Hydronic Baseboard Design

Ken_40

But one glaring shortfall is the 30 feet of HWBB for a 24,000 BTU load Unless you're using High Output commercial fin-tube, you can' get more than ~ 600 BTU's / L.F.

The 30 you're suggesting would only make 18,000 - leaving you shivvereing and turning blue. Unless, as I said, you chose commercial fin/tube radiation or something besides plain-jane HWBB

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J Davis

Hydronic Baseboard Design

I purchased a small flat in a far away land. In this far away land they almost exclusively use combi boilers for domestic water and heat. The place is a turn of the century nightmare and I need to completely renovate it. I have about 24,000 btuh's of load and I thought I would take care of the majority of it with about 30 feet of convection baseboard heaters. Now I dont plan to design the heating system, but I do need to make room for the plumbing. THE QUESTION - You wouldnt just run 30 feet of this would you? Seems to me that the water could get pretty cool half way down the line. I only need to know to determine if i need to run a supply and return parallel to the whole 30 feet and if yes, how large the pipes are liable to be. My wild guess 2.5 inches each including the insulation? Thanks

J Davis

The Majority, but not all

Yes, the 30 feet would not get me 100% there, but would take care of this one area. The problem in this one areas is that the walls are solid masonry as is the floor which is why my question about if I connect to the end of the 30 feet (this would be easy) or if i have to run a parallel manifold to connect to each individual piece of the the 30 foot run (stuff is sold locally in 2 meter sections). The remainder of the 24,000 btuh load is in places where running pipes is not that big a deal. A loft (shorter run of baseboard), bathroom (towell warmer) and kitchen (more baseboard).

Ken_40

Okay,

The answer is to simply use higher output BB.

Weil McLain used to make a decent looking slightly larger than "standard" HWBB unit. Running 180 average water would produce something like, 800 BTU's/L.F You're close enough for 95% of all winter if you get that oversized higher output HWBB and I'm sure others beside W/M make the stuff.

The length, with 3/4 PEX or C for 30 out, 30 back, and 30 more for the to and from boiler takeoffs is well within the ball-park - of working with ~20dT with a middle sized wet rotor like the ubiquitus 007.

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Chas_4

A 30 foot run of Fin Tube is ok. As long as it is one space. Dont expect say the first 15 feet of it to be in a room with 8 ft ceilings and the last 15 feet of it in a different room with cathedral ceilings. It will heat it but not evenly. Otherwise, 30' is not an issue. If you read Slant Fins guides to installing fin tube there is a lot of info in there and alternatives to a straight series loop.