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We have hot water heat. We switched from baseboards back to radiators. Baseboards don't heat as well as radiators.
They do if you have to ones I have. The difference between baseboard and the radiators is the baseboard is typically copper with aluminum fins which are both excellent conductors of heat and will quickly transfer the heat from the water to the room. The aluminum in particular is very thin so it doesn't hold the heat for very long. With the radiator it's like train, slow to start but once it's going it takes a long time to slow down becsue you have great volume of water in it and a large mass of metal. The baseboard we have is huge and the fins are thick steel or cast, I'm not sure which. They take a little longer to heat up but once they are heated up they will put out heat for long time after the water has stopped circulating just like a radiator.
Maybe with the newer heating systems......but with a "normal", gas, forced air furnace with one thermostat, your only option was to shut the heating vent in a particular room.
And, I vaguely remember there was some reason, related to the furnace, you shouldn't do that.....I think.
Should of been clear, this is hydronic sytem. The issue with closing off vents is you're creating more pressure in the system which can cause numerous problems. With more air pressure the circulating fan needs to work harder and you're moving less heat which could burn up components on the furnace.
Should of been clear, this is hydronic sytem. The issue with closing off vents is you're creating more pressure in the system which can cause numerous problems. With more air pressure the circulating fan needs to work harder and you're moving less heat which could burn up components on the furnace.
Thanks for the explanation......I thought there was a good reason but I couldn't really remember.
They do if you have to ones I have. The difference between baseboard and the radiators is the baseboard is typically copper with aluminum fins which are both excellent conductors of heat and will quickly transfer the heat from the water to the room. The aluminum in particular is very thin so it doesn't hold the heat for very long. With the radiator it's like train, slow to start but once it's going it takes a long time to slow down becsue you have great volume of water in it and a large mass of metal. The baseboard we have is huge and the fins are thick steel or cast, I'm not sure which. They take a little longer to heat up but once they are heated up they will put out heat for long time after the water has stopped circulating just like a radiator.
Where I live many prefer baseboard. Forced hot air is annoying, we had it in our last home. The blower was noisy and the room was only warm while the air was blowing. Once it shutoff it cooled down immediately so we kept our thermostat set hire than those with radiant. You also have to keep vents around forced air from being blocked, even more so than a baseboard because if you block a vent you lose the air circulation, if you block part of a baseboard there is still several feet of available heat.
Every winter we had to shuffle our couch and loveseat around so the vent was not blocked and it was a PITA. We now live in a home that is natural gas radiant baseboard with a tiled kitchen that also has a radiant floor. Baseboard keeps the house more regulated and at a constant temperature with less cycling and fewer cold spots.
Keep your forced hot air, I'll stick with my baseboards.
Because forced air heat is too dry, and it's cool until the deadspace air in the ducts is blown through. Baseboard hot water doesn't dry the air, and if you're lucky enough to live where there is natural gas, you don't have to deal with an oil tank and burner. In my part of the country, electricity is very expensive. I have forced air, and I'd kill for baseboard hot water.
yup pretty much for its efficiency. We did a renovation (including entirely new 2nd floor) and we had the option of choosing the type of heating and we wanted baseboard after asking a relative who's an engineer specializing in HVAC and also contractors for what they have in their homes. I agree it's not very sightly, but it is behind furniture for the most part. Vents in floors are definitely better looking, but less efficient - dry air for the duration of winter is very bad, especially if you have kids which could lead to coughing / sickness -> staying home from school all the time (very bad). You can't have humidifiers in every room plus that adds to the electric bill. Electric heating - forget about it - we get charged over $0.18/kwh here. Way too expensive.
(Mostly in the Northeast...) we've lived in places with most common combinations of heat production (fuel and heater (excepting Geothermal, Solar etc)) and heat/cooling distribution . Our favorite for heat distribution is hydronic in-floor radiant heat.
In a well insulated house it allows thermostat settings lower than most comparable situations using different heat distribution systems. It's simple to zone off areas when building new...relatively cheap and simple to imbed in basement or garage slab too. The biggest downside is probably the installation cost...it is more expensive than many others. I don't know if it pays back over the years in fuel savings...probably not right away if ever, as it uses electric pumps to push the fluid like in baseboard.
No drafts, no noise, no furniture issues, nice moldings, warm feet, clean, etc...lots of upside.
To add A/C to such a house, it often means a parallel ducting/air system to distribute the cool air...again $$$. I think there may now be systems that use the hyronics to distribute cooling too. Never had one of those so no comment.
Most would probably prefer Radiant floor heating to baseboard. But it's very expensive.
The reason people use baseboard is because it's cheap and it feels nicer than forced hot air, which lowers the humidity of the home too much, and doesn't provide an even heat.
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The difference between baseboard and the radiators is the baseboard is typically copper with aluminum fins which are both excellent conductors of heat and will quickly transfer the heat from the water to the room. The aluminum in particular is very thin so it doesn't hold the heat for very long. With the radiator it's like train, slow to start but once it's going it takes a long time to slow down becsue you have great volume of water in it and a large mass of metal. The baseboard we have is huge and the fins are thick steel or cast, I'm not sure which. They take a little longer to heat up but once they are heated up they will put out heat for long time after the water has stopped circulating just like a radiator.
