Add a radiator

Eileen Olive

Have a TT 110 and it presently runs with a 20 degree delta. The basement is unfinished (below grown and fully inclosed/sealed) but I was thinking of adding a radiator or two, which would "warm" the basement a bit, especially near the washer & dryer. Might it be better to pipe the additional rads into the return side to increase my delta T? Or am I over thinking this thing? The ODR is working fine and I am over-radiated to begin with. Right now it's about 23 degrees outside and the boiler is humming along with 155 degree supply and 132 return. It seems happy. Any ideas?

Mark Custis

Ideas

Sorry about this:

Take a jack hammer to the floor and repour it with radiant tubing.

NRTDave

Piping

How is the rest of the system piped? You should probably start by doing a room by room heatloss and then you'd have a much better idea for sizing.

Brad White_203

I've done it both ways

I did just what you suggested, put radiation off the return loop, sort of a "victory lap" to increase delta-T on the way back to the boiler. Uncontrolled but enough to lower the RH in the basement, take the edge off. I later made that a bypass so it was more "on demand".

When I started to use the basement more (power tool workshop space, not hugely habitable), I added a circulator and some salvaged CI radiators and a T87 manual t-stat. This was not a priority zone- the upstairs would always be "on" as a default. Very low budget.

I did that last way because the response was not predictable and the chill after being down there for more than 30 minutes took it's toll.

So... to do it right- I would add a couple of compatible radiators- whatever you use upstairs for similar heating effect, maybe put TRV's on them or control them to your usage. If you size them for 130 entering water, all the better, supply them off the return, even using monoflow tees as an idea. This way you can heat the basement more "on demand" and lower your HWR temperature in the bargain when you do.

Lots of ways to do this. Your call entirely.

Eileen Olive

Thanks, Brad

Yes, I fully expected to loop the new radiators off the return piping, just before the boiler, and install TRVs to somewhat control the heat. I have numerous CI rads lying about the basement already(removals, extras) so that should work out. If it works, I may try a seperate loop for the entire basement next year. I was not sure if the loop piped off the return was a sound idea or not. Sounded alright to me--but what does that mean.