Posted by scott2006 on Sun, Feb 18, 07 at 20:32... "Guys, The Legionnairs is nothing to fool with. My neighbor got it TWICE from the hot water tank. The 2nd time the health department finaly figured it out. What happen is hes an old guy living alone and wants to save money. He turns the tank off when he doesn't shower then turns it up just enough to take a warm shower. Then off it goes." Wow...this was not an issue for me. Our apartment in Singapore used a small 15 litre electric HW tank on a timer switch. This is a relatively common arrangement in the Lion City. Just push a button 20 minutes before needing hot water, and I was good-to-go. The timer ran only for an hour at a time. I'd have to push the button again if I wanted more. In a tropical climate, that was rarely necessary. We would sometimes go a couple of days between heating the tank. Other times, I'd forget to hit the timer until it was too late. It was warm water for my shower or the dishes at this point. I'd shut it off right after I was done, as there was no need for the heater to finish it's cycle. The hot (or sometimes warm) water fed the the shower, kitchen sink, and bathroom sink. I showered, washed dishes, and drank without ever getting sick from it. As-far-as-I-know, no-one has gotten Legionnaire's Disease from using luke-warm water in Singapore. I just wish more Asian countries would use S-traps for sinks and showers. P-traps are common in Singapore. No traps are common in Indonesia. Yuck. I guess that's a discussion for another thread. Peace. Marco

Converting baseboard to radiators should not be difficult especially if the house orginally had radiators. Old cast iron radiators can be put back in service even if they have been sitting idle for a long time. I agree radiant hot water heating is the most comfortable. However variable speed furnaces have come a long way in increasing comfort. Since you are already going through the expense of adding duct work for the AC, and you dislike the ugly baseboard, then consider integrating a furnace. You can get an electronic air cleaner if you have allergy problems. There are thermostats which will turn on the furnace blower to circulate and filter the air at very low speeds.

Okay, finally I have success! I'll detail what I did as it might save someone a lot of headache. First off, hot water pipes are thinner than cold water. I think cold water is type M and hot is type L or vice versa. No matter how many times I look that up, I still forget! Anyway, I got pretty good at cutting the thick one but was having MAJOR difficulty cutting the thin one. To make a long story short, I had to use a hand held key saw. Annoying, slow but that worked. Next, stick bread in the lines on both sides to block the water. You think you get all of the water out of the line, but you don't. With water in the line, soldering will be impossible. You'll have to heat the joints three times as long and the solders won't be good. I had leaks by not following this. A step which I knew but still didn't do. Stupid on my part. Okay, no more leaks. Now, I'm supposed to bleed the lines. Although my house was built in the 1930s, we added a large addition and the house is pretty new, including the heating system. It seems that the plumbers are no longer putting bleeders on the line. Mine don't have any. No problem. I should just open up point 1 in pic 2, and the valve on point 9, pic 1 (which you can't see) then open the garden house valve on line 1, pic 2. When the water flows out smoothly with no sputtering, the air is out, right? Well yes, but things just weren't working that way. I did everything I just said and water came out. Within 10 seconds, however, all the water came out and it just dried up! Uh, is that supposed to happen? Confused, I shut the line and waited about 30 minutes while I did other things. I came back and tried again. Same results!!! I had about enough of this plumbing project. Looks like it won and I lost. After about 10 successful projects, I was going to have to call in a plumber. I tried getting the job taken care of with my normal service contract, convinced that it was just a lack of knowledge on my part. I was told that since it was the weekend and they weren't sure the project fell under my normal service agreement, they might have to bill me...at the more expensive weekend rate...of $165 per hour!!! I quickly told the lady I'd figure it out myself. Searching this site, I found the answer. I did everything right except one thing. You have to continually add water to the line so that it keeps flushing the air out. You do that by flipping the little handle on point 5, pic 2. That automatically ensures that the pressure in the baseboards remains at the setting on the reducer by adding water when need be. However, if you open it manually, it will just let the water flow (also pushing the air out with it). If there's air in the line, the pipes aren't going to get hot, so you've gotta get the air out. With each bucket of water I let flow through, more of the line got hot. Three buckets of water later, the water was flowing smoothly and I had heat! Note that by me doing what I did, I introduced air into another zone, so I had to repeat the process for that zone as well. No biggie. Three more buckets later, that zone was working again! Now I don't know if there's a way to work on one zone while not affecting the others. I'll have to examine what I did a little and see if there's a sensible way of doing it. Anyway, hopefully this helps someone.

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?