The $4K quote seems to be high for a 16 x 14 foot unfished room adjacent to the boiler room. Are you able to get additional quotes on your own?

Where are you located, how much below grade is the basement, and what is the typical temperature in the basement on a cold winter day? What fuel do you use for heating and what are its cost and your electric rate?

Basements which are mostly below ground have small heat loads. This mean it doesn't take many BTUs to keep the temperature at a comfortable level. The cost of heating with electric baseboard will be higher, but unlikely to justify the much higher installation cost.

Thanks, Mike; we may try to get another quote on our own, that's a good idea.

We're located in the upper midwest. Approximately 5 or 5.5 feet of the basement is below grade. On a cold winter day, temperature in the basement is maybe 40-45 degrees? Add or subtract 5 degrees? (I'm wishing I tracked this last winter.) (Edit followup: I just checked with my wife, and she says it's 50 degrees down there in the winter, no colder than that except perhaps on the occasional super frigid days.)

We use natural gas for heating. Energy rates keep going up, but at least at the moment, when I add up all the fees on my bill, electricity costs are $0.131/kWh, and natural gas is $.984/therm.

Perhaps that’s the sub-contractor’s ”I don’t want to do that PITA job” bid.

Your electric rate is lower and your gas rate is higher than most parts of the country. I am surprised to hear your basement is typically 50 degrees in the winter. Will you be adding insulation when you finish the basement? What are you doing for the floor covering? Will you be using the basement frequently or will there be times when you can lower the temperature and save some heating costs?

Yeah, on that 50 degrees thing: I think it depends on whether or not we leave open the door to the mechanical room, which we often do in the winter because we then get residual heat from the boiler. But it does stay reasonably temperate. It definitely doesn't go below freezing or anything like that.

The plan is not to add insulation when we finish the basement, because exterior insulation is already there under the siding. For the floor covering, it's concrete now, and we expect to put some kind of carpet on it.

We will not be using the basement super-frequently; it's intended as a TV and an exercise room that will be used as-needed. So we can definitely lower the temperature frequently and save heating costs. The challenge will be that if the room heats too slowly, no one will want to use it unless we keep it somewhat warm most of the time. So if there's a system we can pick that is more likely to heat it quicker, that might save us energy in the long run because we could do a better job of not keeping it warm in case we might want to use it.

You might install hydronic fan coil units for your basement, that way the heat up time would be much faster. Comfort level might be determined more by control and programming than by method of heating.

When considering electric baseboard heating, first verify that your electrical panel has enough capacity without an upgrade or else electric baseboards might cost even more than hydronics.

What water temperature does your existing hydronic system use?

Does your boiler have enough capacity for the basement and what type of piping configuration is presently used?

How old is the hydronic system, boiler and heat emitters?

IMPO

SR

@fsq4cw: interesting idea on hydronic fan coil units. I assume those most be dramatically more expensive than just baseboards?

Thanks also for the point on verifying that we have enough electrical capacity. I believe that we do, but it's important to check.

Water temperature is 180 degrees.

I believe that the boiler has capacity for the basement, but it's likely close. The lower level of our house does struggle to heat a little bit on the ultra frigid days.

Piping configuration: I don't know what that question means. What kinds of answers might make sense?

The boiler is about 20 years old, I believe. The rest of the system (baseboards, copper tubing, etc) varies dramatically. Some is as old as the house (150 years); some of it is only 10 years old. Other parts are in between.

OK, 180˚F water temperature, 20-yr old boiler, 150-yr old house already reveals quite a lot. You probably have a mix of everything from cast iron radiators to copper tube aluminum plate base board emitters.

Knowing how the piping from the boiler is configured will at least in part determine the water temperature that will reach the new basement emitters. If it’s a series configuration such that the basement emitters receive the hot water last before returning to the boiler, the water temperature will be at its lowest. If your system is piped that all emitters are in parallel, then they all get about the same water temperature whether the emitter is first or last.

Even if the water temperature has dropped because its a series piping that still can be OK if the new basement emitters (fan coils) are sized for a lower water temperature with the correct water flow rate emitting the designed amount of Btu.

I understand that financial resources might be limited. I would suggest consulting with a professional that is at the top of their hydronic game and understand all the various piping configurations not only for the basement Reno that you’re planning now but for future upgrades down the road as well.

One of the most important things to know is that regardless the source of hydronic water heating (electric, oil, gas) is that the lower the water temperature your system requires - the more money you will save and the more efficient the system will be. Water temperature matters; piping, pumps, zone valves and controls all matter.

The other thing to be aware of for the future is that air-to-water hydronic heat pumps are here, they are operationally the least expensive way to hydronically heat and cool, except for geothermal - if you can get you supply water temperature and system to function well down at about 120˚F and below. Hydronic heat pumps can also supply full capacity hot water in many cases. Future renovations involving air-to-water hydronic heat pumps could also supply full central hydronic cooling with zoning and dehumidification - without ever having to install any ductwork. This is a great option for heritage homes where you want to preserve the original look an d feel of the home as well as its heritage value.

The link below for reference, is to but 1-type of system, with every passing year they are coming on-line to market - fast !

Taco System M

IMPO

SR

Great guess on the cast iron radiators: yep, we've got both those and baseboards. And yes, every technician who visits our house tells us that's a problem because the radiators should have lower temp water than the baseboards, but it's all one system. Fixing all that is a massive expense.

Anyway, the house currently is piped for three parallel zones, each of which has its own valve and thermostat: one zone for our entire lower level, and two upper level zones. (Oh, but did I mention that one of the upstairs bedrooms is also on the lower level zone? Ah, old houses....) The plan for our unfinished basement would be to pipe a separate zone just for that room. Since it would be its own zone, and since the room is right next to the mechanical room, then the water would be coming into that room at highest temp, i.e. 180 degrees.

Thanks for the info on heat pumps: I'm sure that's very far in the future for us, but it's fun to think about.