electric baseboard heat

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mdshunk

mdshunk

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electricalperson said:
sorry i misunderstood. so you multiply L x W x H of the room and thats the wattage you need for heat?
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Uh-huh. That'll get you in good shape for most of the US. You can't size baseboard heat that accurately anyhow due to it coming in 250 watt steps. You might end up a foot short for a room in Minnesota, and a foot long for that same room in Oklahoma, but you're going to be in good shape for most places using this rule of thumb. The real way is to do a room by room Manual J calculation, which is about as much fun as stabbing yourself in the eye.
 
electricalperson

electricalperson

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massachusetts
thank you guys i understand now.

example: room 20 x 20 x 10 = 4000 cu feet = 4000 watts of heat needed
4000/1200 = 3.33 = 4 1200 watt heaters required

i was just wondering because i had to install heat and the boss sized it and told me to install it
 
mdshunk

mdshunk

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electricalperson said:
thank you guys i understand now.

example: room 20 x 20 x 10 = 4000 cu feet = 4000 watts of heat needed
4000/1200 = 3.33 = 4 1200 watt heaters required

i was just wondering because i had to install heat and the boss sized it and told me to install it
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In your example, if I had a room that big, I might use a few sizes of heaters to put them under the windows. If there were 6 windows, I might use 6 3-footers to end up with the same net result. It's nice to wash the windows with heat. I have already had to use something like two 4-footers when one 8-footer would work, due to how furniture was going to be placed. Whatever adds to however many watts you want to get.

Baseboard heat is 250 watts per foot, with a couple weird exceptions:
The 2-footer is 400 watts
The 30" model is 500 watts
The 8-footer comes in both 2000 and 2500 watt
There is no such thing as a 7 footer, and nobody makes a 10 footer anymore now that you have the high-density 8 foot option.
 
electricalperson

electricalperson

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massachusetts
mdshunk said:
In your example, if I had a room that big, I might use a few sizes of heaters to put them under the windows. If there were 6 windows, I might use 6 3-footers to end up with the same net result. It's nice to wash the windows with heat. I have already had to use something like two 4-footers when one 8-footer would work, due to how furniture was going to be placed. Whatever adds to however many watts you want to get.

Baseboard heat is 250 watts per foot, with a couple weird exceptions:
The 2-footer is 400 watts
The 30" model is 500 watts
The 8-footer comes in both 2000 and 2500 watt
There is no such thing as a 7 footer, and nobody makes a 10 footer anymore now that you have the high-density 8 foot option.
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i installed 6 foot heaters today. they were around 1200 watts. i havnt really installed too much of this so thats why i didnt know how to size them. the most common kind i install is 8 foot and 4 foot.
the room was toasty warm when i was finished :)
 
mdshunk

mdshunk

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electricalperson said:
i installed 6 foot heaters today. they were around 1200 watts. i havnt really installed too much of this so thats why i didnt know how to size them. the most common kind i install is 8 foot and 4 foot.
the room was toasty warm when i was finished :)
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Yeah, the 6 footers are 1500 watts each. If you mostly install 4 foot and 8 foot, that makes me wonder if they weren't sized by someone's gut feeling. :cool:
 
electricalperson

electricalperson

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Location
massachusetts
mdshunk said:
Yeah, the 6 footers are 1500 watts each. If you mostly install 4 foot and 8 foot, that makes me wonder if they weren't sized by someone's gut feeling. :cool:
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its probably not exactly rocket science. if a little old lady has a small room she wants to heat up i would probably install more than whast the formula comes up with. they will say there freezing if its 80 degrees in the room
 
peter d

peter d

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New England
Speaking of electric baseboards, the hydronic (oil filled) ones are quite nice. I don't know if they are sized according to the same rules but they are a cut above the regular baseboards if you can upsell them.
 
stickboy1375

stickboy1375

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Litchfield, CT
peter d said:
Speaking of electric baseboards, the hydronic (oil filled) ones are quite nice. I don't know if they are sized according to the same rules but they are a cut above the regular baseboards if you can upsell them.
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Expensive, but nice if want electric baseboard heat. but then again, thats kind of why it gets installed to begin with, CHEAP.
 
peter d

peter d

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New England
stickboy1375 said:
Expensive, but nice if want electric baseboard heat. but then again, thats kind of why it gets installed to begin with, CHEAP.
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Yes, just did an apartment with all hydronics a few months back...very nice. :cool: Of course the windows all need to be replaced too, but that's another story.
 
mdshunk

mdshunk

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Right here.
peter d said:
Speaking of electric baseboards, the hydronic (oil filled) ones are quite nice. I don't know if they are sized according to the same rules but they are a cut above the regular baseboards if you can upsell them.
Click to expand...
Yeah, sized the same way. They just keep the heat a little more even since the oil is giving off residual heat after shutdown. Takes a bit to warm up again, so the heat is gradual. Use a Honeywell LineVolt Pro thermostat on regular baseboard heat and you've accomplished the exact same thing but in a different way.
 
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