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Heating the basement

Gigfy
Gigfy Member Posts: 1
I have steam heat and want to heat my basement . Is it recomended to take hot water from the steam boiler and circulate it through a baseboard system with a circulating pump?

Comments

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,168
    That certainly is much the simplest way to do it. If all the baseboard is going to be below the water level in the boiler, all you need to do is find a convenient tap on the boiler below the water line, pipe from that to a pump, then the baseboards, then back to a wet return somewhere. The control can be just a thermostat to turn on the pump -- although you can get fancy and add an aquastat to turn on the boiler to make sure it's hot. Doesn't take much of a pump.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    ethicalpaul
  • ethicalpaul
    ethicalpaul Member Posts: 5,695
    NJ Steam Homeowner. See my sight glass boiler videos: https://bit.ly/3sZW1el
  • Big Ed_4
    Big Ed_4 Member Posts: 2,762
    Yes, if you heat blow the water line , you don't need a heat exchanger to pressurize the column of water . Just to note circulators get eating up with solids left behind . Maintain and repair any steam leaks
    I have enough experience to know , that I dont know it all
  • ethicalpaul
    ethicalpaul Member Posts: 5,695
    Even above the water line you don't need a heat exchanger. Broken record mode is on.
    NJ Steam Homeowner. See my sight glass boiler videos: https://bit.ly/3sZW1el