Cooler Basement than Other Levels

NateL

Hello Everyone,

I have a Two Pipe Hot Water Boiler/radiator system. I have cast iron radiators throughout the house. My Basement has two radiators which are cast iron as well. These were just recently installed and the basement is about 10 Degrees colder than the other levels of the home. The thermostat is on the Main level of the home in the dining room. There is a new pump installed and the system is working really well and efficient it seems compared to how it was prior to the new pump. With the Dining room getting to temp quicker than the basement, is my only option to create multiple zones (Basement and the rest of the house) and have a thermostat strictly for the basement. If that is the case, can you point me in the direction as to what that looks like or entails to do. Thank you all.

bburd

Do the new basement radiators heat as quickly and get as hot as the other radiators in the house? If not, they may be air bound or they may not have been piped correctly. 

Are the new radiators the same design as the others in the house, from the standpoint of water volume? This can make a big difference.

A basement has different seasonal heating requirements from space above ground due to the influence of the soil; it will tend to be warmer in fall and cooler in spring. But you should be able to get adequate heat there in midwinter without installing a separate zone. 

NateL

Hi BBurd,
Thank you for the Reply!

Yes, the basement radiators heat as quickly as the other radiators. They are however a different style. The basement radiators are like this: https://www.consumersplumbing.com/site/consumers/productdetail.exc?cmd=630_view_prod&isApp=true&page=1&co_id=630&item_id=95779&prod_id=8435&gclid=Cj0KCQjwrsGCBhD1ARIsALILBYrT1jWwqsPXtoHbKR_ralk-ujCEmo56C8mt7gexmY0KO6kagGCFTWsaAgPCEALw_wcB

The other radiators in the house are the old school cast iron taller radiators. I have two of the newer style radiators. One 8ft section in the Living room, one 4ft section in the bedroom and electric radiant floor heat in the bathroom.

pecmsg

basements being surrounded by earth have a different heat loss then the rest of the building. Make it a separate zone and install at least 1 dehumidifier possibly 2. 

bburd

@NateL The different style of radiator is your problem. Those cast iron baseboards are excellent, but they hold much less water than standing radiators. In hot water heat, when radiators with different thermal mass are mixed in the same zone, the result is usually uneven heating unless the zone is one large room.

You will either need to run your circulator continuously and have the thermostat switch the burner on and off—which will maintain the same temperature in all radiators in the system—or put those baseboards on a separate zone from the traditional radiators, with its own thermostat and zone valve or pump.

Otherwise the areas with baseboards will run much cooler than the areas with standing  radiators.

NateL

Sweet. Thank you Both. I figured with the different radiator style this would become an issue. Would adding additional radiators to the basement(The baseboard style) help this issue or would it be a constant issue until it is Zoned on its own. Separately, is there any good information on creating a zone on a system that is not zoned. Alot of the resources I am finding on the net talk about already zoned systems. When the Guys installed the two new radiators they put them on their own lines essentially separated from the rest of the lines so I cannot imagine that it would be a crazy amount of work for them to install a new Thermostat and zone valve. Lastly, would it be better to a zone valve or pump? Thank you again.

EBEBRATT-Ed

@NateL

You have two different spaces with two different heat loss calculations. What I would do is calculate the basement heat loss. Install the amount of radiation for this heat loss and make the basement a seperate zone

Its the only way to get it right

NateL

Thank you @EBEBRATT-Ed , I am looking on the forums for how to calculate Basement Heat Loss, any suggestions on this? I want to see if the Radiators that were installed will suffice.