Runtal vs. Baseray vs. Myson

josephny

I'm taking the plunge and ripping out the Pioneer mini splits before Winter.

Leaning towards a Navien combi with baseboard radiators.

1000 sq-ft cottage on piers, closed cell spray on underside, closed cell spray installed by making small holes in the walls (which has left lots of uninsulated areas), lots of big glass windows (floors always cold), zone 4 (Sullivan County, NY). (Redoing the cathedral roof that covers 430 out of the 1000 sq-ft with lots of exterior polyiso insulation first.)

I'm trying to decide between regular slant-fin, Runtal UF, Myson H11 and Burnham Baseray radiators.

I understand that the Baseray are cast iron which heats and cools slowly and is all radiant and make a nice feel, which the others are not CI.

But, the manufacturers specs show the BTU/ft for the Baseray are about 1/2 of the Runtal and Myson. I suspect I'm comparing apples to oranges, but I don't know why. Can someone confirm that this is an inappropriate comparison?

Interestingly, while the BTU/ft varies considerably, the BTU/$ are all pretty close (all in the 6-8 BTU/$ range just for the radiators).

But, I have limited lengthwise wall space in certain areas, so I'm liking the flexibility of getting some 6", some 9" and some 12" Runtals, whereas the Baseray are all 10".

Advice would be sure appreciated (and very much needed).

Thanks!

GGross

I have a mix of baseray, myson, and standard baseboard in my house. I like the wall mount rads from Myson the best, very nice heat. I would say in general the baseray are not worth the money (I got them for free though), the rooms with baseray and the rooms with slant/fin heat about the same.

I would say if these are all just going to be baseboard style just pick the one you like the look of best, if you don't care about the look just use standard baseboard. But I really advise you at least look at the wall radiators as an option for a couple of rooms, we have one in our entry, in one bathroom, and in a living room, wish I had put them in every room now!

Hot_water_fan

If you’re using a modulating boiler, the weight of the baseboards isn’t that relevant, as they’ll be heating almost constantly anyway

josephny

I think there are a couple of areas where a wall panel radiator would make sense (perhaps in the bathroom under the window; maybe in a bedroom under a window).

Very helpful to know that I can mix and match all of these. I had read a thread that warned against mixing CI with non-CI radiators. But, even abiding by that, just being able to mix Myson and Runtal might be useful.

Weight is not an issue at all (not that I understand when it would be).

My understanding is that for the one large room (18x24 with 16' cathedral ceiling) with about 500 sq-ft of glass, as much baseboard as possible to break the waves of cold air coming down from the windows would be best.

Now I need to figure out if I need 2 zones, or a single split zone. House is 24x42 (perfectly rectangular; single story).

EdTheHeaterMan

I would resist mixing and matching when it comes to copper tube with aluminum fin baseboard like Hayden or SlantFin with Cast Iron like BaseRay. I'm the kind of contractor who will place different types of emitters on different zones when there needs to be more than one type of radiator in a home.

Standing cast iron (those old school ones) on the same thermostat as a copper/aluminum baseboard will always give you an unbalanced home. That is because most of those old radiators are on direct return design systems where you might pump 8 GPM thru the mains and the boiler but each individual radiator may only get 1/2 GPM on that branch. When you add 3/4" copper on one of those branches to operate a 20 Ft loop of baseboard, the restriction in that loop will make the flow rate less than 1/2 GPM. That is guaranteed NOT to provide any heat.

Depending on the piping design, the tubing size and the ability to balance each type of radiator in order to ensure the proper flow rate for the radiator selected will make or break the design.

PEX home runs to each emitter with a manifold that has balancing valves will make a good design. Running a single main, then branching off to different design radiators will be the hardest to balance.

josephny

Wow, so much great stuff to know!

So, I am super pressed for space to run pipe and was counting on a single loop basically around the perimeter. If it would help to stick with a single brand (type), I would gladly do that.

If I stick with (for example) Runtal baseboard (maybe one or two panels) and use their thermostatically controlled valves, does that make getting (and keeping) it balanced easier?

How bad would it be to had a split loop (return in the middle of the length of the loop) that goes up to the attic (8') and across the attic to the other side of the house (24') and come back down to the boiler?