Heated Towel Rails: Vertical vs. Ladder
There is more to choosing the right heated towel rail than you might at first think. This is particularly true if you’re shopping for a towel rail for your family bathroom.
Why use a heated towel rail?
Heated towel rails are a practical addition to any bathroom. They keep your towels dry and toasty, so you can wrap up warm when you get out of a shower. They also prevent towels from going musty and are a much better option than throwing towels into a tumble dryer. Depending on their design, heated towel rails can also serve as a room heater.
But with more designer towel warmers in the market, there are more options, which can be a good and a bad thing. From material, colour, size, and shape, making a decision can be tricky.
Most importantly though, you want a towel rail that dries your towels, suits your bathroom, is energy efficient, one that people are going to use properly and that doesn’t get covered in finger marks, especially if you have children.
Different styles of heated towel rails
Ladder rails
The ladder rail comes in many styles and sizes. Their multiple rungs are arranged vertically, resembling a ladder, hence the name. They offer a modern, sleek look with ample space for hanging multiple towels. The design means they can evenly distribute heat across the rail. They allow for good air circulation around the towels, which can mean quick drying times. However, this can depend greatly on how the towels are folded, draped or flung onto them.
The other thing about heated ladder rails is that they may require more planning for installation due to their size and weight. Horizontal rails might require more support across their length and could be a bit more challenging to install.
The modular towel rail (individual rail) suits minimalist bathrooms and gives the flexibility to choose how many rails to buy. However, this can become expensive.
Vertical rails
The vertical towel warmer is perfect for small spaces where multiple towels need to be dried. Vertical towel rails are tall and narrow, with a single vertical pole or a series of vertically arranged bars. They are great for bathrooms with limited wall space.
They may not provide as much space for multiple towels, which could be an issue for a family, but since the towels needn’t be folded to be hung up, even the laziest bathroom user in your household will find it easy to hang their towels – even fewer excuses for throwing them on the bathroom floor and walking away so less running around and tidying up after them for parents. However, if you’ve got quite young kids, they might find it harder to reach and hang towels properly on a vertical rail.
Vertical rails are usually simple to mount and integrate into plumbing systems, especially in new builds or renovations.
Drying your towels – the most important aspect
Different towel warmers have different drying times depending on size, style and power output. In our experience, ladder and horizontal heated towel rails are not as effective as vertical towel warmers. Why? Because if you have multiple towels on a ladder rail, they will overlap, particularly if they are haphazardly just chucked on a rail. This means part of the towel may not dry and may become musty. With a vertical towel warmer, the whole towel touches the warmer and there is a constant flow of warm air around it.
Another factor to consider is the temperature of heated vertical towel rail. As they are more effective at drying towels, they generally don’t need to get as hot as other warmers.
The answer to the heated towel rail dilemma
While both vertical and ladder heated towel rails have their pros and cons, at FlowFix Plumbing in Orewa we reckon the vertical design seems to offer more advantages. This is especially true for a family setting with lazy towel hangers or in a bathroom with limited available wall space.