Baseboard with Fan??

michael_33

Anyone know where I can get a good commercial quality hot water baseboard with fan forced air???

I talked to SlantFin, they told me that they only have kicker units with fans. I'm thinking of getting one of their thicker commercial quality baseboards and mounting several 110V computer fans underneath, if I can't find anything suitable.

Someone out here has to make this stuff!!!

Brad White_203

Why reinvent the wheel?

Kickspace heaters are really baseboard fin-tube with fans. They usually have 3-4 elements whereas fin-tube usually has one. They are on to something.

The kickspace types also morph into wall types (Burnham Duo-Rad is one example), more heat in a small wall area.

If you really want to build your own using muffin fans or axle squirrel cage fans with one element of fin tube, be my guest, but the laws of thermodynamics will limit what you get out of them. Just so much surface area to go around.

To get a real boost for low energy cost, "raise the chimney effect" by building the element as concealed behind, say, book cases, with a toe-inlet opening. You can get another 25% out of it due to increased natural draft.

bb_10

Convec

check this out.

http://www.meinertz.com/convec/english/floorline.html

There are not cheap, but they are pretty impressive.

bb

scrook_2

24 VAC fans?

You might use 24 VAC muffin fans (See Mouser, Digikey or other electronics parts vendors), power them off a large 24 V transformer (or transformers) -- makes the wireing simpler at low voltage (<48 volts) vs. line voltage. Put the fans under the fintube where it's cooler, otherwise fan life may be short.

This will get you higher delta Temperature per foot of baseboard (therefore higher output) so you'll be limited to shorter total length on the zone for a given delta T and flow rate.

http://www.mouser.com

http://www.digikey.com

scrook_2

You might use 24 VAC muffin fans (See Mouser, Digikey or other electronics parts vendors), power them off a large 24 V transformer (or transformers) -- makes the wiring simpler at low voltage (<48 volts) vs. line voltage. Put the fans under the fintube where it's cooler, otherwise fan life may be short.

This will get you higher delta Temperature per foot of baseboard (therefore higher output), because the forced air increases the convective heat transfer, so you'll be limited to shorter total length on the zone for a given delta T and flow rate. Higher flowrates (within the limit of the tube size) will help a little too w/ the forced convection.

Running hotter water (w/ outdoor reset so it wasn't hotter than req'd in mild conditions) would be simplier and quieter.

http://www.mouser.com

http://www.digikey.com