The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
First Aid For The Ailing Houses
Much of the so-called "radiant baseboard heating" in houses built by development contractors is not radiant at all, at least not more than an ordinary radiator in a standard hotwater system. One method of determining whether it is a radiant or a convection unit, which does not give the same results, is to check to see if there are openings at the bottom and top of the baseboard unit. These long slots are there so the cold air may pass in the bottom, rise over a finned pipe behind the panel, and then flow out the top slot into the room. If the unit is uncomfortably hot to touch when it is on, it is not a radiant unit.
The main troubles with radiant units are those of any hotwater system (see section on Hot-Water Heating). If the house is in a hard-water area, it is a good idea to install a water softener, if only to see that the boiler gets soft water.
The gradual accumulation of mineral deposits in the tubing will gradually clog the system, and not only reduce its efficiency, but may necessitate tearing up floors or other areas to get to the clogged pipe.
A thermostat for a radiant-heating unit should be mounted on a nonheated wall, preferably around the corner from a heating area. Otherwise, the radiant-heat waves will warm the thermostat before the air has a chance to reach the proper temperature.
HEAT PUMPS
The simplest method of describing the heat pump is to compare it to an air conditioner. The heated air is taken into the unit, is cooled and forced on into the house. The heat that has been removed is ejected outside. So an air conditioner is one form of heat pump. It literally pumps the heat out.
For heating, the system is reversed. Air is pulled into the unit, the heat is taken out and forced into the house, and the cold air is ejected outside. As you can see, this system works best when the air outside is warm—and then you don't need a heat pump. As the temperature drops, the heat pump has to work harder to get heat from this air. For this reason, such installations are usually found only in the warmer states in the South and in the Southwest.
One development of the heat pump has been to draw on the temperature of deep-well water. Here, instead of using the outside air as a source of heat, the well water, which may stay at about 45 degrees Fahrenheit at all times, is substituted.
