kickspace heater to replace kitchen radiator

grandmastergus

I live in upstate NY and have hot water radiator heat (oil) in my 80 year old home. When we renovate the kitchen, we will need to eliminate or move the large kitchen radiator. Installing a hotwater kickspace heater under a kitchen cabinet was recommended by our oil company. What are the pros and cons of these units? Option 2 would be getting a smaller standup radiator and moving it to another corner of the kitchen. Any help would be appreciated.

Alan_6

toe space heaters

One dis-advantage is that the blower is noisy, some times it can be too much when standing in front of it. One advantage is it will free up floor space, and they put out alot of heat.

Mark Hunt

Low temp kit


Most toe-kick heaters come with a thermal switch that will close when the water temp hits 140 degrees. When installing a toe-kick in a high mass system like yours, it is recommended to replace the 140 degree switch with a lower temp switch. We use a 100 degree switch.

Those cast iron rads will kick out alot of heat even when the water temps are below 140 degrees. They would satisfy the thermostat and the toe-kick would not operate until the very cold weather set in and the system water temp gets to 140 degrees.

If you can squeeze another radiator in somewhere, do that.

Mark H

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ScottMP

Marks right

We usally don't install a toespace ont he same zone as cast iron, they just don't match up for the reason Marks stated. A low thermal switch will make a big difference. Still, think about a seperate zone, most kitchens have higher use than other parts of the home and dialing in the comfort is what its all about.

Scott

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salbuild

kickspace heater in Kitchen

I just had it done, like you describe in NH. Kickspace heater in the kitchen, hot water rads in the other rooms. All on one zone. Seemed to work fine this past winter. The issue of noise is true. Look for one that that's advertising as being quiet. I think it is called "the quiet one", or some such. The rooms are not that big, and each rooms unit can be valved down at the boiler for better balance. I also understand that the kick heaters don't last forever (8-10 yrs), so have it installed in such a way that is can easily be removed for servicing.
~Sal