Home heating is extremely important, especially during cold New England winters. Nobody wants to go without heat because of a mechanical malfunction in the middle of the winter. It always pays to make sure your home heating system is working properly before the winter months arrive.
Baseboard heaters are one of the most common heating options in New England homes. Baseboard heaters are efficient, effective, unobtrusive, and can fit in just about any home. If your home uses baseboard heat, it is useful to know how baseboard heaters work. This makes it easier to take care of your home heating system, and identify problems as soon as they arise.
How Baseboard Heaters Work
Baseboard heaters are a great option for home heat because they are highly efficient. Individual baseboard heaters are usually dispersed throughout the home in separate rooms. Each unit is controlled separately and only heats its designated space. This is a great advantage in homes that don’t need every room heated evenly.
As for central heating systems, they’re usually built to warm the entire house at a consistent temperature. But what if you’re only using one or two rooms in the home? In these cases, you will end up paying a lot more to heat rooms that don’t need to be heated. This can also overburden your home heating system, and ultimately will cause more wear and tear. But with baseboard heaters, you can control the heat in every zone of your home based on your preferences. As for the mechanics behind baseboard heaters, those depend on which type of heater you use.
Electric Baseboard Heaters
Electric baseboard heaters are common in many homes and apartment units. Electric baseboards are perfect for providing heat in confined spaces.
As the name suggests, electric baseboard heaters work via an electric current and a thermostat. Each unit is connected to a thermostat that’s usually located on the wall near the unit itself. The thermostat reads the temperature in the room and controls how much heat your baseboards provide.
As the electric baseboard heater gets to work, an electrical current is sent through the baseboard’s heating element. Fins inside the baseboard then disperse the warm air throughout the room until the set temperature is reached.
While electric baseboard heaters are great for heating individual rooms, they are less effective at heating entire homes. This is not a problem for some families, but in other cases, it’s not ideal. If you’re looking for a home heating option that can heat the entire house, there is another type of baseboard heater for you.
Hot Water Baseboard Heaters
Hot water baseboard heaters are similar to electric baseboard heaters. They both use convection heat to disperse hot air through your home. And, of course, they are both discreet heating options that take up very little space.
However, hot water baseboard heaters are generally used to heat the entire home, rather than individual zones. This is because hot water baseboard heaters are connected to a boiler inside the home. The boiler generates heat by boiling water, which is then filtered through pipes throughout the home.
Hot water heat is more cost-efficient than electric heat because it requires less energy. However, not every home is suited for hot water baseboard heaters. If your home is not already equipped with a boiler, for instance, the installation process can be time-consuming.