[Blue '66]

Looking at buying a house built in 1955,very nice brick house.I noticed the house has Hot water baseboard heat.Is that good or bad?I know nothing about it,the heating unit looks like it is only 10 years old.Thanks in advance!

[indymanjoe]

I love my baseboard heat!no drafts,consistant warmth..3zones here.a zone is each area of the home you will heat when the t_stat calls for heat..take the time to remove the "covers"and vacuum ,blow out the debris from previous owners lack of maintenance..nice evenheat..

[67drake]

My 2 homes as a kid were hydronic,as well as the 1st house I bought. Much more efficient than forced air,especially if it is a newer unit. I WISH I had hydronic in my current home. If they ran lines under the basement floor,even better.
Drawback is that a new hydronic "furnace" I believe is double what a comparable forced air would run. Also many older homes with hydro heat don't have central A/C,too expensive for most people to run ducting just for the luxury of A/C.

[Blue '66]

Originally Posted by 67drake

My 2 homes as a kid were hydronic,as well as the 1st house I bought. Much more efficient than forced air,especially if it is a newer unit. I WISH I had hydronic in my current home. If they ran lines under the basement floor,even better.
Drawback is that a new hydronic "furnace" I believe is double what a comparable forced air would run. Also many older homes with hydro heat don't have central A/C,too expensive for most people to run ducting just for the luxury of A/C.

The house does have central air.I was thinking of converting to gas forced air in a couple of years using the central air ducting.

[Blue '66]

The only time I have had hot water heat when I was stationed in Germany in the mid 80s.We had the old style radiators and mine you could not shut off completely.I had to open the windows when I was in there!

Is it expensive?I would not think it would be very efficent?

[66Post]

Great heating system, over the years I had it in two houses, one natural gas fired and one oil fired (Long Island). Great even heat, in my opinion much better than forced air, BUT, no ducts for central air.

[gary bennett]

cast iron baseboard hot water is the best. radiators stay hot when furnace is off for a long time. i had two houses with it & i loved it.

[Blue '66]

I will snap a couple pics of unit tomorrow,they are inspecting the house then.

[Rapdron]

I have hot water baseboard heat in my shore house.
It's wonderful when we go there in the winter
Turn it up to 70, and 20 minutes later the house is toasty!
There is no sudden burst of warmth follower by a slow cooling off period like a forced hot air furnace, just a steady, warm heat.
I can't compare the cost of one to the other, but if I had to choose, it would be hot water baseboard heat any day.
Ron

[nashcar]

Hot water baseboard speaks quality. Most houses have forced air because it's cheaper to install and is also compatible with AC. Hot water baseboard is a more even heat. You will like it.

[Blue '66]

I'm happy to get the great responses,it just puzzles me why it is not more popular?

Does it cost more to use hot water BB vs forced air?

[67drake]

Originally Posted by Blue '66

I'm happy to get the great responses,it just puzzles me why it is not more popular?

Does it cost more to use hot water BB vs forced air?

Initial expense,and it can be more expensive to fix.
The BB SHOULD be a little more efficient to run.

[Sidponcho]

I have a boiler with 2 exchange units (radiators in a housing with fans and filters) (one in basement and one in attic). The boiler warms the water and circulates thru the radiators. Then a fan blows the warm air through insulated duct work. This is a great system because you alos install central air.

[daves57]

installed many wiel mclain boilers, mostly oil heat. good boiler older one but not bad, more efficient these days

[4dblnkldude]

Baseboard heat has the second best heating curve out there. The first one is in floor heating. Those old weil mclains are not as effcient as the new ones but they are very reliable. Not to much to break on them. If maintained good you'll probably get another 10 years or so out of it.

[Blue '66]

The current owners cranked up the heat for the inspection and it was great even warmth.It took a little time to get the temp up from the 48 degrees they keep it at but no big deal.

Thanks for the advise/comments!!

[67drake]

If you buy this house,I bet you'll love this set up.
Like I said I wish my current house had it.

[judgethis]

Ive got the heated floor in my garage and its wonderful. The heat source needs to be changed as its using a 30 gal electric water tank. But the warmth is awesome. I can open the garage door to pull the car in or out and then shut the door and it still feels warm. If I ever build a house ill have heated floors in it. Of course Ill probably never build my own house.

[Blue '66]

Originally Posted by 67drake

If you buy this house,I bet you'll love this set up.
Like I said I wish my current house had it.

We have not bought it yet but everything is the progressing along.

[blue goats]

Something also great about baseboard heat. Very little dusting tables ,tv's etc.My wife wishes we had in our new house . You don't miss it till you don't have it.
George