I can't help with an answer, but since we are about to start a complete redo on our primary bathroom, I have been wondering about towel warmers in general.

It seems to me that no matter what kind of towel warmer you get, your towel is only going to feel warm for the first few seconds right after you grab it. I don't have a towel warmer, but when I pull a towel out of the dryer in our laundry room, it's incredibly warm (even hot to the touch), and feels quite cozy, but within what seems to be about just 10 seconds it has pretty much lost all warmth - and this is with very thick, "fluffy" towels.

It seems that a towel will not hold any heat for more than a few seconds. Given the very short benefit, I'm thinking that any towel warmer is going to be a disappointment.

Am I wrong on this?

I have a Dacor towel warming drawer at home in my PA house and I love it. I put it on when I get in the bathtub and when I get out after about an hour, it feels nice and toasty warm.

I don't have the space to put the drawer in FL unfortunately and don't really want to spend that much $ (the dacor drawer was like $1000 + it needed a custom panel).

So, I am hoping that there is a solution w/ the hard-wired warmers. I understand it won't feel like it came out of a dryer but I do want it to actually feel WARM.

Anyone??

I've been looking at the possibility of using one in a new bath remodel soon, and was hoping to find something that might also provide auxillery heat in the room. I've been thinking about this one, though it's much more expensive than what you are wanting. My thinking is that the more heated surface area touching the towel, the warmer the towel will be. More like coming out of the dryer.

I have another one bookmarked somewhere and will post it when I find it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Vega series towel warmer.

Runtal Ominipanel, but it's pricey.

Here is a link that might be useful: Omnipanel

Thanks GreenDesigns and olychick.

I am getting the impression that if I want it to work, I have to spend a lot more $$

we have an amba antus... definitely gets the towels nice and warm as well as the toilet area... but they cost more than 3-500$....

I am putting in warmly yours. The reviews on this were good and the price was about $300. The customer service has been responsive. We haven't really used it yet but I look forward to it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Warmly yours towel warmer

We just put in two Runtal Omnipanels and I LOVE them. Towels are definitely warm, QUITE warm on the high setting. They certainly seem to stay warm while I'm drying off... and I particularly like the fact that hanging the damp towel on it, even after I turn it off, will dry the towel (we are in a humid climate much of the year). Our electrician added a timer (Runtal makes one, too, but we hadn't ordered it initially). I'm very glad to have that as it takes the Runtal some time to warm up and it is nice to be able to program it ... but once it does heat up, it is LOVELY. Ours ran about $700 each. It's a beautiful, solidly built fixture. Only been in use 3 days and I'm in love...!

We have Warmrails Kensington. It's reasonably priced and works well.

OK, I'll admit I'm still a little skeptical, but am now more intrigued by the idea.

I've done a little googling, and it appears there are two basic technologies used for towel heaters: electric, and hot water. As luck would have it, we have a hot water line that's currently coming into a radiator in our little bathroom. The radiator has to go in our upcoming remodel (a tub is going up against that wall and there isn't anyplace else to move it), and our contractor was planning to just cap off the how water lines feeding it. This will result in a net loss of heat on that floor.

Now I'm wondering if the existing hot water could feed a towel warmer. I suspect they could make the plumbing work, and I would love to be able to retain (or perhaps even increase) the room's heat output. This would only be effective during the winter months, when the heat is on. Of course, in the summer months, we won't care about heated towels.

There's only one wall in the room where this might work. But aren't these heated towel racks hot to the touch? We don't have kids, but it seems like these would be a safety hazard - bump into the towel rack in a small bathroom, and you might be burned. No?

We have the Warmly Yours Infinity Towel Warmer with hardwire installation in my daughter's bathroom. $319 and it works like a charm! We installed the timer that comes with it and it's great. It's WARM! Their bathroom is on the third floor and we've actually turned it off a few times b/c it was warming the room so much that it got a little toasty!

It does a great job warming and drying the towels - with the caveat that applies to all towel warmers which is they can't be wet and folded on top of each other to dry quickly. It's a little tricky to fit two towels on it but I think that width issue applies to all towel warmers and this is the standard size.

My younger daughter has taken to hanging her school uniform on it so it's warm when she puts it on in the morning. :-)

We're putting in a second one in our master bathroom!

Here is a link that might be useful: Warmly Yours Infinity Towel Warmer

Airbumpkin, I don't see why you couldn't "leverage" that hot water line. We did something similar but with electric -- we got the towel warmers largely because we already had power low on the wall, on its own circuit, because the house originally had built in wall heaters (think 1959) which we removed. I agree that a towel bar could burn you on the high setting -- I can't envision ever keeping ours on high, as medium is quite adequate for warming the towels and low just gives the room a nice, warm feel. Our electrician actually suggested just leaving them on low through the (cold) winter months. However, they are not the primary source of heat in the bathrooms -- I think those old wall heaters were installed as a "luxury" item much as people now put in floor radiant heat mats in bathrooms. I know the Runtals come in both hot water and electric versions and I imagine the other brands do as well. I'm sure you could easily make that work.

with our towel warmer, if you grab it and hold, it will be very uncomfortably hot, but it is not nearly as hot as pulling a pan out of say a 350 degree oven... it will not burn you- at least with minimal contact...
when i was researching warmers a few years ago, i was under the impression that they might be more efficient or maybe even more effective(warmer) if you install the hot water type- but i certainly don't remember any stats. electric was our only option.
we leave ours on pretty much all winter... we have our upstairs furnace turned down very low, but the bit of warmth from the towel warmer near the toilet area is nice... i recently turned it off for about a week as i resealed our bathroom and it was noticably colder near the commode.

You mentioned that you are looking for a brand that does more than dry the towels. The brand Amba (Antus, Elory, Quadro, Sirio and Vega) makes several hardwired collections that double as a space heater. Some of these fit into your price range.

Here is a link that might be useful: Amba towel warmers

I would go for Amba radiant series. They are no more than 200 $ and heat well. Don't get anything cheap but you don't have to get something more expensive than this one either. This is good enough.

Here is a link that might be useful: hardwired towel warmer

This post was edited by amipatria on Sat, Dec 28, 13 at 21:19

There is alot of choices to warm up your towel. But instead of buying an expensive towelwarmer, why not make one on your own? You could, by modifying your warm copper waterpipes make your own! I've written a little about it here: http://primabolig.dk/indendors/badevaerelse/el-handklaedetorrer/

Here is a link that might be useful: towelwarmer

Hard wired towel warmer by AMBA are : Sirio, Quadro, Elory, Antus, Vega, Traditional & Jeeves collections.