Hot water baseboard questions

[zmt-ohio]

Our house is a mess when it comes to the heating system. Years ago, before we bought it, someone removed the zones so its all regulated by one thermostat. Our problem is the family room which is absolutely frigid in the winter.
I've had three different companies out and they all tell me something different. Our laundry room/mud room were added on behind the family room and there are cupboards on all of the walls so no place to put baseboards - so basically no heat in these rooms. Some but very little heat in crawl area under this space. Not a lot of room to put in radiant floor heat due to crawl access.

One says that our finboards are too close to the carpet so not enough air gets under them. Need to replace all and add 5 more feet.

Next one says finboards look ok distance from the floor but take off the covers, if it warms up then we know that they are too close (covers off made no difference).

One says the supply pipes are 1/2 inch when they should be 3/4 inch. Need to replace supply lines. Says part of the problem is that this room is at the end of the run so the water is cold by the time it gets there.

Would putting zones back in have any effect on this?

My guess is that most people in NW ohio heat with gas forced air....not a lot of boiler/baseboard advertising going on here.

I don't mind paying to have something fixed if its the right way to go but with all of these different opinions, I'm sort of lost as to who to believe. What sounds like most reasonable way to go? Thanks.

[simpleman]

I would say the guy who claims it on the end of the loop and
that the water temp are to low,is the guy you want to keep talking to.

The proper way to do it would be to do a heatloss and check the emitter to the heat loss of the room.
Then you would want to have him check the loop in general and see how much baseboard is on this loop.

Without seeing the job,I would rip out the baseboard and install panel rads on a homerun distribution system.
Now you're talking comfort and control.

[Freezeking2000]

I believe you could add some small kick heaters under the cabinets since you have a crawl area and put them on a seperate zone.

[johnsp]

The one large zone seems to be your problem. 1/2" piping will limit the size of the heating loop. If the crawl will not be accessable, you might want to see if a fan coil could be mounted somewhere (A radiator with a blower fan on it). Or if you have attic space, an air handler with a hot water coil in it could create a warm air zone for you. Many options with hydronic heat, but yes you have to find someone knowledgable.

[jdenyer]

1/2 inch pipe will only carry so many btu's/hr. 3/4 inch pipe is much more suited for longer runs that have a lot of radiation. The house probably heated fine when it was split into different zones, as most of the time only one or two zones call at a time. Without any zoning you are probably radiating more heat at any given time than your supply pipes can carry. By the time the water gets near the end of the loop it has cooled so much that there is little if any heat left. A test can be done by measuring the temperature of the supply line at the boiler, and measuring the temp of the return line at the boiler. There should not be anymore than a 20 degree difference, this test must be done with the t-stat calling for heat and the circ pump pumping water. If you measure 180*F at the supply you should not see anything less than 160*F at the return. You can "upsize" the circulator pump in an effort to increase flow and maintain that 20*F split, but upsizing the pump will likely create velocity noise and cause premature failure of the copper pipe. If the temp split is too great you will have cold water returning to the boiler, this can drastically reduce the life of your boiler. If you can measure the temp split between the supply and return. Next measure the length of your baseboard strips all through the house, add up the lengths. Is 1/2 inch pipe being used all throughout the system? It maybe possible to have a company come in and rezone it. However made it into one zone was not too smart, multiple zones offer comfort and energy savings. Finally post some pics of the boiler and the associated piping to it. Hope this helps.

[TheDuke]

IF ITS ON A CRAWL DID ANYONE GO IN TO CHECK TO SEE THE PIPES WERE INSOLATED AND THE CRAWL IS CLOSED UP TIGHT FOR THE WINTER.
also what is the boiler set at you can crank it up or have a tech come out see that it is set right for the area you are in.
you have what is called a aquastat have a tech see if it is set correctly.
to high is no good and to low is not good
also should have zone valve put in again save u on your monthly bill
also have em do a efficeincy test on it clean up burners etc.