Currently renovating the new house and having a full new heating system fitted (gas combi and radiators).

Had assumed I would want simple towel rail radiators in the bathrooms connected up to the central heating system (the towel rails will be the only source of heating in the bathrooms).

However, the builder pointed out that it’s not on most of the year but you really you do want the towel rails on to some degree year-round to warm/dry towels.
Good point I thought.
He recommended going for electric oil-filled ones instead. He said they are efficient these days and would heat the rooms for a similar cost to wet central heating. I was surprised to hear this, but it sounded good if true.

Had a couple of plumbers round to quote for the install and the first one went along with the builders logic.
Second one did not agree and thought they would be expensive to run. He recommended to get dual-fuel ones which are on the CH system but also have an electric element in them so can be run independently when CH not in use.
This sounds like best of both worlds, but of course is the most expensive option.

Anyone else faced the same dilemma?
Should I just go fully electric or will I regret it when I see the electricity bills?
Or should I bite the bullet and stump up the cash for the dual-fuel ones?

Do you really need the towel rail on to dry a towel when it’s hot enough for the CH to be off? I find mine dry perfectly OK without additional heat for six months of the year.

Personally, if I could go again, I would just put an efficient rad in the bathroom. Takes up less space, is cheaper.

Doing our bathroom at the minute and not even bothering with a towel rail, they don’t heat the room.

and not even bothering with a towel rail, they don’t heat the room.

This is problem with them

bothering with a towel rail, they shit designed ones don’t heat the room

Buy one that’s designed as a radiator and don’t weigh it down with towels off every bar like most I see in folks houses and it’ll heat the room just fine

Also got a wet rad towel rail and find it works just fine.

Do the dual thing. I wish I did – planning to retrofit an element in spring.

Put a rad and a towel rail in, towel rails aren’t rads.

Yup, towel rails don’t emit much heat. Better to have a normal rad and a non heated towel rail a metre above it.

i have an electric one, its fine to dry towels, however it doesnt ‘heat’ the room.

if you want a radiator, think you will want it connected to the CH.
you may want to add an electric element for the months when the CH isnt on, might not be necessary but i wouldnt worry unduly about the cost of running it. I would rather have a towel dry in a couple of hours than them hanging around damp for hours. Your house, heating, location, weather may vary….

Have a CH one in bathroom and it does heat the room, as/when we upgrade it (15yrs old) we will get a larger one (current one may be 1.5m) and look at combined ch/electric. In Spring/Autumn when CH is not on we miss the heating and warm towels so an electric one on say a 1hr timer would be useful although first person in room won’t get the benefit. FWIW in another property we have just a radiator which warms rooms but personally I like less as it is not so easy to hang towels on.

Got a chrome towel rail with dual fuel to replace a conventional rad in the bathroom. Plumber recommended a heat output around 2000 BTU. Works well in summer and winter, doing a good job keeping the bathroom warm. Much bigger than the rad it replaces though to generate the heat output (1700mmx600mm).

With hindsight a timer fitted to the electric element is a very good shout for the summer when you just want it to dry the towels and switch itself off. Saves forgetting it on and having the thing going for ages or overnight if you have a shower before going to bed.

The towel rain in our bathroom heats the room nicely….when there are no towels on it. That’s the paradox with towel rail heaters.

Not sure i’d go for an electric one, but i’ve seen the dual hot water with elements which I would go for again as towels remain damp in the summer when the CH doesn’t come on so handy to use the electric element in the summer.

Nice big towel rail will heat the room no problem. We do miss heated towels April to Sep so the next house will have dual ch/electric

Towel rails are hateful, bloody things get red hot and burn you yet manage to not put any heat in to the room.

Oh and white radiators radiate heat much better than chrome ones!

I put a heating element in the bottom of mine when fitting my central heating system. It makes life much easier in keeping the bathroom warm when my central heating is off.

Having lived in homes with both options, CH and electric, the dual fuel would seem like the best option. Currently have a pretty big 200w oil filled electric, it really only takes the chill off our small bathroom, and thats only a 7ft by 5 ft.

Thanks for all the replies.
Seems like I got some pretty poor advice from the builder then!

Have decided to go dual-fuel, and also up the size of the unit I had in mind.

Doing our bathroom at the minute and not even bothering with a towel rail, they don’t heat the room.

They do, but only if you fit a really big one.

Get a dual one, I didn’t and regret it. Towels don’t dry in the summer.

edit: doublepost

We went with CH + electric element, I don’t think we’ve ever used the electric. Towels dry just fine on their own as long as you don’t pile them up.

I have CH chrome towel rails – work just fine but you need to check the BTU / wattage – our small bathroom has a 1800 x 600 mm one