Old Radiators vs new baseboard

**rockycmt** · 12-03-2009, 08:34 AM

All,
I am redoing my house one room at a time. I am up to the bedrooms. They currently have 1960s cast iron recessed radiators. Should I replace these with modern baseboard? Which is better? I know which is heavier, ha...

Thanks for your thoughts.

**Dana** · 12-03-2009, 03:02 PM

Originally Posted by rockycmt

All,
I am redoing my house one room at a time. I am up to the bedrooms. They currently have 1960s cast iron recessed radiators. Should I replace these with modern baseboard? Which is better? I know which is heavier, ha...

Thanks for your thoughts.

This is more a question about comfort & cush-factor than efficiency. But assuming they're all properly sized, deliver the same BTUs/hr to the room...

Recessed cast iron RADIATORS vs. fin-tube baseboard, I'd go with the cast iron, hands down!

Recessed wall CONVECTORS vs. fin-tube baseboard, even-steven.

Cast iron recessed radiators vs. cast-iron baseboard RADIATORS (not fin-tube) the baseboard has a slight edge.

Recessed convectors vs. cast baseboard radiators, definintly the baseboard.

Basically, anything that delivers largest fraction of the heat via radiation rather than transferring it to the air to heat the humans will have a higher human-comfort factor (the sun on the face on a cold day feels better than just being surrounded by adequately warm air.) The more broadly/evenly the radiation is spread, the greater the cushy comfort zone.

Oversized low-temp panel radiators have been the standard in Europe for a couple or three decades now. This dovetails nicely with high efficiency condensing boilers as well. Any time you're reconfiguring the radiation in a place, it's good to think about designing it to deliver the design-day heat at sub 125F water if you can. More IS better, from both an efficiency and comfort POV. Even fin-tube baseboard can be run at condensing temps all the time if you just plain have enough of it. Designing it for 180F water like in the good old days will seem like dinosaur stuff 20 minutes into the future (if it doesn't already.) Even with bang-bang old skool cast iron boilers you get ~3% fuel savings for every 10F you reduce the temperature, and running it at 140F or less on design day is usually possible/desirable in gas-fired systems.

**patsfan78** · 12-04-2009, 06:39 AM

Depending on the type of radiator you have...I would always side with the radiator. Traditional fin type baseboard, in my opinion, is ugly and a poor waste of wall space. If the radiators are sized right, and they are in good condition id say keep em'. And if you don't want to keep the radiators I would explore other options other than the traditional fin style baseboard.