Heating a basement w/baseboards

I am looking to heat my basement by adding another zone on my boiler, my concern is how best to run the plumbing where freezing is not an issue. Is it safe to run the pipes along the concrete walls of the basement behind the insulation? I live in Long island and that outside wall should get quite cold when the insulation is all installed. I am not sure if the pipes would freeze. What do you know about this?
Also any charts/info on how much linear feet of heater is required for a certain room size?

Your response is much appreciated

 

You can go to http://www.heatinghelp.com/heating_howcome4.cfm and it will give you an idea of what you need. It will also answer a lot of your quesions concerning your system.

As far as freezing pipes, I'm assuming that our basement floor is below the frost line, it's highly unlikely that they would freeze. I would recommend insulating the pipes behind the wall not because of freezing, but for heat loss. You want the heat from your boiler for the room and not behind the wall.

 

Thanks for the reply, that agrees with some other info I received from some friends. I took a quick look at the web site you listed, looks like I struck an information gold mine! I am not doing it all myself but I will do what I can and let a pro do the hard stuff.Thanks for taking the time to reply to my question.
BTW: Would you know the best way to fasten the pipes behind the basement wall? I am using metal studs.

 

Use three hanger in one by Praire Home Products Inc. (PHP). They can be used as a suspension hanger, insulator and/or grommet for pipes. You can find them almost anywhere, like Home Depot, Lowes, Hardware store, etc. These are used a lot with steel studs, either through the studs or on the sides. They'are made of plastic with flanges that allow you to clamp and suspend them on wood or metal studs. These will allow yo to clamp them to the back of the metal studs.

Do not attach the pipes to concrete. If you have to, insulate or wrap the pipe in builders felt before doing so. It's true that lime mixed with cement will neutralize the acids in cement but not all of it. Because of that when copper pipes touch cement, coupled with the heat from the pipes, you'll get copper oxide on them. That's that blueish green discoloration we see on copper sometimes. In situations like yours, if this oxidation occurred for a prolong period of time, it would cause the pipe to fail or leak.