Hot Water Temp for Baseboards

Paul_54

Need some help with a new (to-me) heating system. I am spending my first winter in a condo that has as its main source of heat, hotwater baseboards that are heated by the water off of the gas hot water heater. The problem I am having is I can't get the tempature inside the house above 71 degrees F on a 35 degree F day, thus when the outside temp drops to about 15 I notice a big change in my inside temp (63 degrees).

The loops are in top notch running order. The hot water tank has a limit of 150 F on the high end and is producing temps in that range, after running through the heat exchanger my heat loop water is up to about 130 on average.

Is 130 degrees average tempature for a heating system of this nature? I am unfamilar with a system of this nature and have been used to setting a thermostat at 71 and getting 71, realizing the furnace would have to work harder to keep up.

Is it too much to expect the indoor temp to be able to keep a hold at 70 on a 15 degree night? (It dropped to 63 on one 0 degree night.) As it stands now, on a 30 degree day the most I can get out of the system is 71/72 degrees. The baseboards are clean and have good airflow. The circulators are running when supposed to, and thermostats have been switched to digital just to be more precise. Previous tenents have never complained about this system and it has been in the unit for over 9 years.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Thanks, and Happy New Year!

Paul

Ted_9

bb

If the copper/fin tube was sized right for that water temp, meaning that there is enough baseboard, then yes it should work.

If there isnt enough heat, one problem could be that there isnt enough baseboard.

You"ll need some one to do a heatloss and figure how many btus the copper/fin can put out.

Happy New Year

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kevin coppinger_4

Wow...

most copper finn tube baseboard systems are designed to run at or about 180F. That is not to say you can't run them on lower temps but you will need a lot more baseboard. Using a water heater for baseboard is not common practice... I presume that the domestic water is used off the same water heater another less than great idea. You need to get someone to evaluate the system to either make adjustments of give you some ideas to replce your set up to something that works...I design my systems here in NH. to keep my customers warm (70) at -20F....kpc

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