Baseboard / Kick Blowers - Hot Water Heat

GregT

Hello - anyone out there know where I might purchase blowers / fans to mount under my cabinets / by the kickboard to move heat out from under my cabinets?  The last owner of my home re-modeled the kitchen and built the sink and cabinets AROUND THE EXISTING RADIATOR.  There are slots in the cabinet but the circulation is poor.  My heating guy mentioned that I could cut holes in the baseboard and install small blowers to move the heat.  Any idea who might sell these?



Thanks.



Feel free to e-mail to <a href="mailto:TURKOT@YAHOO.COM">TURKOT@YAHOO.COM</a>.

Kevin_in_Denver_2

Grainger for blowers

Best selection I know of.

Coany

dozens of different types and sizes

there are so many different types its dizzying.



 Its pretty hard to get one into the kickboard without removing the cabinets.



 you might consider a wall unit if you have a spot for it.

Steamhead

If that's an old system with all cast-iron radiators

then a toe-kick heater won't work too well.



First, these heaters typically need water at 140 degrees to even start the fan. Many older systems don't reach this temperature until it gets very cold out, so you won't get heat out of them much of the time.



Second, the capacity of this type of heater is limited. It certainly can't match the typical radiator. So even if the fan could start at lower temps, you wouldn't get much heat out of the unit.



Third, when the water stops flowing thru the heater and the fan stops, that's it- no more heat. The room will go cold, while radiators in other rooms will continue to give off heat.



Toe-kick heaters were designed to interface with fin-tube baseboard or other high-temp, low-mass emitters. In that type of system they can work well. But in a lower-temp, high-mass system they are a very poor fit.