Feat: Heated Hand Towel Rail for Basement Bathroom

[nelsonic]

⚠ Warning: Contains First World Problems ⚠

Recently made a shower mat rail #321 for drying the mats that go on the floor outside showers in the basement shower room.
That has been working reasonably well ... 👌
But does not address the next problem: damp hand towels. 😕

People don't shake-off the majority of the water from their wet hands 👐
and instead put it all on the towel ... 🙃
But we are unlikely to re-train adults how to wash & shake their hands. 🙅

The towel is currently hung on the drawer of the vanity unit:

This means that it's in constant contact with the vanity and does not have air-flow to dry it.

Given that nothing was drying and the shower room was quite cold,
I decided to take an electric oil heater down there:

It's a 2kw heater which is obviously very power-hungry ...

M leaves it on all day and the doors/windows open.
I regularly have to turn it off during the day (when there's no need to have a toasty shower area)
I'm happy for it to be on for shower times and heating a towel but not all day. 💸 🔥

The depth of the vanity unit is 49cm:

Yes, the sink is very dirty in this photo. I took it just before the housekeeper went down there to clean. 😬
But you get the idea.

Todo

• Research and buy a low power electric towel heater
  that can be mounted on the side of the vanity unit and controlled via smart plug to avoid excessive energy use.

[nelsonic]

EDIT: the width appears to be 62cm on this rail which is too wide ... 😖

This model is 46cm 62cm wide so will NOT fit our constraint:
https://www.amazon.es/-/pt/gp/product/B0CMV58FM2/&language=en_GB

[nelsonic]

Searched for: "electric towel warmer 450mm" https://www.amazon.es/s?k=electric+towel+warmer+450mm
Sadly, nothing meets our needs of both width constraint and low power consumption. 😕

Very happy for _anyone else to research this and share product links. 🔍 🔗 🙏

[nelsonic]

This Stainless Steel Electric Heated Towel Rail Warmer 600450100mm 110V/220V has the needed dimensions:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008365932511.html

Spec:

But 115,78 + 60,97 shipping = 176.75 feels expensive! 💰 😬

This one is 47cm wide, uses 55W and appears to be well-made:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006446531593.html

63,87 + 28,03 = 91.90

@iteles worth spending €91.90 + ~T10m to have dry towels when you visit the downstairs W/C?

[iteles]

@nelsonic I think this would make €100 worth of difference to your life, so yes!
Not needed for upstairs though.

[nelsonic]

In the last month since I opened this issue,
the Oil Heater has been left on (not by me) in the basement
with the door wide open more times than I can count ... 🤦‍♂
I switch it off and close windows/doors regularly to avoid freezing the house ...
The energy used (kWh) has easily cost €91.90
The math is pretty simple; 2kW heater 12h/day x 10c/kWh = €2.4/day
But since it's often left on for 24h it's as high as €5/day!!! 💸

[iteles]

Yep, agreed, we should order this asap as it will take a while to arrive. Do you want me to order it or will you?

[nelsonic]

@iteles please check if the price is cheaper for you.
Hiked for me since I last looked at it ... 🤦‍♂

[iteles]

Price has also hiked for me.

I've done a quick search and so far the only one that comes up for me is this: https://www.leroymerlin.pt/produtos/warm-towel-minimal-toalheiro-eletrico-com-barras-giratorias-de-180-preto-90956284.html

But the design isn't ideal. I will search some more in the morning.

[nelsonic]

This swivelling design isn't bad for a domestic use case, 🏡
but where people don't care about the longevity of the fixtures/fittings, it would break very quickly. 💔