basement heating options
#1
01-21-09, 05:48 PM
basement heating options
i have hydronic radiant baseboard through the upper level of my home. The basement has a small, poorly constucted piece of duct about 10' long, open on both ends, and a small blower fan attached to the duct and a radiator in front of it. It actually does well to heat the basement, but, it is increadibly noisy. I have made an attempt to remeady the problem, fix tin seams, better fasten blown motor, even insulated the floor joists above the unit, but to no success.
I am wondering what i can do to replace this unit, and keep my present boiler system. The basement if need be can be gutted to start fresh. I have plans to refinish it, but not for atleast another 5 years. I am almost tempted to gut it, and run pex on the floor, and add a layer of concrete. But i wouldn't know what something like that would cost, i can only guess very very expensive. But if its an effective option that will last a very long time, so be it. Supposing i wouldn't need a bigger boiler to handle the load.
I am also considering a solid fuel furnace to heat it, and also suppliement my up stairs heat. and maybe even electric heat.
Other than that, i can't think of anything else i can do, any suggestions?
I am wondering what i can do to replace this unit, and keep my present boiler system. The basement if need be can be gutted to start fresh. I have plans to refinish it, but not for atleast another 5 years. I am almost tempted to gut it, and run pex on the floor, and add a layer of concrete. But i wouldn't know what something like that would cost, i can only guess very very expensive. But if its an effective option that will last a very long time, so be it. Supposing i wouldn't need a bigger boiler to handle the load.
I am also considering a solid fuel furnace to heat it, and also suppliement my up stairs heat. and maybe even electric heat.
Other than that, i can't think of anything else i can do, any suggestions?
#2
01-21-09, 10:53 PM
We don't know enough about how your system is piped to really give you a clear answer. What you/we need to do is consider how the rest of the system is piped. If all one zone, then what kind of flow with what common temps will there be needed to heat the basement without needing a fan? And to answer that you really should do a room by room heatloss calculation and then consider how the current radiation matches and based on that estimate what is needed to be added. Who knows, it may be as simple as a huge old cast rad or a big panel rad... that and TRVs, sweet, but it all depends on the piping, the pumping and the heatload balance.
Essentially you want to get that pump (if there is only one) to use more of its flow to that area. How you actually go about doing it will depend on how the system is piped.
If your boiler is too small insulate more, although I highly doubt that it is.
Essentially you want to get that pump (if there is only one) to use more of its flow to that area. How you actually go about doing it will depend on how the system is piped.
If your boiler is too small insulate more, although I highly doubt that it is.
