Baseboard heating – worth doing or not?

Discreet, efficient, comfortable heating. A very attractive combination of features. Many people immediately think of underfloor heating. And rightly so. But this is not the only heating method that meets these characteristics. There is also a warm baseboard. The system is easier to install, most of it is available for maintenance at any time. So the warming baseboard is also worth considering as an invisible heating option.

Warm baseboard system: what it is

Heating baseboards or baseboard heating is not a novelty in the field of heating. The idea was proposed at the beginning of the last century, but due to the complexity of implementation and high price, was almost forgotten. With the development of technology, the complexity has become lower, but the price is still high. This is what mostly holds back potential users.

The main difference of this system is the non-standard shape of the heating devices and their unusual arrangement. The heaters are long and low, located around the perimeter of the room at floor level. The heaters are covered with a long decorative strip that looks very similar to a skirting board. When installed, they replace the usual skirting board. This is why this system is often called “warm skirting board”. This system is very good for panoramic glazing – it can be no higher than the frames, so it is not noticeable at all. It is not worse in ordinary rooms – it is not visible at all.

Types of warm skirting board

There are two types of warm skirting boards: electric and water. Electric warm baseboard is characterized by the fact that each heater is independent and can work separately. They can be installed in case of lack of power of the main heating – as an additional, in case of cold weather. Installation is not difficult, and it works effectively, is inconspicuous, does not dry the air too much.

There is a water warm baseboard. This is one of the subspecies of water heating, that is, all the heaters are connected into one system. It can be both the main (only baseboard heaters) and additional type of heating (together with a warm water floor or radiators).

Arrangement of the heating baseboard

In any case, the warm baseboard looks like this: it is two copper tubes, which are one from the other at a distance of 7-15 cm. To increase the heat output on the tubes put vertical plates of aluminum, brass (cost a little less, but the heat output is slightly lower) or copper (more expensive and more “warm” option). From above, the finned tubes are covered with decorative covers made of extruded aluminum. Aluminum is not chosen by chance – it transmits heat well. So the heated cover itself radiates heat.

At the top and bottom of the lid there are holes for air movement. Cold air is sucked in through the lower ones, heated air comes out through the upper ones. So the heating comes from three sources:

Such a triple source of heat contributes to the fact that the room is heated quickly, and the location of the heating elements around the perimeter contributes to the even heating of the air throughout the volume.

Advantages and disadvantages of baseboard heating

What is the difference between heating with the use of warm baseboard? Warm air is understood from the heating element upwards, along the wall, warming the wall. As it moves up, the air cools down a little at a time, then moves down, but no longer along the wall, but in the center of the room.

The result is that the warmest air is down around the perimeter of the room. The warmest object – other than the heaters – is the walls. Also, the warmer air is located near the floor. Going upwards, it cools down and at head level it is slightly cooler. The difference is small 1-2 degrees, but it is such a distribution of temperatures is better for human well-being.

Heating with a warm baseboard turns out to be inertial. It is not possible to unequivocally attribute this property to the advantages or disadvantages. There are both positive and negative aspects. Minus: until the walls are heated, the room is cool. Therefore, such a system is good only for houses of permanent residence and is not suitable for dachas. The positive point is that once heated, the walls work as a large stabilizer – maintain the temperature at the same level, giving if necessary, the accumulated heat. Such a large heat accumulator will help to hold on for some time even in the case of a heating cutoff.

To the pluses of the heating system with heating skirting boards include their economy. After the walls are heated, the boiler consumes a minimum of fuel – only to maintain the temperature. And such modes, as a rule, are more economical. But this applies to any inertial heating system, so it can not be considered a special advantage of a warm baseboard.

There are some undeniable advantages to baseboard heating. First – it is one of the few systems that provides even heating. Even the corners are always warm. Second – it is the most inconspicuous system, which easily fits into any interior. With all this, the heating devices are easily accessible, the system can be repaired at any time.

Has a warm plinth and a clear disadvantage – a high price. This is due to the fact that copper and aluminum are used to increase the heat output, and they cost a lot.

Types of heating skirting boards

The system of baseboard heating can be of two types: with electric and water heaters. At the stage of installation is more complicated system with water warm baseboards (requires collector or beam connection), but in operation it is more economical. Electric warm skirting board is mounted quickly – you only need to fix the heaters to the wall, immediately after installation it is ready to work. But heating costs, as with any electric heating, are high.

Heating device with a water warm baseboard

The water baseboard heating system differs only in the non-standard shape of the heating devices. The key components do not differ from the standard: you need a hot water boiler, a collector unit and a system of pipes with which the warm baseboard is connected.

Please note: the optimal mode of operation of the system – low-temperature. On the supply 40-50°C, on the return about 5°C lower. Therefore, the boiler or the system should be selected on this basis. If the boiler is a gas boiler, the best choice is a condensing boiler. If any other boiler is installed, a heat accumulator and/or mixing unit is needed in the system to reduce and stabilize the temperature.

Connection method

There are peculiarities in the choice of connection method. Serial connection of all baseboard heaters in the room is inefficient: while the coolant reaches the last heaters in the branch, it will cool down a lot and they will remain cold almost all the time.

For a water heating baseboard, a radial system is used: the devices are connected one by one or in pairs. For this purpose, a manifold unit is built into the system, to which the pipes that go to the heating devices are connected. The disadvantage of such a system is the high consumption of pipes. After all, to each device (or a small group) goes two pipes – on the supply and return. The consumption of pipes is much higher, but the heat distribution is more even and the system itself is more reliable. Why more reliable? If the pipes or radiators in one group are damaged, all the others work normally.

Peculiarities of installation

When arranging water baseboard heating, the pipes are usually hidden in the floor. Laying them along the walls will not work, since the place is occupied by heating devices. That is, the installation of warm water baseboards is possible only at the stage of repair – you will have to raise the floor.

Lay in the screed recommended special polymer pipes – they are not subject to corrosion and have a low heat output, that is, the heat loss during the transportation of the coolant will be small. But since the availability for repair of these systems is small, you need to take a quality product from well-known manufacturers, and it is not cheap.

Electric warm baseboard

Electric warm baseboard externally from the water differs only in the presence of terminals for connecting the power supply. Otherwise, the appearance is the same. It is two tubes with perpendicularly fixed aluminum/brass/copper plates. In the lower tube there is a heating element – TEN, in the upper one there are wires for connection.

Mount and connect the electric warm baseboard is much easier. It only needs to be fixed, pull the wires and connect them to the terminals. To maintain the set temperature, a thermostat is built into the system, which turns the heaters on and off. The use of thermostats is desirable, since it optimizes the work – saves electricity.

Installation is really uncomplicated, but connect the electric warm baseboard should be connected to a dedicated line with a properly selected rating of the automatic protection device and copper single-core wires of appropriate cross-section. So in this case, too, requires repair – the wiring is usually laid in the wall, and for this it is necessary to make a grommet, that is, to break the wall.

Installation of the water warm baseboard system

Installation of electric warm skirting board is very simple: fix it on the wall. Everything, the system is ready for use. It remains to turn on the sockets. The main thing is that the cross-section of the wire was correctly calculated, there were protective circuit breakers of the correct nominal value. This is the main problem in the case of using an electric warm plinth. Water is much more difficult to install. Everything must be assembled into a single system, and this is not easy.

Calculation of baseboard heating

A complete thermal calculation of heating is a long and complicated matter. It takes into account the size and geometry of the room, the material of the walls, floor, ceiling, takes into account the degree of insulation of all elements of the structure, including windows and doors. In general, the calculation is not simple. Therefore, most often take an average figure, which is derived as a result of analyzing many calculations.

It is believed that to heat one square meter of the area of the room with average insulation requires 100 watts of heat energy. That is, to calculate the power of a warm baseboard, you need to multiply the area of the room by 100. Get the required figure. That is how much (or better more by about 20-25%) should give a total of all elements of the warm baseboard.

For example, the area of the room is 18 square meters. For its heating will need 1800 W. Then we look at the amount of heat that one meter of heating gives off. Working water heating baseboard can be in different modes, depending on the mode allocates a different amount of heat. The table above presents data for one of the systems. For example, let’s take the heat output of one meter of warm baseboard from this table (other manufacturers may have significant differences).

For example, the system will operate at a supply temperature of 50°C. Then one running meter gives out 132 W of heat. To heat this room will need 1800/132=13.6 meters of warm baseboard. When ordering it is better to add a reserve of 20-25%. This reserve is necessary so that the system does not work all the time at the limit. That’s one. And also in case of abnormal cold weather. That’s two. So, with a reserve take 17 meters.

Once again we draw your attention: this is the average data for some average house. And it does not even take into account the height of the ceilings. It is again taken average – 2.5 meters. If your insulation is better, you will need less heat if worse than the “average” – more. In general, this method gives only approximate calculations.

How to proceed

The first thing to do is to draw a plan, on which to designate the length of each heater, the length of the connecting pipes. After all, the length of the warm baseboard is not always equal to the perimeter of the room. In this case, sections of heating devices are connected to each other with copper or polymer pipes. It is undesirable to use steel ones, as they chemically interact with copper (it gradually deteriorates).

Preparation for installation takes place long before it actually begins. At the very beginning of the repair, even before the start of floor leveling, from the boiler or collector unit pipes are pulled to the place of connection of the warm baseboard. Pipes are laid, tested for integrity, filled with screed in a filled state under pressure (working pressure in a private house 2-3 Atm, in multi-storey should be found out in the housing and utilities department). Then all repair work is carried out and only after the finishing of the walls and floor begins the installation of a warm skirting board. Here is its order:

• Heat-reflective tape is attached along the perimeter of the walls. It prevents heat consumption for heating the wall.

  

• Fixing elements are installed on top of the tape at a spacing of 50-60 cm. They are fixed to the wall using wall plugs or self-tapping screws (depending on the wall material).
• In the fasteners according to the plan are fixed pieces of heating skirting board, connected to each other with copper or polymer pipes.

  

• The tightness of the system is checked by pressure testing.
• If everything is normal, the pipes from the collector unit or from the boiler are connected, the system is filled with coolant and tested.

  

• After successful tests, decorative covers are installed, the baseboard heating system is ready to work.

Actually, the installation of warm baseboards is not too complicated. But the tightness of the connections is important and special attention should be paid to this.