Intermittent bathroom heating.

[Iceverge]

So we have a passive house. 

 

It works well. Normally ticks over at about 20 deg with one of these plugged in downstairs. 

 

 

In my quest for the finer things in life I thought wouldn't it be nice to have a bit of extra comfort in the bathroom when I stepped out from the shower. So last winter I broke the piggy bank open and installed one of these. 

 

It goes on, makes a racket and soon the bathroom is a toasty 24-25 deg. Lush. 

However is reduces the moisture content of my eye balls in the process to about 1%, and the fan disturbs the tranquil harmony of my aquatic experience. 

 

Given that I have no intention of heating the room when I'm not in it would one of these be a viable alternative to "shine" heat at my goose bumped epidermis when towelling off?   

 

 

 

If anyone would like to suggest underfloor heating mats or   "do it properly first time around mate" please send your suggestions to 2018. Many thanks. 

 

 

 

[Gone West]

We kept our bathrooms at 24C with electric towel rails.

[ProDave]

One of those heaters is certainly worth a try.  It will certainly be silent in operation.

 

Interesting about your dry eyes.  Both SWMBO and PD Junior are complaining about dry eyes and blaming our house for being too dry.  According to my (uncalibrated) hygrometer, we are about 55% RH inside at the moment.  I don't know if that is considered "dry" or not?  Outside RH currently about 90%

[Alan Ambrose]

>>> If anyone would like to suggest underfloor heating mats or   "do it properly first time around mate" please send your suggestions to 2018. 

 

 yeah one or more towel rails - can be on a timer, smart or otherwise.

[Gone West]

37 minutes ago, ProDave said:

According to my (uncalibrated) hygrometer, we are about 55% RH inside at the moment.  I don't know if that is considered "dry" or not?

I think 55% RH is good. It's roughly the same in here at the moment. At the last house, with MVHR, it was around 45% which we also found comfortable.

[RichardL]

Option - Noted the dryness comments which this may not help;

Small 300W Infrared heating panel on the ceiling of my, again small 2mx2m shower room does a good job of heating the space.

Not instant heat - takes a few minutes but that is resolved with a timer for the must have morning rush - does the job of removing the chill when stepping out of the shower.

It's a flat white panel - you wouldn't notice it apart from the radiated heat.

[Iceverge]

2 hours ago, RichardL said:

Option - Noted the dryness comments which this may not help;

Small 300W Infrared heating panel on the ceiling of my, again small 2mx2m shower room does a good job of heating the space.

Not instant heat - takes a few minutes but that is resolved with a timer for the must have morning rush - does the job of removing the chill when stepping out of the shower.

It's a flat white panel - you wouldn't notice it apart from the radiated heat.

 

 

 

you have my attention.....

 

I have the facility to put them on a timer if I can convince myself to spend that fiver I found down the back of the couch last year...

 

What brand did you use?

 

Has anyone used a MEGA one to get the instant boost only when needed? 

 

 

[RichardL]

I used https://www.herschel-infrared.co.uk/product/select-xls-white/

XLS ones need power to the panel, and then an option of battery or wired stat which communicates to the panel wirelessly - i.e. simplifies wiring if thats useful.

My 2mx2m shower room has the 300W 30cm x 90cm. 

Their own thermostats also have time clocks and the mains ones will talk to an app via wifi if thats your thing.

Personally I use their stats in manual mode for temp control and switch the panel power off/on via a central oldschool time clock.
Avoiding a proliferation of timers in the house & any reliance on cloud


(This isn't by any means the cheapest place to buy IR panels, but I've no idea if the cheaper ones are the same thing)

[Dreadnaught]

Timely post for me. Reinforces my idea to double-up the heating in my place under construction; am at first fix. I have wet UFH and am planning to install electric-mat UFH too on my two bathrooms, probably under LVT flooring.

[Adrian Walker]

An infrared mirror might be an invisible solution. 

[Iceverge]

1 hour ago, Adrian Walker said:

An infrared mirror might be an invisible solution. 

 

 

Is this what we're going for? I can certainly see the attraction but I'm not sure £25 will cover it. 

 

[JackofAll]

10 hours ago, Iceverge said:

So we have a passive house. 

 

It works well. Normally ticks over at about 20 deg with one of these plugged in downstairs. 

 

 

In my quest for the finer things in life I thought wouldn't it be nice to have a bit of extra comfort in the bathroom when I stepped out from the shower. So last winter I broke the piggy bank open and installed one of these. 

 

It goes on, makes a racket and soon the bathroom is a toasty 24-25 deg. Lush. 

However is reduces the moisture content of my eye balls in the process to about 1%, and the fan disturbs the tranquil harmony of my aquatic experience. 

 

Given that I have no intention of heating the room when I'm not in it would one of these be a viable alternative to "shine" heat at my goose bumped epidermis when towelling off?   

 

 

 

If anyone would like to suggest underfloor heating mats or   "do it properly first time around mate" please send your suggestions to 2018. Many thanks. 

 

 

 

You could just have a cold shower, then step into a toasty 20 degree room with no need for additional heating source. Problem solved, save your stones may disappear for an hour or 2.

[markocosic]

Put the heater in the bathroom and heat the house from there?

 

Else Lidl electric towel rail with built in thermostat and timer for peanuts at the moment.

[Iceverge]

1 hour ago, markocosic said:

Lidl electric towel rail with built in thermostat and timer for peanuts at the moment.

 

Lidl. Now this is a man on my wavelength. Will keep an eye in the ROI if/when the offer arrives here. 

 

In the process of doing an A2A ATM. Will review the situation once it's installed. 

[Iceverge]

There it is in all its shiny 1.2kW glory. 

 

A cheap as "gone off chips" wall hung quartz heater. 

 

I'm going to test it's dechilling powers out on my small children later. 

 

Let them be blasted by all radiative goodness and judge the response. 

Edited December 22, 2023 by Iceverge

[SteamyTea]

9 minutes ago, Iceverge said:

I'm going to test it's dechilling powers out on my small children later. 

I would say post up picture, but maybe not.

[Iceverge]

Right the results are in. 

 

Success (I think!) 

 

Following on from @Gone Wests thread on comfort. 

 

 

 

I think I'm onto a winner. 

 

PROs:

• Super cheap. €31 from screwfix. 
• They are simple to operate, pull string operated. Settings "1" "2" and "OFF". I hate pointlessly complicated stuff. 
• They pretty instantly heat your skin, pull chord, squeeze pimple in mirror, admire reflection of naked body (it's as good as it gets, tomorrow you will be fatter and wrinklier)  and "Kablam" there's the lovely heat. 
• I can run the shower slightly colder trading off the energy used. Baths are comfortable for longer.  
• Dry install, no chance of leaks. 
• 20deg bathroom feels comfortable even in the nip. No need to spend too much on space heating or preheat the bathroom.  

CONs:

• Cheap construction ( surprise surprise!) 
• Pointless as a space heater, they just heat a layer of air by the roof if left on. 
• 1.2kW of direct electric is expensive if someone forgets to turn it off. 
• It looks crap. 
• Not as radiative as a proper patio heater, more heat is lost to convection (I think) than a halogen one. Not completely sure of this but I'm suspicious.  
• It smells a bit iffy initially, maybe a factory coating burning off or something. 

 

 

 

If you were concerned maybe something like this would be more stylish and could parabolically beam the heat at you better. 

 

 

Then add a 12 minute push timer. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall I would endorse this.

 

Simple cheap and effective. 

Edited January 16 by Iceverge

[Wil]

But what is your winner? Or is it just me that can’t see it?

[Iceverge]

5 hours ago, Wil said:

But what is your winner? Or is it just me that can’t see it?

 

Ah, I see the confusion.

 

The cheap quartz heater I installed is the victor.