Is a kickspace heater possible here?

NTL1991

I've got the typical cold kitchen complaints. It's very small (11' x 7') and there's really no room for baseboard radiation. The kitchen has a 4' wide archway into the dining room, which is heated, but it's not helping the kitchen very much.

My goal is to install a kickspace heater under the kitchen sink. My problem is that I'm not sure if the heater could be plumbed into the existing baseboard series loop while giving satisfactory performance and not effecting the existing baseboard radiation. The heater would be at the very end of a long 3/4" HePex loop, which runs up from the basement through stacked closets, and returns down the same way. This is a second-floor apartment so access is tough.

Is this feasible or should I be looking at other solutions?

Alan Welch

Can you swap the supply and return pipes at the boiler?

NTL1991

Definitely can!

Steamhead

If the kickspace unit has the usual 1/2" pipe diameter, pipe a 1/2" bypass around it. This will maintain the flow rate in the 3/4" main loop.

NTL1991

Thanks! Simple solution, I like it.

I'm very visual so here's what I drew up.



Should I extend the 3/4" loop into the kitchen and under the cabinets, and tie the heater in with a short length of 1/2", or do the opposite, with a longer length of 1/2" to the existing 3/4" loop?

Does the length of the bypass matter? Will I need a valve in the bypass to balance things out? Should I add in an air vent while I'm cutting into pipe? There's no high point vent for the loop, only the vent on the air scoop in the basement.

Steamhead

That diagram will work. The length of the bypass shouldn't matter that much.

You should have a purge station on the return line approaching the boiler- this is how you get the air out of the loop. If you use a valve in the bypass to help purge air from the kicker, make sure it's a full-port one.

NTL1991

Awesome! Doesn't seem like this will be too much work to get working well. I do have a drain valve at the return for purging and I've never had trouble with air in the system or purging so I think I should be okay without the valve, but if I need to cut one in, that's easy enough to do.

This system is running a L7224U with Outdoor Reset. I am wondering whether I should up-size the kickspace heater to compensate for the lower water temperatures. Any thoughts?

Steamhead

ODR will still produce hotter water when it gets cold.

Have you done a heat-loss calculation on the room? That's the only way to select the kicker...............

Brewbeer

For any radiator, it's always easier to dial back output, than it is to increase it.

Jon_blaney

Some people recommend a unit with a larger output so you can run it at a lower fan speed which is quieter. Just what I have heard.