too much heat???

Bruce Stevens_2

is it all radiation or is some or most of it cover up for pipes, many times if there is no good place to run pipe they will run dummy ie the cover but no fins on the pipe.

Benchmeister

too much heat???

My family & I recently bought an older house. My father in law agreed (insisted) to get a few remodeling projects started while I was away on business for a month. When I returned he had ordered a completely new heating system. New boiler & hot water baseboard heat.... to the tune of $10,000. Now the old heat worked ok & they said the gas bill was 50.00 a month... not too bad, I was thinking. But my inlaw said that the house needed to be split into 4 zones with a different thermostat for each zone... seems smart enough.
The thing that is bothering me is the amount of baseboard heaters. in a 15X15 room there are 3 walls with the base heat completely covering the bottom of each of the 3 walls. Then in a room only 30 sq feet smaller there is only 10 feet of heater.
Is there a formula on how to figure how much base heat for so much square feet in a room?
I'm starting to get the feeling that the heating contractor took my inlaw (&Me) to the cleaners?
Any thoughts?
Thanks, Benchmeister.

Brad White_185

Basic Steps

1. A calculated heat loss is the place to start. Without that, you have no map, no GPS, no direction. Heat losses are not based on your SF of floor area (although BTU's per SF of floor area is a common comparative term). You need to take into account walls, roof, glass, doors, floors... everything
which separates your heated space from the outside or unheated space. Much more to it, but it is essentially simple to do. See the Resources tab above and seek "heat loss calcs".

2. The calculated heat loss will tell you the minimum amount of radiation you need. For example, if your room has an 8,000 BTU per hour heat loss and your radiation emits 500 BTUH per foot, you will need at least 16 feet of baseboard. (Output can and does vary with water temperature by the way. More on that later.)


3. It is perfectly OK, even desirable, to have more radiation than you need, provided that the "overage" is proportional to heat loss room to room. In other words, say you have three rooms on one zone, with heat losses of 8,000, 6,000 and 12,000 BTUH respectively. Say each needs 16, 12 and 24 linear feet respectively, but your F-I-L got carried away and installed 50 percent more, say 24, 18 and 36 LF respectively.

All things being equal, you should be fine, heat will be even and proportional and you can also use a lower water temperature on the coldest day. This saves money.

If the ratio of radiation element is not proportional, rooms will overheat or underheat accordingly.

Having good coverage is alone worth having more radiation. That a 3-sided room is covered as such and a smaller room (with unknown exposure characteristics) has less, tells me nothing in particular.

We do not normally discuss price here, but that number you gave is hardly being taken to the cleaners. Quality of workmanship and materials are key, but that number does not constitute excess if the quality and operation is good.

EDIT- Excellent points by Bruce and Shouting Todd

Not all that is cover is necessarily element and cover is a neat way to conceal piping. All numbers I mention are "per foot of element". Thanks for clearing that up and making that point, guys!

My $0.02

Brad

Toddid Goldsmith's

TOO MUCH HEAT?

ZONING IS A GOOD IDEA. YOU MAY FIND THAT SOME OF THE COVER MAY NOT HAVE HEATING ELEMENT IN IT. THIS MAY HAVE BEEN DONE JUST TO COVER BARE PIPE.

Benchmeister

Thanks ... I'll check for the dummy covers & get back to you. I almost feel a little better.