boelkers Posted October 16, 2015 Report Share Posted October 16, 2015 My wife and I bought a house about 2 months ago. The home has a 1 1/2 car detached garage that is not insulated. I had wanted to use that space for a shop, but the wife really wanted a place to park her car during the cold Minnesota winter. With that I convinced her to let me take over the two rooms in the basement since we want to remodel it down the road and we are not using it anyway. She agreed and now I have a large room for my shop that is about 30 ft by 15 ft and the other room that I think I'll use for finishing that is about 15 ft by 12 ft.The house is old and uses large hot water radiators for heating on the 1st and 2nd floor, but the basement was never originally heated. At one point, probably in the 70s, a previous home owner put in hot water baseboard heating in these rooms which is tied into the main boiler system. I'm not concerned about the longevity of these heaters as we will replace them when the basement is refinished, but should I be concerned about the sawdust that will inevitably settle on and in these heaters? Any insight is appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janello Posted October 16, 2015 Report Share Posted October 16, 2015 Average temp at the boiler is 180 degrees. It won't get near hot enough to be a source of ignition. Having said that, a pile of saw dust can ignite on it's own under the right conditions from internal heat. So sweeping it into a pile along the baseboard is probably not a good idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boelkers Posted October 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2015 I was thinking it would be best to sweep up and run the shop vac along the baseboard at the end of each day I work in the shop. I just know some of the dust will also get into the fins and I wasn't sure if that would be a cause for concern. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janello Posted October 16, 2015 Report Share Posted October 16, 2015 I've seen 1/2" of lint, hair gel, cookie crumbs, band aids, peanut butter, pencils and pens, and just about every other houshold item in those fins. None of it even looked burnt. They get hot, but not that hot. The saw dust clogging fins will only effect the heat they radiate into the room by blocking the effective surface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boelkers Posted October 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2015 Good point, when we moved in I removed the covers and vacuumed out the fins and there was a lot of junk in them without any burn marks. I guess I was just being a little overly concerned. Thanks for talking this through with me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janello Posted October 16, 2015 Report Share Posted October 16, 2015 No problem. Good luck with the new shop space! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted October 16, 2015 Report Share Posted October 16, 2015 Put some money toward good dust collection, and save yourself a lot of time bent over with a shop vac to clean the fins! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted October 29, 2015 Report Share Posted October 29, 2015 Now that the question was answered im hijacking.As a west coast guy, I've never heard of such a thing as running hot water through the house to heat. Is this like a reverse car radiator with a fan pushing air through with intention of heating the air instead of cooling the water? How do you keep kids from burning the heck out of themselves? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted October 29, 2015 Report Share Posted October 29, 2015 That's what we do in the UK. A pumped hot water system dedicated to central heating. It's been around since Adam was knee high to a grasshopper. The radiators radiate heat. There are no fans involved. There are thermostatic valves on each radiator so the temperature is warm enough to touch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgreenb Posted October 29, 2015 Report Share Posted October 29, 2015 Now that the question was answered im hijacking.As a west coast guy, I've never heard of such a thing as running hot water through the house to heat. Is this like a reverse car radiator with a fan pushing air through with intention of heating the air instead of cooling the water? How do you keep kids from burning the heck out of themselves? Hot water (either through baseboards or radiant heat) is one of the most popular ways of heating houses in my area (forced air being the other major one). Yes, it is kind of like a reverse car radiator. In a baseboard system, hot water flows through the pipes which have a ton of very thin metal fins attached to them which provide lots of surface area for heat exchange. The baseboards themselves don't get hot enough to burn someone. You'd have to reach all the way in to the unit and touch the pipe. Keeping kids from burning themselves: don't let them reach their hand in. If they're young enough that they truly won't listen to you and could really injure themselves, you should be supervising them anyway. Radiant heat isn't an issue because the hot water flows beneath the flooring.I'm sure there are advantages and disadvantages to baseboard vs. forced hot air, but one big advantage of the former is that it doesn't dry out the air as much. I can barely stand to be in a forced hot air house for more than an hour or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted October 29, 2015 Report Share Posted October 29, 2015 Interesting. Ya learn something new every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 29, 2015 Report Share Posted October 29, 2015 You have to plug your car in at night to keep it from freezing and now you tell us that you flush hot water thru your floors. The ladies must be awfully pretty up there to keep you guys from moving south 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted October 29, 2015 Report Share Posted October 29, 2015 You have to plug your car in at night to keep it from freezing and now you tell us that you flush hot water thru your floors. The ladies must be awfully pretty up there to keep you guys from moving souththat's about the only thing I can think of too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgreenb Posted October 30, 2015 Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 You have to plug your car in at night to keep it from freezing and now you tell us that you flush hot water thru your floors. The ladies must be awfully pretty up there to keep you guys from moving southIf I could convince my friends and family to come with me I'd move south in a heartbeat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 30, 2015 Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 Regardless of what you may have heard, your family is the only one that needs convincing, as friends and jobs are a plenty here! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisG-Canada Posted October 30, 2015 Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 I heat my house using forced air (natural gas burning) furnace - with humidifier for winter months - but also use radiant heating under my tile floors in the bathroom and entrance areas of my home. I love the radiant heat under the tile - feels good on the feet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CessnaPilotBarry Posted October 30, 2015 Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 I've had baseboard hot water heat in various places all my life. I even make pretty wood covers for the registers. I don't like forced hot air heat at all... Don't worry about dust. Just vacuum or blow the baseboards out when you can remember. They don't get THAT hot. Plenty of dust bunnies, dog or cat toys, etc... will probably also end up in and under the registers. FWIW, here in the Northeast USA, many nicer homes use the air ducts only for air conditioning, with separate systems for cooling and and heating. Hydronic heat is very even and comfortable, silent, without warm / cool breeze cycling, and don't have the need to humidify forced air heat. Lots of homes use forced air heat combined with the a/c system, as it's cheaper than discrete systems, but having both is the kitty's buns... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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