How Long Can You Leave A Towel Warmer On?

How Long Can You Leave A Towel Warmer On? Towel warmers are electric gadgets that people leave switched on for very long times or even throughout the night. Consequently, we are tempted to ask whether doing so is safe at all or not.

Although in fairness to the manufacturers, some towel warmers come equipped with special features that will enable you to control or monitor how hot they become such that there will be no problem whatsoever, others are not so designed.

Fortunately for everyone, heated towel rails are made such that they can be left to operate all the time without any safety concerns or worries.

As a result, if you mean to allow them to run for long periods, you should be mindful of how well you monitor what is happening.

Any good towel warmer will typically come on or go off automatically in tandem with the main central heating system.

In a nutshell, you shouldn’t leave your towel warmer on throughout the night. After all, the towels can dry overnight, and should you leave the gadget on throughout, you risk causing a fire accident.

Therefore, although it can be done safely, it is still better that you switch them on only when necessary, instead of leaving them on for very long periods.

This can be done conveniently since most towels do not take long to become fully warmed up, which takes just a short moment not exceeding about 30 minutes.

How long you leave your towel warmer on also depends on many factors too. For example, some towel warmers are so good that in a matter of a few minutes, they are all but done heating your towels satisfactorily.

These are the best variety of towel warmers, but unfortunately, they are the more expensive as well. The nature of the towel is also another matter to consider seriously.

This is because some fabrics are more easily heated than others. This means that the process will take longer with certain towels and shorter with others.

Finally, the length of time taken to heat your towel is also dependent on the environmental temperature that prevails at the time too. Conversely, on cooler days, the process is likely to take longer than it would when the temperature is hot.

Trending Searches

• Do Towel Rails Have Thermostats?
• Do Towel Warmers Use A Lot Of Electricity?

Will leaving a towel for long ruin my towel?

The chances of ruination if you leave your towel warmer on for long periods are very negligible if not removed totally. 

Firstly, towel warmers do not use much electricity like most other similar gadgets. Also, most modern towel warmers are designed such that you can easily adjust their setting at any time of your choosing.

Finally, if you want to safeguard your towel, you should only microwave it when it is wet but not otherwise. This is because microwaving dry towels can ignite a fire in the house suddenly.

More so, you can also adjust the setting of the microwave such that it can come on or off only at times chosen by you. Again, you are also given the chance to determine the temperature to which your towel is heated due to certain special features in the units. 

Therefore, the chances are very slim for your towel to get damaged while still in the microwave, but you should ensure that all the laid down instructions or recommendations of the manufacturers are obeyed fully and at all times.

How do I make use of a towel warmer?

The first thing you should do when using a towel warmer is to turn it on. This can be done quite easily by simply turning its valve in the opposite direction.

Next, check to ascertain that it has warmed up as needed after turning it on. After about 10 minutes, its green heating light should come on.

You should then proceed to open its lid. Throughout, you should be sure that you avoid touching its interior surface, which is still expected to be warm or even hot in some rare cases.

Most hydronic towel warmers are known to generally utilize water to heat the towel rack. This means that they must be connected to hot water plumbing.

This is an alternative that is a little bit more complex to get installed and it is, for this reason, it is generally considered best to just install the hydronic towel warmer at the time of remodeling.

The moment you turn on the towel warmer, it will start heating, and hence, it should feel warm to the touch in as short as about 10 minutes.

In most cases, towel warmers do not take more or less than 20 to 40 minutes before they reach optimal heat, although this depends on the air temperature in the room as well as the capacity of the towel warmer itself.

How do I tell the right time to take out the towel warmer?

Generally, it is time to take out the towel warmer whenever you discover that the towel has been warmed up to the touch as required.

However, with the thermostatic type of towel warmers, which can be set at any required temperature, you can know when to turn it off after it has operated for a couple of minutes and the towel feels warm to the touch too.

With the non-thermostatic types of towel warmers, just allow it to run for a few minutes before touching to ascertain whether the towel is hot enough to your taste, which is an indication that you should turn it off.

If your towel warmer can no longer be turned anymore, its radiator should be switched off. For this reason, turn your central heating system again to enable you to ascertain whether you have inadvertently turned it in the wrong direction. Should the towel radiator fail to heat up as it normally does, you have switched its radiator off successfully. 

Does towel warmer ruin towels?

No, towel warmers hardly damage towels because first, they use very little electricity, and second, they do not get hot excessively.

Also, most of these warmers are programmed to either come on or go off depending on the settings and the temperatures reached.

Despite these safety features, sometimes, your towel can only get damaged if you use a dry towel instead of a wet one. Reliably, towel warmers hardly damage your towel during heating.

Are our towel warmers used for all types of towels?

Yes, towel warmers are used in heating most types of towels except probably microfiber towels or towels that have not been made damp with water.

Generally speaking, most synthetic fibers such as microfiber which is made of polyester, can be denatured, scorched, or even burnt when warmed in a towel warmer. Aside from these conditions, towel warmers can be used to heat virtually all other towels, particularly the types made of cotton fabric.

FAQs

Is a towel warmer worth it?

Yes, towel warmers are very well worth it. To be more specific, these gadgets can effectively reduce mildew by making sure that your towels are dried enough rapidly, which keeps them more fresh.

Also, towel warmers are known to speed up or accelerate the drying of your wet outerwear like coats and gloves. These features make your towel warmers worth considering for mushrooms and laundry rooms as well. So, yes, towel warmers are worth it.

Do heated towel rails use a lot of electricity?

Certainly not; towel warmers do not consume much electricity. Most towel warmers in common use are very effective in both heating and drying your towels without actually causing any undue increase in your electricity bills.

This simply implies that they do not use much electricity to perform their jobs. However, just so you get a little more detailed information, a typically heated towel rail uses only about 100 to 200 watts of electricity every 60 minutes.

With some models, and there are many on the market, the power consumption can be a little less or more than this, which is not much all the same.

To further improve on their power economy, even though they don’t use much, you can turn them off the moment your towels are adequately heated. This will further cut down on how much electricity they consume, which will conversely reduce the tariff.

How Long Can You Leave A Towel Warmer On – Conclusion

Towel warmers are designed to heat your towels as well as warm up even the room where they are kept especially when air is retained in the room by closing its windows.

They come in different designs and sizes which determine how fast and efficiently they operate. The two types of towel warmers on the market also provide you with the chance to either go for those that maintain a constant temperature throughout known as the non-thermostatic warmers or those that come equipped with the thermostats, in which the temperatures can be varied.

Although you can operate them for hours on end without any harm, you are still advised to use them only for as long as it will take to heat the towels as you want.

Fortunately, hardly do they ruin the towels especially those that are made of natural fibres such as cotton,  but do not use them with just any microfiber if you are not sure of how safe that will be.