adding baseboard radiator in basement

Wade Badura

Thanks for the advice. I feel much better about installing the new radiator in the room now.

Can anyone recommend a specific thermostat radiator valve to use in my application? I am assuming non-electric? The new baseboard rad. is 3/4"slant fin if that helps.

I am glad I did some research on the subject. While the system is from 1958, the boiler is relatively new (1997) and I thought all necessary safety features came with it. After emailing the boiler manufacturer last night to confirm the fact it doesnt have a low water cutoff, they recommend ITT McDonnel & Miller Guard Dog and that "install it above boiler with a tee" Does it matter where above I put it?

Wade Badura

adding baseboard radiator in basement

I plan on heating a recently finished basement rec room by adding a Slant Fin 3/4" radiator(approx 12ft). My current hydronic heat system looks like a two pipe system from what I can tell. It is not zoned and I am not interested in zoning when I add the basemnt heating since the new room will be used quite a bit.
The new radiator will be lower than the boiler.
What will to install when connect to the supply and return on the system(eg.balancing valve?,bleeders, shutoff valve?)
I had read somewhere about a low water cutoff valve when radiators are below the boiler. are these necessary in my situation?

John@Reliable_4

Wade, need to know more..................

Do you use boiler for hot water? You say it's a two pipe system, is that water or steam? Is it a cold start boiler?
Do you have a flo-check or zone valve now? It would be wise to zone system and not just running it with main house zone. The cost of zoning isn't that great. Hope this helps John@Reliable

Wade Badura

More info on system

Sorry about the lack of info on my first post.
I found a link on web showing my system:
http://www.pmengineer.com/CDA/ArticleInformation/features/BNP__Features__Item/0,2732,106650,00.html

Hope the link works. My system is a Parallel distribution piping system(Hot water). Base-ray radiators . There is no zone valves in current system and no flo-check from what I can see. After reading more at the above link which talks about all the formuals for calcualting flow rates and heat loss in my system, it seems much more complicated then just adding the 3/4" slant fin radiator in the basement between supply and return.

Dale

Low water cut off

Yes you will need to add a low water cut off. The national fuel gas code requires it and it's always a good idea. I think that if you have the 2 pipe reverse return system you shouldn't need to do much except try to get the loop lengths about the same. I however wouldn't do this without a thremostat radiator valve added to the new downstairs rad, pretty cheap and easy to do it now.

Dale

Most times

The idea is to make sure the boiler doesn't fire unless it's full of water. So, most times the tee is above the boilier in a straight vertical pipe where any draining will empty the tee while the boiler is still full. Testing is good. Fill the system to over the LWCO and open the boiler drain to see if it works. If you pump away the return may be an easier spot to put it. The manufacturer drawing that I'm looking at now shows it about 6 inches above the boiler on the supply pipe.

Unknown

TRVs

Any of them are good, Wade. I like Macon, Taco, Danfoss, Honeywell Braukman and I'm sure there are others.

Here's one....

http://www.maconcontrols.com/ntv901.html

Noel

Wade Badura_2

First attemp failed!

Well I cut into my sytstem and installed the radiator in the basement rec room. The good news: no leaks!,the rest of the house(the original system) still works fine, and the low water cutoff I installed tests out perfectly. The bad news: no heat in new rad.
I bled the entire system. The supply and return in my two pipe parallel system is 1". The T's I added are near boiler. the new rad is a slantfin 3/4". I installed the thermostatic radiator valve. It just seems that the water in not being pushed down into new rad. Is it possible there is no flow in the new loop because water it tryin to flow from the return T down to new rad? Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Wade

Wade Badura_2

First attemp failed!

Well I cut into my sytstem and installed the radiator in the basement rec room. The good news: no leaks!,the rest of the house(the original system) still works fine, and the low water cutoff I installed tests out perfectly. The bad news: no heat in new rad.
I bled the entire system. The supply and return in my two pipe parallel system is 1". The T's I added are near boiler. the new rad is a slantfin 3/4". I installed the thermostatic radiator valve. It just seems that the water in not being pushed down into new rad. Is it possible there is no flow in the new loop because water it tryin to flow from the return T down to new rad? Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Wade