you hang the towels over an existing, switched-on heater?
Why not put them in the dryer?
An additional electric heater is the most expensive option you can choose. Purchase and operation cost money, and it needs to be on at 20–30°C (68–86°F) to get sufficiently warm.
This all seems quite contrived.
It’s like pushing your car to work to save fuel. Absurd.
A
Alessandro16 Nov 2021 08:32Do the towels really not dry?
I have already lived in several apartments with bathrooms of different sizes and never had this problem.
After drying off, the towel is never so wet that it doesn’t dry within 24 hours, right?
I have already lived in several apartments with bathrooms of different sizes and never had this problem.
After drying off, the towel is never so wet that it doesn’t dry within 24 hours, right?
A
AleXSR70016 Nov 2021 08:46guckuck2 schrieb:
Start heating your apartment properly, which your landlord is actually allowed to require—you do have a duty of care.
Why don’t you hang your towels over an existing, switched-on radiator?
Why not put them in the tumble dryer?
An additional electric radiator is the most expensive option you can choose. Purchasing and operating it costs money; it needs to be on for 20-30 minutes to get properly warm.
This all seems pretty contrived.
You might as well push your car to work to save fuel. Absurd. I heat adequately and reasonably. So please stop with the “social” and “duty” nonsense.
And drying two towels daily in the dryer is surely not more sensible than getting a heated towel rail, which also helps to warm the room a bit.
Alessandro schrieb:
Do the towels really not dry?
I’ve lived in several apartments with bathrooms of different sizes and never had this problem.
After drying yourself with the towel, it’s never so wet that it can’t dry within 24 hours, right? The towels are still quite damp the next morning. Not wet, but damp. And if they dry very slowly, they start to develop a musty smell quickly.
So they do dry, but it takes too long to avoid odor formation.
A
Alessandro16 Nov 2021 08:54I know this from the damp washcloths when my child is bathed. Afterwards, they also smell musty.
My solution looks like this:
:p :p :p :p 😉
My solution looks like this:
:p :p :p :p 😉
M
motorradsilke16 Nov 2021 09:10AleXSR700 schrieb:
I heat adequately and appropriately. So please stop with this "social" and "duty" nonsense.
And drying two towels daily in the dryer is certainly not less sensible than installing a heated towel rail that also slightly warms the room.
The towels are still quite damp the next morning. Not wet, but damp. And if they dry very slowly, they quickly start to smell musty.
So they do dry, but it takes too long to prevent odor formation. Just think about why the towels aren’t drying. In any normally heated room with typical humidity, they would dry. That means the room is too humid. Probably because it isn’t heated enough. Especially since you said you shower in the evening and don’t heat the bathroom at night. That will cause problems with the building over time (even if you don’t see them yet), and it’s not good for your health either. Of course, it’s ultimately your decision.
But here, few people will have much experience to offer since most want some level of comfort (going into an unheated bathroom early in the morning is unacceptable for almost everyone) and want to avoid permanently damaging their building fabric.
The:
I can’t combine that with:
And anyone who is only focused on heating as little as possible themselves without considering the consequences must live with the outcomes.
Among others, but not limited to:
- Being accused by me of antisocial behavior
- Eventually being blamed by the landlord for damages to the rental property
- Having damp, musty towels in the morning
But to answer your question: Yes, an electric towel warmer will dry your towels. No, it is very likely not economical or environmentally friendly.
AleXSR700 schrieb:
that our towels dry very poorly in the unheated bathroom
AleXSR700 schrieb:
do not heat at night
AleXSR700 schrieb:
only heat the living and dining rooms in the evening during the week, as well as the bedroom at night.
AleXSR700 schrieb:
Apartment does not get colder than 17°C (63°F). About 30–50 m² (320–540 sq ft) are not used at all during the week and only slightly on weekends
AleXSR700 schrieb:
somehow I can’t imagine it being cheaper to keep everything heated at 20°C (68°F) around the clock than letting it cool down and reheating when needed.
AleXSR700 schrieb:
A base temperature of > 15°C (59°F) is maintained (if necessary by heating).
I can’t combine that with:
AleXSR700 schrieb:
I heat sufficiently and appropriately
And anyone who is only focused on heating as little as possible themselves without considering the consequences must live with the outcomes.
Among others, but not limited to:
- Being accused by me of antisocial behavior
- Eventually being blamed by the landlord for damages to the rental property
- Having damp, musty towels in the morning
But to answer your question: Yes, an electric towel warmer will dry your towels. No, it is very likely not economical or environmentally friendly.