The bathroom will become much more convenient if you equip it with such a functional device as a heated towel rail.

Its installation allows you to solve several significant problems at once:
- drying towels and small items;
- maintaining optimal temperature conditions;
- preventing the formation of dampness.

Installation of a water heated towel rail

First you need to assemble it - install shut-off valves with a detachable connection on the supply line, which in the future will ensure easy replacement of the heated towel rail or elimination of some defects without draining the riser. The assembled dryer can be attached to the wall anywhere by connecting pipes from the riser to it.

Important. When installing a heated towel rail, you must act strictly in accordance with the instructions supplied with it.

Connection order:

Features of installing a combined heated towel rail

Since water dryers usually work only during the heating period, many residents of high-rise buildings solve this problem by installing a universal heated towel rail, which can operate from a heating system or hot water supply, and from electricity. To do this, you will need a drying ladder, in the lower left inlet of which an electric heater with a thermostat is mounted. The installation of the heated towel rail itself is carried out in the manner described above.

Thus, the following scheme of work is obtained. When closing the shut-off valves and filling the device with water through the left upper inlet (where the Mayevsky tap is installed), the heated towel rail can be heated by electricity. When you disconnect it from the outlet and open the shut-off valves, heating will be provided by hot water from the central system.

Important. Connecting an electric heated towel rail requires fulfilling some requirements regarding electrical wiring.

The energy consumption of such devices is quite high (1 kW or more), which requires a separate outlet, which is connected with a cable with a cross-section of at least 2.5 square meters and powered directly from the electrical panel. This wiring line must be protected with a separate “automatic device”.

It is necessary to provide space for a grounded socket for the heated towel rail

A very important point is grounding. Manufacturers took care of connecting ready-made heated towel rails and those manufactured independently (with “ladder” equipment, heating elements with a thermostat) to protective grounding. Therefore, it is enough just to install a special socket with grounding, laying a three-core wire. If there is no grounding in the apartment, then you can perform “grounding”, when the ground wire and the neutral in the wiring are bridged with each other. This re-grounding must be done as close to the electrical panel as possible.

This is how to install and connect a heated towel rail. Before starting work, you need to decide whether you can handle this work on your own or not. Even if you decide not to do it yourself, you will at least understand the installation sequence, which will help you control the quality of the work of hired specialists.

With the beginning of the widespread construction of cities with serial high-rise buildings in the second half of the last century, few people at that time called the unusual M-shaped coils that appeared in their bathrooms as heated towel rails.

But housewives figured out their purpose immediately and began to use them to the fullest extent: for drying not only towels, but also any other linen, especially in winter. It will be useful for any owner to learn everything about the correct installation and replacement of a water heated towel rail in the bathroom with his own hands for his owner.

With acceptance SNiPa 2.04.01‑85, in which the term “towel rail” appeared, the device soon came into general use.

Unaesthetically pleasing and, moreover, useless at the end of the heating season, iron structures painted with “silver” or nitro paint, nevertheless appealed to the taste of householders, and soon they began to obtain and install them by hook or by crook. Nickel plated, graceful, elegant and practical eurounits.

This topic has not lost its relevance even now: in the housing stock there are still many old buildings, where apartment owners, starting repairs or replacement of plumbing equipment, turn their attention to such useful and necessary devices for equipping the bathroom, which quite within the capabilities of a home DIYer for self-installation.

Device selection

All designs of these units are divided into three types:

• Mermen.
• Electrical.
• Combined.

Replacing an old device with a new one, it is most logical to use the water type. Electrical devices are used where there is neither a centralized heating system nor hot water supply, or as a backup during shutdowns.

If there is a heating network or hot water supply in the house, it is more reasonable, instead of backup ones, to use combined structures that do not take up additional space, and their installation differs little from the installation of water appliances.

The external design of water devices is quite diverse:

• 1st type: M‑, U‑, F‑shaped - traditional shapes.
• 2nd type: “ladders”, “snakes” and other types of original design of modern devices.

It is also important to include them in the current system location of installation pipes:

• Lateral - usually used for type 1 devices;
• Bottom or top - more common among type 2 devices.

Choosing the right option determined by the availability of free space in the bathroom, the location of the piping system and the type of connection diagram. More details about which water heated towel rail is best to choose - in this.

What is required for installation?

Before starting any work it will be quite good sketch out a wiring diagram or, as a last resort, a small sketch by hand placement of the unit, choosing the most suitable option for connecting the device to the pipeline network.

The simplest diagrams for the correct connection of a heated towel rail with your own hands for universal ladder devices:

Tools

To replace or install a water heated towel rail, you will need a set of plumbing tools, the composition of which depends on the type of water pipes in the apartment. Considering that copper, polypropylene and other modern types of pipelines are still rare, we will describe tooling for standard ¾’ steel pipes:

• Keys: gas No. 2 or No. 3; adjustable - “crocodile”; adjustable nut.
• Pipe cutter or a hacksaw for metal.
• Threading dies ¾’ with a lever collar.
• Drill electric with hammer drill, drill bits for concrete.
• Angle grinder with a cutting disc for metal - “grinder”.
• Fastening tool: hammer, screwdrivers, pliers.
• Marking tool: tape measure, level, pencil.

Materials

In addition to a set of tools for work, you also need installation and consumables:

• Turns, bends, couplings, bends and possibly other types of fittings.
• Shut-off valves, preferably ball valves.
• Plumbing linen tow or FUM mounting tape.
• Installation and fastening parts: brackets, screws, dowels, anchor bolts, etc.

Having prepared everything you need, you can start working.

It is best to carry out all work on the heating pipeline in the summer, when the system is turned off, there is no pressure in it and the water can be drained from the riser without any problems. But in this case, after finishing the work, it will be impossible to test its quality: you will have to wait until the start of the heating season.

Types of connection

Firstly, you should decide which system to include the device in:

• Connecting a heated towel rail to the heating system. The traditional method and the only one where there are no hot water networks. Its disadvantage is that the heating system only works in the winter season. The advantage is that water circulation in the heating pipeline is forced and the heated towel rail will be hot throughout the heating season, performing the function of an additional battery.
• Connecting a water heated towel rail to the hot water supply system. Such systems are also subject to outages, but for a shorter period. In addition, the disadvantage of this method is that the unit will heat up only during the consumption of hot water, cooling down at night, even when connected directly to the riser. In small apartment buildings or private houses, this problem is even more acute.

Installation diagram and connection of a heated towel rail to a hot water riser in the bathroom it looks like this:

As already noted, optimal the solution to many problems is the use of combined devices operating from the mains in the absence of hot water in the system.

After choosing a pipeline network for our device, the next question arises about how to include it in it:

• Direct insertion into the riser. If the bathroom was already equipped with a heated towel rail, then it is connected to the heating pipe in this way. By replacing it with a new one, you can, without further ado, use the same type of connection. You can also embed the new device directly into the hot water riser.
• Inclusion in the residential pipeline. The advantage of this method is that when carrying out work it is not necessary to shut off the entire riser, but it is more suitable for a heating system. The above problem with the hot water pipeline will be further aggravated: the device will heat up only when washing dishes, taking a shower or bath.

With bypass jumper

Heated towel rails in old houses, as already mentioned, were a direct part of the heating pipe. This connection creates problems in case of accident or repair and does not make it possible to turn off the device when it is not needed.

Therefore, the most reasonable thing when installing a new device would be to insert parallel to it in the riser of the bypass jumper and shut-off valves, to which it joins. This useful addition to the pipeline should be included in the connection diagram.

Dismantling the old device

You should start by disassembling the old heated towel rail. For this:

1. Having agreed with the neighbors at the entrance and the management company, we shut off the heating riser and drain the water from it.
2. If the old structure was welded to the riser pipes, cut it off with a grinder. In the case of a detachable connection, unscrew the fastening couplings.
3. In rare cases when the installation dimensions of a new device coincide with the old ones, we can consider ourselves very lucky. Most often this is not the case and you have to cut the pipes even with a dismountable connection.
4. The cutout in the riser must be higher in height than the distance between the inlet pipes of the new heated towel rail by the length of the pipes and couplings required for inserting the bypass.
5. When cutting, we take into account not only the installation dimensions of the new device, but also the possibility of cutting threads on pipes.
6. We remove the old device from the wall by cutting off its brackets with a grinder or a hacksaw.

Installation and connection: step-by-step instructions

Before installation It’s a good idea to lay out both the device itself and all the fittings on the floor. for him to once again clarify all the dimensions. To do this, you can even dry assemble all the connections. No one has canceled the saying about measuring seven times!

1. We mark the installation dimensions of the new heated towel rail on the wall.
2. Having chosen the location of the future unit on the wall, you must carefully examine it for the passage of internal communications, both pipeline and electrical. Special devices - metal detectors - can help with this.
3. We drill holes, insert dowels and hang the device on the wall, securing it with screws or bolts.
4. We cut threads on the cut ends of the pipeline.
5. We prepare the bypass jumper by carefully marking and installing tees-outlets for the heated towel rail and a shut-off valve on it.
6. During operation, all connections seal with plumber's tow or Teflon tape.
7. We install it in the cutout of the riser using bends, straight couplings and locknuts, so that the tee branches are located exactly opposite the inputs of our device.
8. Sleeves of different lengths are used for adjustment installation dimensions of pipeline sections and simplification of their connections. They have threaded threads at the ends: short on one side and long on the other.
   

   The locknut and coupling are screwed onto the long one. A tee, angle or valve is screwed onto the pipe from one side. A bend is screwed into them with a short thread, which is then connected with a long threaded end to the other side of the pipe with a coupling and secured with a lock nut.

9. We screw shut-off ball valves to the outlets, and connect the inputs of our unit to them.
10. We open the ball valves to the heated towel rail and close the valve on the bypass.
11. Open the common riser valve. If there is water pressure in the system, carefully check the connections made for leaks.

All! Our new heated towel rail is ready for use. In this video you can watch the process of dismantling and installing a new heated towel rail in the bathroom with your own hands:

Work on the pipeline system of an apartment building should be carried out in advance by agreeing with the management company, only if you have sufficient experience or under the guidance of a qualified craftsman.

Modern heated towel rails can be quite complex in design, such as, for example, double-circuit. Before installing them yourself, you should study all the technical specifications and installation rules.

You also need to remember that some units must be selected for galvanic compatibility with metal pipelines the materials from which they are made.

Moreover, we are not going to touch on this topic at all. Of course, from time to time we share with you step-by-step instructions that allow you to independently perform some of the not particularly complex operations.
Such as, for example.

In the case of a heated towel rail, the situation is different. Firstly, there are already a lot of instructions on how to install it yourself on the Internet. Secondly, solving this problem requires certain skills, and any of the mistakes made can lead to a significant loss of money and time, so you should not organize a “Do it yourself” home circle; it is more profitable to immediately turn to professionals.

Our material is addressed to those who do not have such skills and plan to invite masters. However, even in this case it is necessary to have a set of knowledge. A device for drying towels and heating a bathroom is structurally, of course, not as complex as. However, it is part of the plumbing, so there are a few things to keep in mind before purchasing it.

Choosing a heated towel rail: which one is right?

To begin with, let us clarify that we are not interested in an electric one, but a regular one, which fits into the hot water supply system. It is this circumstance that sharply narrows the boundaries of choice.
Despite the abundance of sparkling imported samples, it is advisable to purchase domestic ones, and here’s why:
Our stainless steel heated towel rails are designed for the water supply needs of apartment buildings and can withstand both high pressure and water hammer. They are made from solid seamless pipes, so you can safely count on them to last at least 40 years
Most imported ones are designed for insertion into the heating system. The pressure in it is lower, and the water undergoes deaeration, so there is almost no corrosion in the heating pipes. Therefore, foreign heated towel rails are made of thin-walled steel. In our conditions, such a one will rust through within a year.

The best solution, as is already clear from the above, is a domestic stainless steel heated towel rail. There are also steel and brass, chrome-plated. In their case, the relatively low price against the backdrop of excellent appearance is not a sufficient argument for a purchase decision.

Modern steel heated towel rails are not protected from corrosion from the inside. They were once made from galvanized pipes, but is it worth remembering what happened before? Brass itself does not corrode. The problem is that they are made from thin-walled (thick-walled are expensive) pipes, and this is fraught with another risk. You may know that electrical currents are always present in the water supply. If the pipes are poorly grounded, and this happens all the time, if water flows in the system, Foucault eddy currents are formed. This means that small holes may form in the brass device. What this will lead to is clear.

The shapes of heated towel rails are varied, and the choice depends on personal preferences. The main thing is that the model you like has a “Mayevsky tap” (air valve). With its help, when filling with water, excess air is removed. If there is no such valve, an air lock will form, due to which the device will not work at full capacity.

There is one more important nuance - it is better if the diameter of the heated towel rail pipes corresponds to the diameter of the riser. Otherwise, you will have to use adapters, which will make installation more expensive.

That is why, before going to the store, you need to make a couple of measurements - the diameter of the riser and the distance between the pipes into which the heated towel rail will be embedded. The diameter of the pipes is usually measured with a caliper, but a simple tape measure will do. If the measurement shows 32 mm, this means that the riser is 1 inch in size; 25-28 mm – 3/4 inch; 16 mm 1/2 inch.

Installation details

A conscientious plumber will himself assess the need for additional work. You should not refuse if the technician offers to install a bypass. It is a pipe that connects the gap in the riser directly. Using valves installed in the middle of the bypass and at the entrances to the heated towel rail, you can close the water supply to it, which is important in case of any accidents.