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Heating & Air Conditioning

hot water baseboard heat question

12 years ago

I have a room in my house that has a 8' hot water baseboard heater on a 15'9" wall as well as a 7' baseboard on a 9'6" wall. The 15'9" wall also has two windows with a 58" space between them that would be the perfect place for my tv console minus the heat.

Would it be expensive/not a good idea to have the 8' baseboard split into two smaller ones under the windows to free up the wall space. Currently the baseboard goes from the center of one window to the center of the other. The walls have blown in insulation if that makes a difference. The pipes run through the floor to a open ceiling basement.

I'm a new home owner and really don't have a clue what this would cost, a ballpark would be helpful. Also, since it is hot water I'm assuming a plumber would be the one to call.

Thanks

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Comments (2)

ionized_gw
12 years ago
You are lucky to have nice hydronic heat in your home, congratulations. A heating contractor might better be able to help you pick out new heaters, but that is not a sure thing if you talk with a very experienced plumber in an area with lots of hydronic heat around. You might be able to re-use some of what you have if you can find replacement end caps since you might need two more. It depends on the design of the heaters. If you can, it might save you a lot of money if you want to match the other 7' length.

With an open basement It should be relatively straight-forward meaning not too expensive, but I can not really say how much. I am not sure why you want to move it. The TV should work in front of the baseboard with no trouble. You might drive yourself nuts if you want to move your heaters to accommodate your furniture in every room ;-)

What fuel fires your boiler? Who is going to be servicing your heating system?
matt1915
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks for the response ionized!!

My boiler is natural gas and I am still asking around for a good service company due to the company that installed it is no longer around. It is a 3 year old weil mclain gv-4. I also have a coal stove that when used cuts my gas bill in half in my 1700 sqft house located in northern Massachusetts.

This is the only one I plan on changing. Pretty much just want to cut the 8ft section into two 3'5" sections that will fit under the windows. The reason for doing this is that I have a cabinet maker friend willing to make me a built in console for just the cost of materials. I will be losing a little over a foot of baseboard heat but with the coal stove, the other 7' of baseboard in the room, blown in insulation, and a low 7'9" ceiling I am thinking it won't effect much. I guess I should just call a heating company.

Thanks
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