baseboards=less btu's vs forced air?

[heaterman]

And, by another coincidence, I think I met you, Heaterman, at the Mich Energy Fair in Onekema this summer at the Garn display.

Tall smiling homely guy that lives eats and breathes hydronics? That would be me

I’m still saving for my Garn (and more solar panels, better storage, etc, etc), but in the meantime I’ll definitely give you a call or stop in to get more info on the baseboard radiant panels. I have a million questions ... time to do some more reading here and then ask for some ideas/help on a new thread or two. Thanks for all the great info.

Give me a call anytime or stop in. All of the above are always good topics for discussion. Coffee is always on.

 

[Tony H]

We sell a lot of panel radiators. They provide comfort far above forced air and are true variable output heating machines. The basic control set up is a thermostatic radiator valve on each panel which gives you room to room temp control without running wires, zone valves or multiple circs. From experience I'd say their heat output is about 60% convective air flow and 40% radiant energy. One customer that we did a combo radiant floor and panel rad system for said the he wouldn'r have bothered with the floor if he knew how well the panel rads worked. Piping is extremely simple and they are not all that expensive especially when you consider that once the basics are in place you can add to the system over whatever period of time you choose.

check them out here www.hydronicalternatives.com

An average system consists of nothing more than this:
1-15-58 Grundfos $65
1- 10 loop Stainless Steel Viega manifold,valved, $435
1-1000' roll 1/2" ViegaPex tubing $415
10 panel rads at avg price of $275 $2750
misc main piping (depends on job requirements) $250
10 TRV's $37 $370
As you can see the total for an average house is less than $4.5K and once the basic piping and manifold is in place a person could do the whole project over a period of years if he wanted to.

Variable output heating, simple to install, radiant+convective heat, far less wall space than BB, circulate over 100,000 btu's easily on only 85 watts of power, room by room temp control, provides a steady load on your boiler not on/off, installation is so easy even I can do it. What's not to like???

Your plan above would work great for my house and I can do it over several years starting with the bathrooms and kids play area in the basement where there is no heat at all. Thanks for the info

Look me up at (broken link removed) or send me a PM from here if you need help. Panel rads with pex tube and a single manifold make for a really simple system.

simple is good for me , I am not quite ready to start but just starting to plan. I understand these units can use quite low water temps unlike my HX and so I was considering that the panel units could replace the HX and allow me to run the boiler at a much lower temp and with adding storage use a fraction of the wood I use now. I will contact you as I get closer to go time.

 

[heaterman]

If all goes according to plan the attachment should show a basic diagram for panel rads piped from a common manifold

 

[Tony H]

That looks pretty straight forward where does the manifold usually sit in relation to the existing sidearm and HX that feeds into the forced air furnace or do you make one or both of them "zones" off the manifold ?

 

[heaterman]

That looks pretty straight forward where does the manifold usually sit in relation to the existing sidearm and HX that feeds into the forced air furnace or do you make one or both of them "zones" off the manifold ?

If possible given the constraints posed by a persons current piping layout, I'd probably put it after the F/A heat exchanger and before the side arm. It really wouldn't make that much difference to the rads.

 

[rkusek]

That looks pretty straight forward where does the manifold usually sit in relation to the existing sidearm and HX that feeds into the forced air furnace or do you make one or both of them "zones" off the manifold ?

If possible given the constraints posed by a persons current piping layout, I'd probably put it after the F/A heat exchanger and before the side arm. It really wouldn't make that much difference to the rads.

Thanks for the info Steve, I'm thinking the panel rads may be a good option to heat the basement when it gets finished since I don't think the forced air with the thermostat upstairs (basement door normally closed also) is going to work all that well and I wasn't able to put pex in the slab during construction last year. Since I plan to finish a bedroom(spare for guests) and bathroom down there first, the modular approach would be ideal since I'm sure it will take a few years (of time and available money) to get it all done.
Still working up a sketch of my entire system to post here for review.

 

[Tony H]

Yes thanks the info, it's probably handy for many persons in the midwest where because of the need for both robust heat and air conditioning forced air systems are the most common solution.

 

[barnartist]

Heaterman, I'd still like to get that estimate if you can. I PM'd you with my info I believe.