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Mixing radiators with baseboard

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04090
04090 Member Posts: 142
in Radiant Heating
When the heating system in our 1800's home was updated several years ago, we made the big mistake of disconnecting the one radiator on the second floor.  We use that level enough now to want the rooms not to be frozen and am looking for something better than the electric heater we've been using just to take the chill out of the air.



What could we expect if I tapped a 3/4" pipe supply and return from the basement to the second floor area and connected that cast iron radiator (it's still up there) to the first floor loop which is big box store variety Slant Fin baseboard?



Would the second floor be warmed, or would the radiator not get hot because of the new boilers short cycles?   What happens when one sticks a cast iron radiator into a baseboard loop? 



The boiler can handle the load and we're not looking to heat the space to much more than 60.  I've thought of adding baseboard up there, but logistically that would be a major challenge.



Thanks.

Comments

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,284
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    It should work...

    with some tweaks.  The major thing is that that cast iron radiator will heat more slowly than the baseboard -- but it will cool more slowly as well.  How you hook it into the system will make a considerable difference, and that depends somewhat on how the system is presently piped



    You might get more responses on this one, though, if you reposted the question on the Main Wall...
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,284
    Options
    It should work...

    with some tweaks.  The major thing is that that cast iron radiator will heat more slowly than the baseboard -- but it will cool more slowly as well.  How you hook it into the system will make a considerable difference, and that depends somewhat on how the system is presently piped



    You might get more responses on this one, though, if you reposted the question on the Main Wall...
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • MikeG
    MikeG Member Posts: 169
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    Radiators and baseboard

    I know that generally the advice is not to mix differernt emmiters on the same zone. My son has an old house that the previous owners removed all but three of the cast iron radiators and installed standard BB.  The original system  has 1.5" iron supply pipes with Taco monoflo tees.  They just removed the radiators and tied in with 3/4 copper for the BB.  The system runs 180* water with a standard atmospheric boiler.  It works in this case very well.  The three remaining radiators are in the southwest corner of rooms  which is our prevailing wind direction in NW Ohio.  They heat up and hold the heat longer which is great in this instance.  They left them I'm sure because they are near windows that did not interfere with floor space and furniture arranging issues.  It may not work so well if he was running lower water temps.
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