3 Heating Options For A Bathroom Without Central Heat

Does your home not have a central heating system or does the existing system fail to adequately heat every room in your home? Bathrooms in older homes often suffer from a lack of proper heating in winter, which can make stepping out of the bath or shower a rather frigid experience. If you can't run central heating to the room, there are a few different types of in-room heaters that can help. And each heater is small enough to not take away from any valuable room space. 

Here are three of the heating options for a bathroom without central heat. Contact a heater repair and installation company for tailored advice and information on potential maintenance required for each unit.

Baseboard Heater

Baseboard heaters are long narrow heaters that are installed on the lowest part of the wall near the floor. Baseboard heaters can be either electric convection models or hydroponic models, which combine electricity and oil fuel.

Convection models are cheaper upfront but less efficient at heating. Heated coils inside the unit emit warm air that heats whatever is directly in front of the unit. This type of heating works fine for very small rooms or if you only need the heat pointed in one direction, such as towards the bathtub and shower.

Hydroponic models are more efficient and better if you need to constantly heat the entire room. The units will cost more upfront but you might need fewer units due to the higher efficiency.

Toe-Kick Heater

Toe-kicks are the recessed area under your cabinets that allow you to stand flush to the counter without stubbing your toes on the front. Toe-kick heaters are like smaller baseboard heaters that fit into this under-cabinet space.

The toe-kick heaters have a motorized fan that will blow out air heated by the internal coils. These heaters usually have a thermostat attached to the front for easy adjusting. Toe-kick heaters take up less room than baseboard heaters and can fit in smaller areas.

On the downside, a toe-kick heater isn't going to heat the whole room simply due to its size and positioning. The heater will also make it impossible for you to stand as close to the counter as you could before. But toe-kicks can still work for many homeowners who only need heat near the floor so that the tiles don't get cold during winter.

Cove Heater

A cove heater is like an angled baseboard heater that is placed on the highest part of the wall along the ceiling. Cove heaters are only convection, which means the heater only warms the air directly in front of the unit. You only want to install a cove heater on a low section of ceiling directly above an area you need heated, such as the mat outside the shower.

Heat rises so a cove heater placed overly high in the room won't provide much heating comfort.

For further assistance, contact a local HVAC contractor, such as one from Bristol Heating & Air Conditioning.

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