Rad in uninsulated basement?

Timco

Do you have a hot water or steam system? I have a rad in my dnst basement rooms and love it. You can turn them off if you pipe them in a two-pipe method. Not too hard to make a bsmnt zone and toss in any old rad or BB heat.

Tim

mjj_2

rad install ?

We're homeowners looking forward to having our old inefficient oil-fired boiler replaced soon. However, we'd like to make sure that our uninsulated, stone-walled basement continues to be marginally warm on the coldest days here in Toronto. The current Crane boiler heats the place up a bit, so the pipes and people don't freeze. Should we consider adding a basement (hot water)radiator, or would the added comfort be a complete waste of fuel?

We can't add insulation now because can't afford to have the knob & tube electrical replaced. The heat loss excluding the basement is 94,900 BTUH, once the basement is added it goes up to 107,800. Would really appreciate your opinion.

mjj_2

risk of pipes freezing

Thanks Tim, good to know that we could regulate the basement rad. (We have a hot water system). But in case we decide to leave out the radiator, will there be enough of a stand-by loss from a modern oil-fired boiler to keep the water pipes from freezing?

Uni R_2

Replacement?

What are you getting for a replacement? Are you switching to gas?

Weezbo

the boilers of a certain age...

have very different piping arrangements and jacket losses quite often,

not all of them buh many of them actually calculated the heat loss for transmission into the heating of large areas ...

insulation is the way to think to spend some funds on an upgrade. Honest.