Heating a very small bathroom - wall mounted fan heater vs other ideas?

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timmmay

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#268311 11-Mar-2020 20:24

I'm looking for a wall mounted bathroom fan heater with a thermostat for a small combined toilet / laundry. It needs to be fairly manual so I can run it on a standard mains timer to pre-heat the room. I'm having trouble finding a wall heater with a thermostat that reviews ok.

The room is at the edge of the house, out the back behind an office, away from the heat pumps. We have a portable fan heater in there on a plug-in timer, but it takes up too much floor space so I'm thinking wall mounted. It's a very small space, just need it fairly warm not hot. Because we come and go during the day it needs to be a fan heater for rapid heating.

According to the electrical guy at bunnings none of the wall heaters have a thermostat. The ones that say they do just cut down from 2400W to 1200W when it reaches a single preset temperature. I want to leave the heater on to keep the room up to heat.

This Euromatic model says has no thermostat, and reviews on product review suggest the brand isn't great. Goldaire is another option, they don't review all that well, and their "automatic step down thermostat" just reduces the power. Mitre Ten and Bunnings have Arlec and Goldaire heaters, none of them have timers to turn them on, all are remote control based.

Convection heaters are too slow - I tried one. I don't want a glowing bar heater. I really just want a regular fan heater with thermostat that can be mounted on the wall.

I considered a plug-in thermostat as I already have one, but the plug is below where I'd mount the heater so it would turn off prematurely.

Any other ideas?

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#2436531 11-Mar-2020 20:29

What about this sort of thing? Never going to get sauna hot, but if you're looking to take the chill off it might be OK.

timmmay

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#2436535 11-Mar-2020 20:53

Thanks @RunningMan I had considered them, but looked again. Goldair 500W / 1000W heaters are only 400mm wide so would fit in the 700mm wide gap. They wouldn't be near as effective or directed as a fan heater, and would be pretty useless for "I want heat now", but on a timer for background heat they might be ok. If I can't find a good wall mountable fan heater I might get one of those.

vexxxboy

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#2436536 11-Mar-2020 20:57

our bathroom is small and we heat it by having this , you can find cheaper but it really heats the bathroom up and you can find ones with fans as well.

https://snappy.co.nz/products/hpm-bathroom-heater-with-duct-kit-60w-120m-hr-2-heat-lamps-r622d1?gclid=CjwKCAjwmKLzBRBeEiwACCVihjKlrty_lgqYYr46xSdCLpptOoCzktuX_Fg5Y1hJscBvyYk5kHJvZBoCAooQAvD_BwE

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timmmay

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#2436538 11-Mar-2020 21:03

Heat lamps could work. I'd want them on a timer and available on a switch, so I might have to add this as a second switch. Not sure it's all that practical given the two switches, and access to the ceiling cavity is by removing roofing iron!

timmmay

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#2498524 4-Jun-2020 20:49

Update - still looking for suggestions for a heater for a bathroom / laundry. Ideally a wall mounted fan heater with a thermostat that either has a programmable timer or is manual so I can use a regular digital mains timer.

Goosey

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#2498537 4-Jun-2020 20:59

this one claims to have an adjustable thermostat...you might wanna call to ask them..

https://www.tradedepot.co.nz/weiss-tangential-fan-ss

gzt

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#2498541 4-Jun-2020 21:05

Do you already have a heated towel rail? 60w 24/7 in a mostly insulated bathroom really takes the edge off in winter. In summer it's too hot to leave on. Bonus - tends to dry out the bathroom a little.

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timmmay

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#2498543 4-Jun-2020 21:10

Goosey:

this one claims to have an adjustable thermostat...you might wanna call to ask them..

https://www.tradedepot.co.nz/weiss-tangential-fan-ss

Thanks for the suggestion. Stepdown thermostat means it drops from 2400W to 1200W, which is still way too high for the room size.

gzt: Do you already have a heated towel rail? 60w 24/7 in a mostly insulated bathroom really takes the edge off in winter. In summer it's too hot to leave on. Bonus - tends to dry out the bathroom a little.

Not in that bathroom. We're hoping to mount the heater over the towel rail to dry it off. It's not really a room you'd put a heated towel rail in, and it can get pretty cold out there in the middle of winter.

Mehrts

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#2498553 4-Jun-2020 21:23

In my humble opinion, don't bother with fan heaters for a bathroom.

I'd recommend looking into infrared/radiant heaters due to the fact that they heat surfaces (your body), not the air within the room. you can feel the warmth as soon as they're turned on, and when you get out of a shower you don't want to have a draught from a fan heater, as they can actually cool you down unless you're standing right under the thing.

The (relative) downside to these heaters is the cost compared to a basic fan heater setup, but they're much much better and actually save on costs to run because you only need it on while you're in the bathroom, not 10mins beforehand while you wait for an entire room of air to heat up.

My $0.02.

Mehrts

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#2498554 4-Jun-2020 21:24

gzt: Do you already have a heated towel rail? 60w 24/7 in a mostly insulated bathroom really takes the edge off in winter. In summer it's too hot to leave on. Bonus - tends to dry out the bathroom a little.

That's a lot of power to be burning through to keep towels dry/room warm!

timmmay

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#2498570 4-Jun-2020 21:57

Mehrts:

In my humble opinion, don't bother with fan heaters for a bathroom.

I'd recommend looking into infrared/radiant heaters due to the fact that they heat surfaces (your body), not the air within the room. you can feel the warmth as soon as they're turned on, and when you get out of a shower you don't want to have a draught from a fan heater, as they can actually cool you down unless you're standing right under the thing.

The (relative) downside to these heaters is the cost compared to a basic fan heater setup, but they're much much better and actually save on costs to run because you only need it on while you're in the bathroom, not 10mins beforehand while you wait for an entire room of air to heat up.

My $0.02.

Interesting idea. Given the geometry of the room not sure it will work well, and not sure how plastic toilet / PVC windows would like that?

It's just a toilet and sink off the laundry, no shower.

We have a free hour of power with EK each day, so heat the room up in the morning. That gets everything warm - the walls, the appliances, etc, after that keeping the room warm isn't so difficult.

Mehrts:

That's a lot of power to be burning through to keep towels dry/room warm!

In our main bathroom a timer has it on for four hours, twice a day. That works fine, reduces the cost.

SomeoneSomewhere

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#2500043 7-Jun-2020 14:01

Add a separate wall mount thermostat?

Thermostats on the heater tend to be pretty average anyway, as they're too close to the heat source.

Sparky may be required though.

elpenguino

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#2500050 7-Jun-2020 14:09

timmmay:
not sure how plastic toilet / PVC windows would like that

Heat lamps emit ir not uv, If that's your concern about plastic items.

Most of the posters in this thread are just like chimpanzees on MDMA, full of feelings of bonhomie, joy, and optimism. Fred99 8/4/21

gzt

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#2500059 7-Jun-2020 14:38

Mehrts:
gzt: Do you already have a heated towel rail? 60w 24/7 in a mostly insulated bathroom really takes the edge off in winter. In summer it's too hot to leave on. Bonus - tends to dry out the bathroom a little.

That's a lot of power to be burning through to keep towels dry/room warm!

Approx $10 per month 24/7 for six months of the year = $60. Small house so the heat tends to migrate into the rest and not lost. For perspective, 10 hours of this 60w rail is equivalent to one hour running a panel, or 20 hours of a 60w rail is equivalent to running a fan heater on high for 30 minutes.

jonathan18

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#2500462 8-Jun-2020 11:33

@timmmay: just saw a heater in a DSE email, which reminded me of this thread. Looks like power output of this model is 2000/1000w, which is higher than you were looking for I think, but has a thermostat and timer built-in, can be wall-mounted, and is a 'smart' device if that appeals to you at all:

https://www.dicksmith.co.nz/dn/buy/kogan-smarterhome-2000w-smart-glass-panel-heater/

I've also just seen there are non-smart versions of this, including one with a lower 1500/750w output (https://www.dicksmith.co.nz/dn/buy/kogan-1500w-white-glass-portable-electric-panel-heater/)

Wider range here: https://www.dicksmith.co.nz/dn/shop/?q=kogan+panel+heater

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