Hot Water Baseboard vs. Steel Panel Radiators cost analysis
I am having a modular house built and the heating contractor has given me the option of using hydronic baseboard heating or hydronic, European style steel panel radiators made by Radson. He has clearly explained the advantages of the wall radiators in terms of efficiency when using a condensing boiler but the cost difference is $8000. I am trying to determine whether the advantages are worth the cost difference. There is no way we can tell you if the advantages are worth the cost differences with out. Heatloss of house. Sizing of the steel rads (ie design water temp) Your location. Need approximate bin data for your area. The one advantage to the steel rads is thermal mass, and that creates a more even comfortable home. Finned BB can lose effectiveness once they start getting blocked with dust. Since they operate at a higher temp and heat the air, not radiant and convetion as do panel rads you tend to feel them more. There is a new line of BB that will operate at very low temps, like 90 to 100 degrees. They will also be expensive too. Thanks for your response. I have some of the data that you have mentioned. In terms of heat loss, the total BTUH (I believe this is annually) is 65,239.68 based on 8500 heating degree days and a 90 degree heat design difference. The design water temp per the contractor is 120-130 degrees. I live in northern New England (Hanover, NH). I researched Bin data on the internet and am having some difficulty with the concept and cannot find data on my location. However, I guess I am also interested in anyone's generic thoughts on whether the increased cost is worth the advantage of steel panel radiators (i.e. whether the difference in comfort, efficiency, etc is only slight or large). The heating contractor is very pro radiators. 65k BTU/hr is the design day heat loss per hour. Design day in Hanover is probably around -5 to -9 F. Seems pretty lossy for new construction. How many square feet? Water temps in the 120-130 F range will allow productive condensing from a condensing boiler. If properly controlled and zoned, it should work well. As TO mentioned, there's no way we can know what premium you place on comfort. The rads provide comfortable, even radiant heat. Fin-tube is principally convection. However, a well-controlled fin-tube system using constant circulation is pretty darn good too. If you can oversize the baseboard (by length or output per foot) and still use condensing temperatures for all but the most extreme conditions, that might be a good compromise. But it's your call.
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