hydronic (not electric) baseboard in wet location

oddball72

Trying to keep this as simple as possible, can a hydronic baseboard and cover/element be installed in a "roll in shower stall". New house, running hydronic baseboard in the simplest of fashion, roll in shower stall has the long side (48"x 72", where 72" runs along the exterior wall), would like to run a baseboard heating element along that long side inside of the roll in shower stall, this house is on a slab foundation. Searched the net and cannot find an answer, even downloaded Slant/Fin instruction manual, says nothing about installing in a wet location....however, I question the durability of doing so, fins are aluminum and water is a natural corrosive of aluminum, plus the covers are steel which would rust eventually, so is there another alternative? is there a stainless steel baseboard cover available with maybe stainless steel heating element parts? Ive looked at wall heaters/towel heaters etc. not really interested in going that way and to keep the system as simple as possible with just a "series loop - single zone" running it all along inside exterior perimeter walls. House is only 1200 sq' ft. but very energy efficient - R29 exterior walls (2" foam on outside of 2"x6" R19 stud walls) plus energy heel trusses for a ceiling R value of R 60 (blown cellulose) on an insulated (2" foam) concrete slab for our cold winters here in MI. Plus home has a woodstove to heat part of it, heating load should not be too bad at all. Just looking for ideas...Runtal make custom baseboard out of stainless steel?? Thanks in advance for any pointers.

JimP

Is this a very large shower stall that has a dry wall? There’s no way I’d install anything with a cover. What about a custom made copper pipe arrangement? What about a chrome plated towel warmer arrangement? How will you get the heat pipes into the shower stall? Will they be water tight wherever they enter the enclosure? I’d make sure that it’s real easy to clean around anything you do.

Jamie Hall

Well, first of all at least there's no safety hazard. That's something. Corrosion might be a problem. However, Runtal (among others) makes a very nice selection of pretty tough baseboard elements in various lengths, as well as panel radiators. They are steel, and if the finish is nicked they will rust eventually. OCS Industries ( https://ocsind.com/products/cast-iron-baseboard/ ) makes true cast iron baseboard which while it also may rust a little, will probably never wear out or rust through.

hot_rod

The shower is already built? If not radiant walls are great in showers.

Maybe an aluminum panel rad, something without a lot of nooks and cranies for cleaning sake.

All sorts of wild radiators available in Europe, certainly some one has a stainless version for wet locations. Google panel radiators.

oddball72

JimP said:

Is this a very large shower stall that has a dry wall? There’s no way I’d install anything with a cover. What about a custom made copper pipe arrangement? What about a chrome plated towel warmer arrangement? How will you get the heat pipes into the shower stall? Will they be water tight wherever they enter the enclosure? I’d make sure that it’s real easy to clean around anything you do.

its a 48" x 72" roll in shower stall. will be drywalled, waterproof membrane, then tile the walls to the ceiling. When I say "roll in" we made a depression in the concrete slab when it was poured so that when we do the tile in the shower stall and base, the base/shower floor tile will be flush with the rest of the floor, the actual concrete slab is the shower base, there will be no fiberglass or any other type of shower stall enclosure. We will not be doing any other tile work except for in the shower stall, we are just going to stain the concrete in the rest of the bathroom. Now picture a 3 sided enclosure....2 sides are 48" and the long side is 72" and the long side is the exterior wall of the home. Now if I run a simple one zone system that follows the perimeter walls of the house (just a plain rectangle home, 30' wide x 38' long) running the feed line thru the shower stall on the 72" side (the copper feed line would run thru the shower stall on the bottom near the base) I know I could make an enclosure and tile it up but I was hoping to get some kind of heat out of it if I could, and I'm pretty sure I could get the pipe sealed on the ends where it penetrates the divider walls/shower stall walls (48") on the bottom without having a big issue because this is actually designed as a handicapper no threshold roll in shower stall and the shower head will actually be one of those flexible hose type that lets you hold the shower head in your hand while you sit on a chair or bench in the shower stall. We specified this type of shower stall to the engineer because if we get old and have to use walkers or end up in a wheel chair, a bath tub wont do any good. Now if say we had a fiberglass tub/shower enclosure, a lot of people have a baseboard heating element run under the tub to warm it and its hidden, same idea except the heating element will be in the shower stall and exposed. Its hard for me to explain in words, but Im sure many of you understand what Im talking about. Ill keep looking to see if I can find anything, thanks for the info. Much appreciated.

Turbo Dave

You could make a pipe radiator like the photo. If bare copper, could let it tarnish interesting colors, or polish with fine steel wool and put a coat of clear sealer on it to retain the shine. A full radiant heat tiled shower wall is great also.

JUGHNE

We heat our bath with in-wall heat.
"Radiant-Trak" (heavy aluminum panels) were attached to the inside facing edges of the studs, 1 edge of panel secured to stud makes solid contact of the panel to the back side of the SR as this tends to have the Traks "wing" out.
1/2" OD Tubing snapped in tracks from the back side.

Foil faced fiberglass on the back side.
SR on both sides. You can nail safely into the studs.
Guard plates where holes drilled for crossing studs.

Traks are 4' long, I cut some in half to make a 6' section for floor to ceiling coverage. This gives 1' top and bottom for bending loops and cross over.
You could lower the entire assembly a few inches to provide heat at ankle level.

But I run about 100-110 degree water thru this.
You BB heaters may require higher temp and you may need a mixing valve and/or separate pump for this zone.

We keep the bath room at a constant 74 degrees.
Really nice as the bedroom heat is off and 60-65 degrees.
You feel it as soon as you enter.

IIWM, I would do both 48" sides. Even consider the ceiling.
Or drop the ceiling with a soffit for recessed lighting above and the ability to cross the tubing over from side to side.
In my case I use that soffit to cross over for a second shower head on the other side.
We have only a 4 x 3 shower FG unit. Our other interior walls have the tubing.

Jamie Hall

I can't think of a good reason not to keep it simple. Just run a length of cast iron baseboard along the 72 inch side right in the loop for the rest of the heating...

ewang

pictures would help a lot here to understand the situation

mattmia2

It seems like bringing the loop outside of the shower enclosure and using a panel radiator maybe with a bypass type balancing valve and maybe a TRV would be the simplest solution