Recessed Ceiling Heaters

[uncleg]

Hi All,



I had a chrome towel rail installed in my bathroom last summer....



No surprise you may say, but was freezing in there over the winter to the extent that with young children, I want to get this changed.



bathroom is quite big, with a walk in shower in one room and big bath at the other end....



Options my plumber has thought of is:



1) Put in a rad against one wall, which I have the space, but he will have to rip up some tiles on the floor and wall and as there is a garage underneath he can run the pipe work that way



2) As there is a loft above, he stated there are some recessed ceilein heaters which run off the electric which might be less messy, but prob more expensive as they cost more.



I will work out the cost of doing both options, but does any one know if these recessed ceiling heaters will actually heat the room properly and how energy efficient are they. I have looked them up, but there is no word on whether they are actullay any good and will heat a room?



Thank you for your advice.

 

[stem]

I installed a Sunheat bathroom heater with fan and light 2 years ago. Although there is a heated towel rail in the bathroom it could still be cool in the morning, or if the bathroom happened to be used when the heating wasn't on.

There are 4 infrared lamps that use just over 1,000 Watts (1kW) in total. Switch them on, and as the name suggests it feels as if the sun is shining on you. Instant warmth, and lots of it. A selector switch allows 2, or 4 lamps to be on. In practice 2 is usually sufficient, and because they are instant, they only need to be on when you are in the room.

It doesn't really heat the air, you just feel the radiation from it, so if it has only been on for a few minutes when you switch it off it's as if it's not been on. The best way of describing it is if you are standing in a window with the warmth of the sun shining on you, then you close the curtains you feel cooler. The room temperature is the same, but you feel cooler because the sun's rays have been blocked out. Leave it on for a long time and the radiation will warm other object it falls on, walls, towel etc., and this heat is transferred to the room.

There are three problems I see. First, the unit is ceiling mounted, but is not suitable for mounting in 'Zone 1' of a bathroom, so it won't be suitable for many bathrooms. Secondly, the instructions recomend that the fan and heating functions aren't used together (but there's no interlock to prevent this). This is inconvienient if you want to shower and leave the house, because the fan doesn't have a timer that you could run for a while when you have finished showering to clear the air. Finally the switch panel is not designed for bathroom use so in many bathrooms will need to be mounted outside of the bathroom door.

I was also surprised that the instructions stipulate a 13A fuse and then supply a length of extremely thin 4-core cable that carries the full load for connection to the switch. I fitted a 5A fuse, and it hasn't blown yet.

 

[uncleg]

Thanks.

We have fan already installed which come on when the lights are on and stays on for a while after the lights are turned off.....

Having the switch outised the door is not an issue, I guess what might be is the fact that there is not a timer, eg you want the bathroom to be warm before you go in... but I guess it depends hown quickly it warms up....

Thanks for this, will look into..... but as you say having it in the bathroom might be an issue if this is not permitted....

Thanks