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3/4" to 1/2" base board radiator

esachs4
esachs4 Member Posts: 3
in THE MAIN WALL
I have a 80 sq ft breezeway that has about a 8ft baseboard radiator in it. It doesn't seem to heat the room very well. Instead of using 3/4" pipe, they used 1/2". They also taped in the the supply a weird way (atleast I think so).

Is this a correct way to do it? Why isn't the room getting warm?

Comments

  • Zman
    Zman Member Posts: 7,609
    Unless the room is an atrium, that should be enough baseboard.
    A lack of flow may be the cause. The 1/2" piping is not necessarily the problem. Is the baseboard getting hot.?
    I can't tell from the picture if the piping is correct. A drawing of the piping layout would help.
    "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough"
    Albert Einstein
  • Brewbeer
    Brewbeer Member Posts: 616
    @esachs4 does the radiator get warm at all?

    Are those monoflow T's that tie the diversion loop into the main run? We can't tell from the photo if the piping is correct.
    Hydronics inspired homeowner with self-designed high efficiency low temperature baseboard system and professionally installed mod-con boiler with indirect DHW. My system design thread: http://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/154385
    System Photo: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021738/uploads/FileUpload/79/451e1f19a1e5b345e0951fbe1ff6ca.jpg
  • STEVEusaPA
    STEVEusaPA Member Posts: 6,505
    edited January 2017
    I only see a valve shut off. 80 square feet. Is this all windows and a door, no insulation breezeway (usually on a slab)?

    There was an error rendering this rich post.

  • Ironman
    Ironman Member Posts: 7,440
    edited January 2017
    Looks like a Monoflo where someone put valves in to be able to shut off the diverter loop to the baseboard and drain it.

    If the BB is 8', then the diverter Tees should be at least 8' apart. Adding those extra Tees in the diverter loop has probably caused enough increased resistance that flow won't divert to the BB.

    There's an article somewhere on site that shows the piping requirements for Monoflo systems.
    Bob Boan
    You can choose to do what you want, but you cannot choose the consequences.
  • esachs4
    esachs4 Member Posts: 3
    The pipe itself gets warm but the fins dont.

    The breezeway has 2 windows and a door to a cold garage. It was an addition on a brick foundation between the house and garage. The walls are insulated.

    To me it seems like the way they piped it, most of the flow will just pass the T, and travel down the 3/4" pipe to the other radiator.
  • Ironman
    Ironman Member Posts: 7,440
    That's what I'm saying. Water takes the path of least resistance. There's less resistance going straight through one monoflo Tee cone than there is going through all those fittings in the BB loop.

    Make sure it's not air bound: Monoflo loops are notoriously hard to purge of air. If that's not it, then using two Monoflo Tees MAY fix it. Maybe.
    Bob Boan
    You can choose to do what you want, but you cannot choose the consequences.
  • Brewbeer
    Brewbeer Member Posts: 616
    edited January 2017
    It doesn't make sense to pipe this 8 foot radiator using monoflow diverters (if that is what in fact happened, can't tell by looking at the photo). I'm wondering why they didn't just install 3/4 inch fin tube and pipe the radiator in loop series with the rest of the zone. A by-pass could have been installed it that option was desired.
    Hydronics inspired homeowner with self-designed high efficiency low temperature baseboard system and professionally installed mod-con boiler with indirect DHW. My system design thread: http://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/154385
    System Photo: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021738/uploads/FileUpload/79/451e1f19a1e5b345e0951fbe1ff6ca.jpg
  • Zman
    Zman Member Posts: 7,609
    I did not see the tee on the left side of the photo earlier.
    No, that will never work. Not sure why they tried to do it that way, it looks like they could have just cut it into the pipe and run it in series.
    Judging by the mess of solder on the surface of the fittings, I would say this is a non-pro job.
    "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough"
    Albert Einstein
  • Paul48
    Paul48 Member Posts: 4,469
    They forgot to put arrows on the pipes, so the water knew which way to go. :wink:
    Ironman

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