Some the common questions surrounding heated towel rails is how much will it cost to run and if they can be left running all the time. Whilst dry electric heated towel rails are very affordable to run it is still recommended to have them connected to a switch or timer so that they can be switched off when not in use.
The benefit of a timer is that you can program your rail so that it is only operating when you need it which will further reduce your running costs.
On the subject of running costs through, how can you work out what it is going to cost your rail to run?
Running Cost Calculation
On the back of the rail there will be a sticker with the model and the wattage that the rail draws. If you cant see this then you will need to look up this details from your original purchase. Typically dry electric heated towel rail range from around 30 to 250 watts.
In this example we will use a 600x800mm rail which draws 90watts. This is going to run for 6 hours a day, 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the evening.
First, we need to convert the wattages (90watts) into Kilowatts per day. The conversion formula for watts to kilowatts is divide by 1000.
So our 90 watt rail is going to draw 0.09 kilowatts per hour. Over our 6 hours for the day this will be 0.81 kilowatts. For a month this will be 25.1 kilowatts to run your Heated Towel Rail.
The average Australian rate per kilowatt is 25c so to run this Heated Towel Rail for 6 hours a day for a full month will cost $6.28 a month. Very reasonable for a dry warm rail every single time you have a shower.
And if you consider this as opposed to running a tumble dryer to dry your towels which draws on average 3.3kw per hour you may find that a Heated Towel Rail is a very affordable option to use.