Anyone know anything about hotwater baseboard heating?

Question

I have steam heat in my house built in 1924 and it has the large radiators throughout the house. I am thinking of changing to hotwater baseboards. Can they heat an entire house? Are the cost effective? Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Certainly you realize that it's still radiant heating,,,BUT, it's design allows the heat to eminate from the lowest possible point, allowing more heating as it rises. It's also not as intrusive as radiators, and I suspect "efficiency" is relative to the type of boiler you have, how it's fired, it's age, the plumbing, the insulation, and tightness of the home in terms of windows and other areas that need decent sealing.

In a house that age, I'll assume it's a fuel oil fired boiler, and at the very least should be serviced prior to a venture like this. I'll assume that you might have to RE-plumb"?

The bottom line is, however, that it can be just as efficient, perhaps more so, and be far less obvious, hence creating a better appearance and perception,,,and allow you space to do something else where the radiators are/were.

Rev. Steven

Answer 2

Changing from steam to baseboard hot water is a good thing to do, but it will be expensive. Hot water can be easilly zoned for fuel savings and with modern control systems, the water tempature can be automaticly reset to the tempature needed to heat your home so you dont always have a boiler running at the same excessive operating tempatures. You should not use a steam system for baseboard heating. I have seen this done and there are many operating issues, like clanking pipes, and water leaking out of the air vents. The existing steam boiler could be converted to hot water if its not to old and is clean. Your best bet is to install a new packaged hot water boiler, and the nessessary baseboard to heat your home efficiently. Installing the baseboard in an older home can have serious issues with getting the piping ran in places like crossing doorways on the second floor for going room to room . Each zone is a continuous loop to and from the boiler. You will have to open some walls and possibly some flooring to get the baseboard installed properly. This is where the costs can get to the point of extreame. This system can and will pay for itself if you plan to live there for a long time. Steam systems are high maintenance and have some strange issues of there own. Plus you should be flushing steam boilers at least monthly. I changed my house from steam to hot water and it cost half as much for the installation in repairs to floors, plaster and finishing work. I do prefer this system over steam and found it to cut my heating bill over 50%. Do not try to replace a steam radiator with baseboard, you will regret it. Get a good local plumber to evaluate the hot water change over. He should know how to calculate the the right amout of baseboard and the corect size boiler. When it is calculated correctly, you will see some good energy savings. Good luck.

Answer 3

baseboard heating is pretty good, Had it for years living in South Dakota, Used fuel Oil I think it was, So yes, Was cheaper than most other forms of heating