Hi matt. I'm in the planning stages of installing a baseboard radiant system, and I'll tell you what I know, though some of the pros that are here might have more to say.

Since you'd be installing a new kind of heat emitter, I believe you'd first need to do a heat loss analysis of at least each room you plan to work on. Once you knew that, you'd have an idea of how much heat you'd need to supply via the new radiators. The manufacturer of the new radiators can tell you how much heat they give off per unit length, so that you can properly size them. But keep in mind that changing the type and size of the radiators will change the flow and probably the operating temp in that zone, and possibly the entire system.

So as I see it, you would need a heat loss analysis for each room you work on, plus a calculation of the current flow and "head" (the total of all pressures) for each zone you work on, and for the system as a whole. Changing the type of heat emitter will change these numbers, and you want to make sure the final numbers fall back in the right range. Who knows, you might even be able to make the system run better.

I don't claim to be an expert, but I've found that lots of people who install/service these systems aren't experts either. So be a little cautious.

The main resource I used to learn was the book by Siegenthaler, "Modern Hydronic Heating." There is also a lot of information for sale on the website of the "Radiant Panel Association."

Dave,

This is a welcome start. Thanks for the response. Hopefully some others with first hand experience will chime in as well.

Cheers.

Put enough ball valves in to isolate each zone, once your system is complete you will never have to drain it completely for repair or maintenance.

Hvac blocked out 3 hours to replace the pump on the boiler. Drain system, replace pump, refill system and bleed all radiators. Took 'em 20 minutes, I had shutoffs on each side of the pump.