Cast iron baseboards in 1895 Colonial

17 years ago

I am thinking of making an offer on a house built in 1895 and doing my best to educate myself on any number of topics before an inspection. (I will use an inspector who is a member of ASHI and did an impressive inspection and report on my previous house, which was built in 1901.) I can see how old houses become a passion.

What do you know about cast iron baseboards for heating? I've never seen them and wonder what there is to know about them? This house has gas heat and I recall seeing the baseboards in the living and dining rooms, which have a combined area of about 750 square feet. Thanks for any pointers or information.

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Comments (11)

jejvtr
17 years ago
steam or hot water?
Baseboard or rad?

check all valves at rad those are typically where you have failure/leaking - check flooring under them to see if there are/were any leaks -
Does the system have a feeder valve - automatic or manual

What type heating in the rest of the home?
talley_sue_nyc
17 years ago
I've seen cast-iron baseboard radiators (steam heat) that replaced the tall, bulky radiators. They provided great heat--almost too much, actually.
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mike_73
17 years ago
I have a old home built around 1900, give or take a few years. I have a hot water heating system. Mine has the old steam Rads but were converted to hot water by changing the valves, and bleeders long before I owned it. you need to know what type of system yours is, hot water or steam? steam systems can be a one or two pipe system. hot water is two pipes. the two pipe steam and hot water systems use one to send out hot water or steam to the rads or baseboars and one for return. One pipe steam uses the same pipe to send the steam to the rads or baseboars then when it cools and condenses back to water it runs back to the boiler via the same pipe to be reheated. the two pipe is more efficent and if the system is steam you can convert to hot water with out major replumbing since it has a return. I have been told that hot water systems are less costly to run since you are only heating the water to 150 or 160 vs. 212 to create the steam.

also check to see what kind of boiler you have and how the water is delivered. If there is a circulator thats a good sign the boiler is not super old like mine was when I bought my house. no curculator pump means its gravity system that relies on the heated water to rise natrually and fall back by the returns.

I changed out my boiler last summer to a new forced hot water system, it heats the rooms much more evenly than before. the trouble spots for me were the radator valves, some of mine leaked when I refilled my system. I was able to tighten up the packing nuts and stop the leaks. my old system had a manual fill and the valve was stuck shut so I could not add water to completely fill the rads on my 3rd floor. That is now not a problem with the new boilers auto fill.

If you have Rads you should purge air from the bleader valves at the begining of the heating season. you may not have any air in them but any air trapped in the rads will effect the heat output.

check out Burnham's web site they make and sell boilers rads and baseboard for hydronic heating systems. that my help you inedtify what is in you home.

Here is a link that might be useful: Burnham
tangerine_z6
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks for all the great information. The MLS system lists the fuel as gas and the heating system as steam baseboard. I am going back today and will have a look at the boiler.
mike_73
17 years ago
Good luck with buying the house. I would look around as much as you can and ask qusetions. also be there when the home inspector is going over the house, my realtor wanted me at mine and it was very worth while. I learn alot about my house and how its systems worked by seing everything as the inspector went over it. I was able to ask him questions about anything I did not understand as well. My house was also listed in MLS as having gas fueled steam, but we learned in the inspection that it was not steam but hot water. MLS sheets are not always correct, often owner don't remember or don't know all the correct information.
kframe19
17 years ago
My parent's house has a combination of cast iron radiators and cast iron baseboard that was added later by my Grandparents when they bought the house in 1943.

It works just like any other baseboard heating unit, by heating air and creating convection cycles.

My Aunt and Uncle's 1950s ranch house has ALL cast iron base board heating. It's normally not used, though, as my uncle is passionate about heating with wood. :-)

But, when it is in use, the house is perfectly comfortable.

As with any heating system, the important thing is in the planning. You have to get enough heat exchange area to adequately heat the spaces on a cold day.
mike_73
17 years ago
I would agree with kframe19's statements I have seen the castiron baseboads in use. they seened to work well and did not make noise like the thin metal baseboards do. the thin metal ones make a pinging sound as they heat up and cool. also they do not hold as much water or heat like cast iron baseboards and rads do. The benifit of this is that the baseboards stay warm much longer after the boiler shuts down and continue to heat the room making feel more evenly warm and comfortable.
kframe19
17 years ago
The biggest problem with cast iron baseboard today is its cost.

The last time I priced some it was in the range of $75 a linear foot for just the material -- not including installation!

I'd love to replace a few of the radiators in my Mom's home with cast iron baseboard (two corner rooms could really use the "heat wrapping" effect you get from baseboard) but the price combined with the age of the system makes me very leery of attempting it.
tangerine_z6
Original Author
17 years ago
I didn't get the information I wanted on the boiler when I saw the house again yesterday, but in the meantime saw a house built in 1940 that I may put a bid on this weekend.

It's not over 'till it's over though, so I may be right back at the old beauty. The other one is a no brainer in terms of resale value, for one, and that's important to me. Sigh.
nitrojc
16 years ago
HEY THERE Fellas, I have cast iron hot water baseboard radiators. This house I bought in 1980 has these radiators, and they work just fine. However, being cast iron they take forever to heat up. So, a programable thermo-stat is useless. Take Care, Jim.
kframe19
16 years ago
On the flip side, while they take longer to heat up, they also take longer to cool down.

Cast iron baseboards in 1895 Colonial

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