February 3rd, 2021 by Sarah Miles

There are fewer nicer feelings than getting out of a hot shower or bath in the winter and wrapping yourself up in a lovely warm towel. Now imagine the same scenario but with a cold, damp towel. There is nothing likely to dissipate the feeling of cosiness faster than that. One of the best ways to make sure you always have lovely warm towels is by having a heated towel rail installed in your bathroom, but the benefits are not limited to making your towels warm. In fact, despite the name, that is not even the main purpose of a heated towel rail!

Keeping towels dry – and clean

That’s right while warming your towels is a much-appreciated function of a heated towel rail, the main objective of this useful home appliance is to dry your towels between use. While picking up a damp towel after your shower is a bit grim, and possibly slightly smelly, there is a hygiene issue here that a heated towel rail is really being employed to deal with.

Damp towels provide perfect breeding grounds for bacteria and germs. Because they thrive in damp environments, if allowed to linger for any length of time they will duplicate and will go on to cause a musty, stale odour or even infections and illnesses. The same goes for mould and mildew: wet towels sat in a bathroom environment, combined with water vapour from the shower, can cause the whole space to become damp, and once it gets into the walls and ceilings it can be hard to get rid of.

A towel that dries quickly is therefore much more hygienic than one that sits damp for long periods and this is the main purpose of a heated towel rail (the warm towels are an added bonus!).

MYLEK Infrared Electric Towel Rail Heater 500W

Price: £139.99

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Space for the whole family’s towels

You may be thinking “surely a radiator will do the same job” and you’re right, to a degree. If you live alone and only have one towel in use at any one time then yes, a radiator will dry your towel. However, if several people use the bathroom you may find that you have several towels on the go at any one time. A radiator will only allow you to place a towel over the top, giving you space for one or two at the most. A heated towel rail has several individual rails to allow you to dry multiple towels at once.

Warm the space

Of course, the heat emitted from the towel rail is not just for towels, it will warm the whole room. Because of their design, the air is able to circulate freely around and behind a heated towel rail, allowing heat to penetrate the space more effectively.

Heatstore Stainless Steel Electric Heated Towel Rail 870mm x Width 500mm

Price: £223.19

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Aesthetically pleasing

Radiators can tend to have a utilitarian feel, whereas heated towel rails are stylish enough to look like an integrated element of the design scheme. Certainly, form follows function but there is no need to compromise when a heated towel rail scores highly in both regards.

Suitable for even the smallest spaces

The bathroom is known as the smallest room in the house, and space is often at a premium with all your fittings competing for wall space. Heated towel rails come in a range of shapes and sizes and many take advantage of vertical space, you can pack plenty of heat emitting surface area into even the most compact of rooms. Great for en-suites, downstairs cloakrooms, and even caravan washrooms.