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Replacing hot water baseboard heaters

17 years ago

We're renovating our powder room and we would like to replace the nasty baseboard heaters. Unfortunately, they're rusted and dented and beyond repair.

We've seen similar units in the big box stores and I'm wondering if this is a diy project that we could undertake or if we really need a plumber to come and do the install for us.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

claire

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Comments (3)

rayfromalaska
17 years ago
Well, you may need a plumber with boiler experience, but maybe not. For example, the heater register or cover of the long and narrow baseboard heaters of today can be replaced, without having to replace the heater inside. This heater is not more than a copper pipe that has aluminum fins attached to it. The heater cover is nailed or screwed to the studs in the wall. I have Slant-Fin baseboard heaters in my house, and I can easily replace their covers after buying them (measured by the foot) locally.

More than likely, if the house is not too old, the pipes leading to the heater are made of copper. To install a new baseboard heater requires:

a. Draining the boiler's pressure, or
b. Being able to isolate the the heater from the system

If the heater has shutoff valves at each end (somewhere along the heater pipe), one can shut the hot water supply and the hot water return valves (the water going to the heater, and the not so hot water coming out the heater). Then it requires cutting the old heater out, installing the new heater register, and sweating the new pipes/heater in place, followed by draining the trapped air in the new heater to allow it to fill with water from the boiler. This work is best done by a person who knows how (plumber/boiler technician, etc.).
serendipity01
Original Author
17 years ago
Ray,
Thanks for the advice. I think I'll see if we can replace the covers. If not, I'll hire a plumber to replace the whole thing - It sounds like a job better left to a pro.

Claire
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Saltidog, Dude, chill. I was respectfully saying you had a different opinion - not what your opinion was or that it had anything to do with the heating elements. You can disagree without being disagreeable. I do understand thermodynamics very well, thank you. There is no "trend" and no misrepresentation. Yes, the units have resistive elements as backup, for high demand situations, and when the ambient temperature gets low enough that enough heat can't be extracted using the heat pump (for geospring unit that's 45 degrees F) Saltidog, I don't know what you are getting your panties in a bunch about... yes, I understand your heater works well for you. I would expect that. It's installed in a basement that's at least 700 cubic feet of space. Because it's underground it will maintain a temperature of around 50 - 55 degrees or more if there are other heat sources in the basement. That's enough to allow the heat pump to work just fine. The water heater will work in almost all situations / applications where one would normally install a tank heater. It will even run on the heat pump in most situations. The question is when you have the water heater in a fully conditioned space (not basement) and that space is being heated. At that time, one is shifting the heating load of the water heater to the furnace - which may or may not be more cost effective. I think the water heaters are great - esp if they can work out the reliability problems (which I think are teething pains, not inherent problems). I stick by my assertion that there are three applications whereby they produce the most system efficiency / cost effectiveness.
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Oh wow thanks for the reply and that sounds doable! So when you say front cover, do you mean the small metal pieces on each front end? Our baseboard heater units have separate pieces attached to each end (like big metal caps sorta) as well as a long metal piece tucked inside the outer metal housing, spanning the entire length of each unit that can be "scrolled up" to be open for heat to come out or "scrolled down" to be shut to keep heat from escaping. Maybe all baseboard heating units are like this and I'm using a lot of words to describe what you already know. (Or I could've just added a photo instead lol) And once the screws are loosened, I should have enough "play" with the unit to reach behind while everything's still intact inside? (The piping and coils and all that.) Thanks so much for your help!
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jeff_nj
17 years ago
I have replaced virutally all my baseboard covers throughout the house. It is fairly straight forward. If the pipe is not leaking and the fins are in decent shape, there is no reason to replace the tubing and fins. try this route if you can, the end result is that they look brand new. HD sells both the covers separately and the complete set of covers and piping.

jeff

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