What's the deal with heated towel rails?

[Jolie]

When we first toured NZ, we were SO impressed by the heated towel racks in all the hotels (which were only 3-star). "Wow," we thought, "isn't it lovely that they're so into this little LUXURY in New Zealand?"

We very quickly realised that they are not a luxury here: they are an absolute necessity. Unless you wash your towels every 2 days, if you don't hang them on a warmer, they will still be damp and clammy the next time you need to use them – and as others have said, you'll soon find that you're culturing your very own little colony of mildew.

[KatieBen]

We don't wash our towels every 2 days, neither do we turn on the heated towel rail - and we have yet to see mouldy towels covered in mildew. I use them to hang clean towels on when I can be bothered, mostly my towels are folded in the cupboard or hanging over the bedposts for use the next morning!

[dilanium]

During the winter I change my towels about every 3 days because they start smelling of mildew. My OH wouldn't notice, but I HATE that smell.

I suppose it really depends where in NZ you are.

[Familyofmonkeys]

During the winter I change my towels about every 3 days because they start smelling of mildew. My OH wouldn't notice, but I HATE that smell.

I suppose it really depends where in NZ you are.

In Auckland we used to tumble dry all of our towels in the morning for 20 minutes....it was the only way we could keep them from smelling musty, and even in the summer we needed to hand them on the line for a couple of hours each morning. Funny thing is, here in Canterbury the temperature when we get up in the morning is lower than the temperatures we left behind in Auckland.....but it feels soooo much warmer due to the lower humidity and there is no condensation on the windows at all.

[JandM]

If you're somewhere that has the non-drying towels problem (experienced by us visiting Auckland in winter), you're quite likely to be using a dehumidifier in the house, and hanging the towels near that helps a lot. I also had two sets of towels in use, one ready in the bathroom and one hanging up drying.

[Jo Jo]

We've got a heated towel rail but we don't need to use it to dry the towels, as they generally dry out pretty quickly anyway (well, mine do. My husband's don't as he tends to leave them in a heap on the floor....). But I do use it to warm up my clothes in the winter so I have toasty warm clothes to put on after my shower.... mmmm, lovely.

[dilanium]

The problem being we don't have a tumble dryer (nor a place to put one) and the house is very much not airtight so running a dehumidifier is like throwing money out the window.

But it's the best we can afford. I'm not complaining, I have plenty of towels for this reason and it's only a problem during the wettest part of the winter.

[donkeykong]

Is central air to far advance for NZ? That would eliminate the need for towel racks. It would also solve other issues. However when I have Tiptop ice cream I forget about damp towels

[Ngeru]

Is central air to far advance for NZ?

Way too advanced!!! We have a heated light bulb in our bathroom, as do many other places we have seen, this combined with a heated towel rail is about as good as it gets.

Some newer places have underfloor heating in bathrooms, but again people complain that they simply can't justify the expense of actually switching it on.

I hardly ever switch the towel rail on, sometime I put it on when I have a bath, in the vain hope that it will warm the bathroom up on particularly chilly nights.

In the UK now it's quite the thing to have a heated towel rail plumbed in to the central heating, in place of a standard radiator.

[petri]

a heated light bulb

What's that? I thought all (most?) light bulbs get hot after they've been on for a while ;-)