You may have seen some pictures of bathroom designs where there is a shelf hanging on the wall. Are you curious about what is that? That is a towel warmer. Just as its name shows, people use it for towel drying and warming. Although you might not think it is a necessary bathroom appliance, having a heated towel rail seems to become a trend. So why does the towel rail become so popular? Do you need the towel warmer in your bathroom? Go ahead and we will tell you!
What Is The Point Of A Towel Warmer?
Dry And Warm Towels
The primary purpose of this appliance is to keep towels, bathrobes, and other items warm and dry. Sometimes, it is hard to air the towels to dry because of the weather. Also, we know that moisture always pervades the bathroom to make the fabrics moist. Therefore, a towel rail can function well in the bathroom.
Warm The Whole Bathroom
In the winter, you may find your bathroom a bit cold. At this time, you can turn on the heated towel rail to act as the secondary heat source to warm your bathroom. A warm bathroom can make you enjoy your bath better, especially in the areas where winter is very cold.
Help Bathroom Stay Mold Free
Do you hate the musty smell of your towels? The dampness can mainly cause molds on the towel. The moist environment can be a perfect home for germs and mildew to grow. Once the molds and bacteria have formed on your towel, a musty smell will release.
Available In Any Rooms
You can use the heated towel rail not only in the bathroom but also in the bedroom and laundry room. You can use it in the laundry room for drying some clothes. Besides, if you install it in the bedroom, it can help warm your nightgown or coats so that you can have a warm hug with your clothes.
Do You Need The Towel Warmer?
When deciding whether to have a towel warmer, you may consider is it worth it. The heated towel rail may not be necessary for every house owner. But if you have the following needs, you may need one.
You want to dry your towels more quickly.
You want to use a warm towel after a shower.
You want a warm bathroom to have a bath.
You want to keep your bathroom mildew-free.
Types Of Towel Rail
Electric Towel Warmer Or Hydronic Towel Warmer
The most common type of heated rail is the electric towel warmer. It uses an electric heating cable to warm up the rack. However, it runs off very little electricity so you don’t have to worry about it adding too much to your home electric bill. You can plug it into the standard outlet in your bathroom or have it hardwired to the house circuit. Ask the professional for help in order not to overload the circuit that it is hardwired to.
Hydronic towel warmer, which is the most energy-efficient type, heats up the rack by running hot water through the rack. As a result, you will need to connect it with hot water plumbing. And you can adjust the temperature of your home’s hot water tank to control the temperature of the towel rail. The hydronic towel warmer would be a little bit complex to assemble. You’d better install this heated towel rack while doing the house renovation.
Plug-in Or Hardwired
There are two ways to power the electric towel warmer–plug-in and hardwired. When choosing between the plug-in towel warmer and the hardwired towel warmer, you will need to consider its appearance and installation.
The wiring of the hardwired towel warmer is hidden in the wall totally. If you want a sleek look without any wiring appearing, a hardwired one would be the best choice. However, the electric work would be complicated. On the contrary, the installation of a plug-in towel warmer is quite easy since it just needs a three-prong outlet to power. And the plug-in type is movable.
How To Choose A Right Towel Warmer?
There are two ways to heat a towel rail, but it varies in styling. Although you may usually see the heated towel rail mounted on the wall, there are also some other types of it. What are they? Here we go!
Wall-mount Towel Warmer
The wall-mount towel heater is the most popular type and most people would like to choose it. It shapes like a ladder and is directly mounted on the bathroom wall. It can be both electric and hydronic types. You may need an electrician to help you install it. You can see some wall-mount type comes with an extra shelf for hanging towels.
Free-standing Towel Warmer
Most of the electric free-standing towel warmers are plug-in to run off power rather than hardwired. If you have enough floor space, you can choose this free-standing one. And then you can move it to any other rooms if you need it to dry towels or clothes there.
Basket–Style Towel Warmer
The basket-style towel warmers can only operate with electricity, most of which are also plug-in but not hardwired. It is like a cloth dryer. You need to put your towels in it and set a time for drying. It dries towels in the basket so that it could not help warm up the bathroom like the above two types.
