Hot Water Baseboard Heaters

Like electric baseboard heaters, water baseboard panels are located along the base of walls, but unlike them they use hot water, typically provided by a water heating boiler and driven into circulation by a pump.

Low operating costs

Hot water baseboard heaters have much lower operating costs than typical electric baseboard heaters. Efficient high condensing boilers (or solar water systems) may provide relatively cheap water to the system.

Hot water Baseboard heaters and solar energy

Hot water baseboards can't be connected directly to solar water heaters. See: Solar Water Heating and Baseboards.

Boilers and Hot Water Baseboard Heaters

The hot water used in baseboard heaters is often obtained from boilers, which can run on biomass fuel (pellet and wood) (a good environmental and economical choice) or on high efficiency condensing boilers (namely, combi boilers).

Note: electric boilers aren't a true economical alternative, except for small room heating cases.

Comfort

Hot Water Baseboard (HWB) heaters offer a high-prized comfort level, comparable to that of radiant heating. The flow of warm air is very constant, without the disadvantages of central air systems. Hot water baseboard heaters do not inject bad air or blasts of hot hair into the rooms.

Initial investment

The investment on HWB vary with the dimensions of the system. If you just want to heat an individual room, and if you have already a boiler or a system to provide the hot water, the investment is often in the hundred dollars range. But if you have a large building and you want to install a whole-house baseboard heating system, than costs may easily be above $5.000 …

Hot water baseboards versus heating

Hot water baseboard heaters don’t require tearing up the floor in existing homes, and whenever an under-floor installation is difficult they are a good alternative to radiant heating. Besides, they demand a much lower initial investment (often half that of radiant heating).

On the disadvantage side there is basically three features: baseboard heaters provide a more limited amount of heat; the quality of that heat, though high, is lower than that of the much prized radiant heating systems; the local baseboard panels - along the bottom of the walls - may be obstructive and collide with furniture or curtains.

Disadvantages

Water baseboard heaters demand time to heat… You must give the system time to raise the temperature to the level you want.

Baseboard heaters demand unobstructed rooms around them, which can cause difficult options in terms of room design and furniture placement.

Location and installation

See: Location and installation of electric baseboard heaters. The issues are similar.

Pay attention to the quality of the pipes, pump and panels of the baseboard heating system. Low quality pipes may easily develop leaks, deposits or freezing. And cheap panes and pumps may be a cause of diverse problems.