electric baseboard heaters

i want to install baseboard electric heat in 4 rooms of my house and 1 in the basement I'm not worried about heating the house the whole winter here in W.V. just during the early fall months no later then november. My question is the rooms to be heated are (2) rms are 15x15 (1) is 7x9 (1) is 12x13 and the room in the basement is 12x12 what size units should i get and how many new breakers and amps do I need?Any help is appreciated thank you Sharon

 

I'm sorry no one has answered your post yet. As I am unversed in the sizing for heaters, perhaps you could have better luck in the Heating and Cooling Section?

 

First thing I would do is post your question in the heating and cooling forum. I am sure someone in there can direct you on how to perform the calculation to find the required amount of heating for each room. Yes, there is a calculation involved that will take everything into account, room size, direction the house is facing, your location and it's temperatures on average, amount of insulation in the walls, window types and sizes and so forth. These are all items plus more that I have not listed, that need to be included in the calculation.
Once you have performed the calculation and deciphered what size heaters to use in WATTS, then I would suggest that you come back and post here and tell us what the wattage of each heater is and then we can help you determine what size circuits to run and how to protect them.
Most electricians do not do the calculations for heating or cooling requirements, so there is no way we can tell you how to do them. If you post in the heating and cooling forum they will tell you where to go on the web to get to the calculator that will tell you what you need based on the information that you put into the computer.
Good Luck!

 

I didn't answer your question because I wasn't sure I remembered the rule of thumb correctly. However, I'll take a guess now. I think you need at least one watt of heating for ever cubic foot of area. This general guideline will vary quite a bit depending on your climate and how well the room is insulated.

So a 15x15 room is 625 square feet. If this room has an 8-foot ceiling, that would be 1800 cubic feet and you'd need at least 1800 watts of electric heating.

Generally, it's best to give it a day or two before giving up on an answer. The people who usually answer questions don't monitor this forum 24 hours a day.

 

width of room times length of room times the height of the room times 1.5 heating degree day adjustment in middle from north to south of USA. This will give you the answer in watts of heat needed in that room. Then divide that by 250 watts for the watt rating per foot of you heaters. This answer will give you the feet of baseboard heat you need to heat that room. Then calculate each room same way room for room.

Place you heaters on the wall under windows and close to doors that open to the outside. Be careful not to block the heaters with any furniture etc. or the heaters will over heat and quite working due to a limit thermostat built into the heaters.

YOu can reduce the above by the seat of the pants estimate of about 30% and it will still work. The heaters will just have to work harder and be less efficient.

Remember baseboard heat is not designed ot be installed in a drafty house. The heat recovery capablilities of hte baseboard heat dictates that the house be well sealed from drafts or you heat cost will become rather expensive.

Hope this helps

Wg

 

Wg, are you saying that a 15x15 room (225 square feet -- not the 625 I stated before) can be heated by only 225*1.5*70% = 236 watts? Doesn't sound likely to me. Perhaps did you mean length times width times height (i.e., cubic feet rather than square feet)?? If so, this would mean that your calculation is very similar to the one I gave before. I said 1 watt per cubic foot. You said 1.5 watt less 30%. I have also heard 10 watts per square foot, which is also similar for rooms with standard height ceilings.

 

Sorry John I left out one part of the calculation.

The formula is the width x length x height x 1.5 = watts of heat in a room. To discover heat in length divide the above formula by 250 watts per foot of heater = feet of heat in that room.

I edited the prior post

Wg

 

I use 2 watts per cubic foot to determine the size of a baseboard heater. Room width X Room Width X Ceiling Height X 2 watts =
Watts needed.

15' X 15' X 8' X 2 watts = 3600 watts.

 

thanks all i think i look for a different source of heat since electric seems to be costly