Bathroom heaters / towel rails

kaiser

Guest
I,m about to start motorhoming so please forgive what might be an odd question? On the subject of bathrooms, how do you keep your towels etc dry when motorhoming throught the winter months. Is there such a thing as a fitted warm towel rail in the bathroom area, or do you dry things with the heating on, where theere is a blown air facility to heat the bathroom. (effectively truning it into an airing cupboard). Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.:confused:
 
A good question, and a situation that is worse for those of us with 'smaller' vans.

This is how I cut down on wet towels:
After showering remove the majority of the water using a facecloth/flannel, wringing it out as you go. To finish off I use a hand-towel sized microfibre towel that is barely damp once finished. These microfibre towels work better than ordinary towels, are thinner and lighter therefore take up less space, and they also dry out far quicker than a cotton bath towel.
 
We use a very thin and good (Lifeventure?) microfibre towel. We only use that to dry (no flannel dry) - and hang over passenger seat back. We also use a chamois to dry the shower room each time, then wring out and leave on dash. All easily dries in no time at all.
 
i have a RT answer (sorry rt for jumping in }

1 make sure it dark 2 open door 3 quick streak up the road and back .no wet towel 3a if no space to streak the quick shake (no offennce meant rt}


my answer is roll up towel put on dashboard turn on demist open window slightly whilst driving to next spot
 
Thank you all for your replies, I,m no electrician but I suppose that 12v is just not enough to power a heated towel rail ?
 
Any heat produced from a 12v appliance is not economical except in certain circumstances where the engine is running and the alternator supplies most/all of the power.
 
Sparks said:
Any heat produced from a 12v appliance is not economical except in certain circumstances where the engine is running and the alternator supplies most/all of the power.
Click to expand...

So if it was connected to the vehicle electrical system when the vehicle was moving, it would work? A 12v heated towel rail connected to the motorhomes electrical circuit, that only activated when the engine was running. Could that work electrically?
 
I haven't looked but I would imagine you can only get heated towel rails that are 240v AC. To use one of these you would need a 12v DC - 240v AC inverter, the size required would depend on what the towel rail consumes. Again, without looking, the wattage of a 'mains' towel rail could be quite high and to run one from a hefty inverter your battery/batteries will not last long. It would be OK if the engine was running (i.e. travelling on the road). It does seem an expensive and wasteful means of getting your towels dried though.
 
A 12v heated towel rail connected to the motorhomes electrical circuit, that only activated when the engine was running. Could that work electrically?
Click to expand...
Yes, quite easily. But are they available in 12v DC?

:idea: It might be easier to hang your towels out of the window while driving
 
I haven't found a 12v one as yet. In respect of the 240 v option, would that heated rail work if plugged into the motorhome socket that would normally be used on hook up for example. (Please excuse my lack of electrical know how) So, a 240v heated towel rail is installed, plugged in, and switched on only when the engine is running. When making a journey, the heated rail is switched on, charged by the vehicle alternator, at the end of the journey swithch off. Depending on the length of the journey, the towels would dry as you were travelling? Is this possible, or is it too much for the alternator to cope with?:confused:
 
Having looked around there appears to be some 240v towel rails that don't use too much power.
This one for instance is 'only' 60 watts:
S Style Heated Towel Rail White 60W 550x530mm | Screwfix.com

I reckon a 150w inverter will cope with that easily.

There are a number of ways to connect it, either way will require a 240v 3-pin plug fitted with a suitable fuse. With a plug fitted (rather than hard-wiring with a fused outlet) you will be able to use it from your van mains socket while on EHU, or from an inverter when travelling.
The inverter can be connected manually with a cigar plug so that you have to remember to plug in/out when using it.
You could connect it through a relay that is energised when the ignition is on (not too clever as the inverter would be powered up when cranking the engine).
Lastly, and unfortunately the most complicated (and more cost unless you already have split charge) is to connect a relay that is energised when the alternator is charging. A sense wire from your existing split charge system would be fine. If you haven't got a split charge system installed then you will need a Smartcom relay or similar.

Whichever route you choose you would need to consider best paractices for cable size, fuse protection, cable routing, use of mains electricity in a 'wet room' etc.
 
We changed to microfibre towels and find them well worth the expense. They dry easily and use less space. While driving a line in the back of the van works for us.
 
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We use microfibre towels as well, they dry really quickly and are great, dry you off really well. :D:D
 
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