Stupid question: is a towel-warmer enough?

[Garald]

I'm in a bit of a tug-of-war with my contractor; I compute how much heat loss a room would have at -7 C (I'm near Paris, where -2C is a much more common temperature, but hey, pessimism), add 20%-30%, and propose a radiator that produces that much at 45 C (adjusting the T=50 C value by Newton's law); the contractor suggests a radiator that produces four times the heat loss (which he never computed); I end up compromising and getting a radiator that produces twice the heat loss (... for much less than his providers ask, since of course there's such a thing as Google).

 

He was surprised when I said that, since the (new) towel-warmer in one of the shower rooms will produce more than twice the heat loss at -7C, there is absolutely no need of another radiator - we can move the radiator that was there before and use it elsewhere. Why wouldn't this be true?

 

(Of course a towel probably reduces the power of a radiator somewhat - but by how much?)

 

 

Edited February 7, 2023 by Garald

[Radian]

Depends. If you follow the fashion for shiny chrome radiators that people seem to love, covering it in towels may actually make it into a more effective heat emitter. 🙄

[Garald]

I am talking about something very normal:

https://www.cedeo.fr/p/chauffage-et-climatisation/seche-serviettes-atoll-spa-eau-chaude-716w-haut-1468-larg-500-A1940326

 

Why have a radiator that doesn't radiate well?