electric baseboard heat

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electricalperson

Senior Member
Location
massachusetts
just use your imigation, your an electrician.

i can do anything with seperate parts. but sometimes i get worried if i dont follow the directions or wire in a different way than whats on the cover. i worry that ill blow it up and have to pay for it. so if i have a wiring diagram from taco or white rodgers that pretty much says i can do what i was thinking ill feel much better
 

knightm1

Member
Location
Winston-Salem,NC
You do need to do a J-manual calculation and find the heat loss in BTUs and then multiply BTU's times 3.413 this will give you the watts you need. I always add 25 % to allow for really cold days, even though the J manual doesn't call for it. I don't just like explaining to my customers that I am an idiot.
In the case of a new house I am sure the inspection dept will require a heating contractor be involved.
An old rule of thumb is 40 btu per square feet in an old house with less insulation and 20 BTU per square feet for a new house.
Thats about 6 watts per square feet in a new house or 12 watts per square feet for an old house.
This takes insulation and ceiling height into consideration as old houses had little insulation and high ceilings while most new houses have lower ceilings and morer insulation.
 

Antonio77

New member
Electric Heat with Arc Fault Breaker?

Electric Heat with Arc Fault Breaker?

I have a condo that has Aluminun wiring and all arc fault breakers that I need to check out. The problem is that the arc fault breaker keeps tripping on the first floor heat which is electric baseboard heat. The electrician that worked on the system before eliminated a baseboard to lower the load and added all arc fault breakers to the panel. Can arc fault breakers ever work properly when used on electric baseboard heat? I would appreciate any help with this. The owner told me the reason the whole house was changed to arc fault breakers was for insurance purposes due to the Aluminum wiring. Thanks in Advance
 

electricalperson

Senior Member
Location
massachusetts
I have a condo that has Aluminun wiring and all arc fault breakers that I need to check out. The problem is that the arc fault breaker keeps tripping on the first floor heat which is electric baseboard heat. The electrician that worked on the system before eliminated a baseboard to lower the load and added all arc fault breakers to the panel. Can arc fault breakers ever work properly when used on electric baseboard heat? I would appreciate any help with this. The owner told me the reason the whole house was changed to arc fault breakers was for insurance purposes due to the Aluminum wiring. Thanks in Advance
electric heat is just a resistive load and shouldnt cause arc faults to trip. loose connections or neutrals tied together should be looked for. you can megger the circuit feeding the heat and thermostat. megger phase to ground
 
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