# too much heat remove fins from baseboard?



## shoeboxlen (Dec 15, 2009)

hi guys.

  We added an addition on to our home (turned it into a mother daughter home). we had a singe room on a zone which we added the addition on to I moved the thermostat into a central location. the problem I am running into is that the room that was the original zone has way too much baseboard in it and gets alot hotter than the rest of the zone. I do not want to tear apart the system if I can avoid it. I was thinking of just removing the fins off of 8 foot of the baseboard and coverig it with the split foam pipe insulation that way there would be less heat transfer in the room (room has about 16 feet worth of fin) I tried closing the ducts off ont he basboard but it did not help all that much. does anyone have a easy means of doing this with an in place heating system??  I was thinking just tin snips leather gloves an a box of bandaids.... any help or ideas are welcome. thanks

Len


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## DaveBP (Dec 15, 2009)

Len, if you added on the baseboard in the new addition in series with the existing zone it would be getting cooler water to it after the original baseboard drew off its heat. If that is the case, any chance you could reverse the supply and return lines so that the new addition was getting the hottest water first? That would get the heat out more in proportion to what you need in the separate zones.

If they are piped parallel then just close down the balancing valve a bit on the hot zone.Of course, that assumes a balancing valve was installed in the first place.


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## ChiefChicken (Dec 15, 2009)

Wrap a section of the fin tube with aluminum foil.  This will allow you to adjust the amount of radiation you want to disable, plus it can be reversed if you ever desire more heat in that area.


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## shoeboxlen (Dec 15, 2009)

what I did to pipe in the addition was cut the loop where it went under a door way and extended the loop through out the addition. I will try the aluminum foil thing tonight as it sounds like it will do the trick Iwill cross my fingers and let yas know how it goes. thanks for the great replies guys!


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## Fred61 (Dec 15, 2009)

shoeboxlen said:
			
		

> what I did to pipe in the addition was cut the loop where it went under a door way and extended the loop through out the addition. I will try the aluminum foil thing tonight as it sounds like it will do the trick Iwill cross my fingers and let yas know how it goes. thanks for the great replies guys!



They are convectors. anything you do to stop the air flow will work. Aluminum foil will radiate some heat. An insulating material will work better and there is no need to wrap it to stop the flow. A towel stuffed in the return (lower) side of the convector will stop the air flow.


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## shoeboxlen (Dec 15, 2009)

Fred61 said:
			
		

> shoeboxlen said:
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> 
> 
> ...



I can live with a little heat getting out but the room gets uncomfrtably warm hopefully this will be a low buck easy way to fix it.


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## shoeboxlen (Dec 16, 2009)

I did the tin foil trick I also used foam tube insulation on all exposed piping in the room and it is working great so far. thanks again for the advice guys saved me a possible mess!


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## tom in maine (Dec 16, 2009)

Most baseboards have an adjustable louver on the top side that you can open or close to adjust the output.
Does yours not have one?

If it doesn't you can cover the fin tube or block the base with just about anything to stop the convection.


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## shoeboxlen (Dec 16, 2009)

Tom in Maine said:
			
		

> Most baseboards have an adjustable louver on the top side that you can open or close to adjust the output.
> Does yours not have one?
> 
> If it doesn't you can cover the fin tube or block the base with just about anything to stop the convection.



yes it does but closing it did not seem to help much. the foil over the fins seems to be doing the trick so far so I am a happy camper. the original loop in the room had extra baseboard installed and it was its own loop because it was a addition all its own. the room was for my wifes grandmother and she was always cold so the father inlaw added the extra heat to the room for that reason however she is sadly gone and it is now the inlaws bed room. with the foil it will be able to be cold old people friendly again one day.


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