towel radiators, yes or no ?

thebackbar

Hello,

I'm building a house with underfloor heating upstairs and downstairs, with an air to water system.

From talking to my plumber it doesn't seem as though towel radiators will fit in neatly with this setup.

My questions
- > Is it worth having towel radiators in the bathrooms ?
- > How should they be configured in a system using under floor heating ?

thanks

Strolling Bones

Your plumber is correct. UFH pipes run water at 30/40 degrees - rads at 50/60.

So if you tack rads of any sort onto your system they will never feel warm enough.

delfagio

Is it for the look or for the heat that you want towel rads???

I have the same set up as you. I have UFH both upstairs and downstairs.

I like the look of the towel rads on the walls so I am just installing them onto the walls in the bathroom and downstairs toilet. Just obviously for the look and function of hanging towels on. Other than that they wont be any heat from them.

Just an idea.

baby builder

I'm also going with UFH throughout. My plan is to get electric towel rads as there's no point trying to run them with a heat pump and they'll work with a flick of a switch when needed and look nice too!

Robert Allen

strolling bones - are you saying that there is no point in having ufh downstairs and rads upstairs because it wont work then?
does there need to be an oil or gas back up with the air to water system? is it possible to incorporate solar panels to work with the air to water system?

Borzoi

Strolling Bones wrote: »

Your plumber is correct. UFH pipes run water at 30/40 degrees - rads at 50/60.

So if you tack rads of any sort onto your system they will never feel warm enough.

Au Contraire , been running a towel rack off our ufh which runs at 35c, it warms the towel very nicely and dries it out quickly

Calahonda52

Robert Allen wrote: »

strolling bones - are you saying that there is no point in having ufh downstairs and rads upstairs because it wont work then?
does there need to be an oil or gas back up with the air to water system? is it possible to incorporate solar panels to work with the air to water system?

A lot in that:)

The OP was about ufh up and down stairs

Water filled Heat emitters are based on 2 factors: size of the emitting surface and the flow temp of the water.
UFH has a massive emitting surface and a low flow temp : 35/40.

Normasl rads are based on 60/70/80: depnds.
As the temp goes up the size of the emitting surface goes down.
So rads sized from the brochure on say 70 will not heat a room with 35:40 water temp.
Solar thermal will work with Air to water heat pump: its an additional coil in the tank: however it needs to be sized accordingly, u may need a TMV on the hot water before it hits the UFH manifold to drop the temp

mfceiling

We have them in our house and tbh they're a bit of a gimmick. They look good and that's about it!!

Strolling Bones

Robert Allen wrote: »

strolling bones - are you saying that there is no point in having ufh downstairs and rads upstairs because it wont work then?

Not with a heat pump no.

Robert Allen wrote: »

does there need to be an oil or gas back up with the air to water system?

how bizzare

Robert Allen wrote: »

is it possible to incorporate solar panels to work with the air to water system?

All things are possible. But that is not sensible. Both ATWHP and SP's work worst when you need them most - in dead winter. Spend your money on the building fabric first before adding more and more "kit" onto it.

Strolling Bones

Borzoi wrote: »

Au Contraire , been running a towel rack off our ufh which runs at 35c, it warms the towel very nicely and dries it out quickly

The magic of the interet.

When you wait long enough you get the answer you want.

Borzoi

Strolling Bones wrote: »

The magic of the interet.

When you wait long enough you get the answer you want.

Its terrible when reality and practical experiene contradicts your notions. ;-)

Strolling Bones

Touché :cool:

Robert Allen

"How bizarre"

Bizarre? Bizarre how exactly?

KFiddles

I have UFH and when we remodeled, I had electric towel rails installed. Wouldn't be without them.