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Plinth water radiator. Do-it-yourself installation work

Plinth heating radiators are a heating system of the 21st century. Is a water or electric heat exchanger better? Is it possible to install a plinth heating radiator with your own hands? Is it effective this species heating?

A warm baseboard is fundamentally different from a conventional battery that distributes heat directly into the air (infrared radiation). As a result, oxygen is burned and the air dries out. A warm baseboard heats the floor and walls, and they already give off radiant energy, heating the room. There is no convection. The radiant heating system is compared with furnace heating, which is considered the most correct for humans, plants, animals and for keeping antiques.

A warm plinth with its appearance does not look like an ordinary radiator either. Its height ranges from 12 to 18 cm, and its width is within 3 cm. It is installed along the perimeter of the room instead of the usual plinth, which is why it got its name. The closing profile can be of any color, texture and varying degrees of gloss. The installation of the electrical module is easy to do with your own hands.

There are water and electrical systems. Which is better? Homeowners will answer this question in different ways. Everyone has their own reasons. An electric module is easier to install in an apartment, which cannot be said about water radiators. But it will consume electricity, which is not acceptable for everyone. A fluid-based system requires more pressure than is supplied by district heating networks. An additional pump is required. And you have to work hard on the installation of pipes.

The main element of the plinth - the heating module - consists of 2 copper pipes, located parallel to each other and forming a contour. Brass plates-lamellas are tightly strung on the tubes. The heating structure closes decorative box. The body consists of t3 aluminum profiles:

wide, which covers the heating element;
top bar with brackets;
bottom bar.

You can do all the work on installing a warm baseboard with your own hands, and entrust its connection to specialists.

Plinth radiators have both positive and negative characteristics. Many aspects speak for installation new system heating:

fast and uniform heating of the room;
adjustable and economical heat;
does not dry the air;
radiant heating system can significantly reduce the amount of dust and microbes;
even suitable for heating winter garden and rooms with antiques, where it is important to maintain a special microclimate;
a thermal curtain is created on the cold bridges, so problems such as mold on the walls and condensation on the windows are completely eliminated;

A homeowner's decision to ditch a warm baseboard can be influenced by:

system cost;
unsuitable input parameters of water supply or electricity;
warm plinth cannot be forced with furniture;
water system installation apartment building sometimes difficult, since with a long circuit length (more than 15 m), a distribution manifold is needed to increase efficiency;
the plinth water requires increased water pressure in the system.

Plinth heaters are simply irreplaceable on glazed balconies and loggias. You will forever forget what condensation and damp corners are. The heating module is installed directly under the windows and creates thermal curtain. In rooms, a warm plinth is installed along the windows and walls that are in contact with the street.

Preparatory work for the installation of electric warm plinth

Installation of a warm baseboard requires the experience and qualifications of the installer, so it is not always possible to do it yourself. Preliminary calculations and preparation take more time than the installation itself. The contour length is determined thermotechnical calculation: the area and cubic capacity of the room, type and size are taken into account window openings, thermal conductivity of walls and other parameters. An individual calculation is made for each room.

The preparatory part of installing a water or electric warm baseboard looks the same:

According to the installation level of the plinth, attach the bottom bar to the floor with self-tapping screws or liquid nails.
Carefully glue the thermal insulation tape parallel to the bottom bar. The width of the tape must be wider than the heating module.
Install the upper parts of the corners on the upper edge strip.
Screw the brackets to the wall in 50 cm increments. Use self-tapping screws with countersunk heads.

Elements and accessories:

brackets of two types: 3 cm wide - installed at the joints of the profile in a line - and 2 cm wide - along the entire length of the plinth;
plastic wedges for tight fixation of the heating module in the brackets;
internal and external corners;
connecting pads;
left and right tips;
metal screws and plastic plugs;
heat-reflecting aluminum tape 64 mm;
heat-insulating tape 110 mm made of polyethylene foam;
heat shrink sleeves or electrical tape;
plastic boxes for contact groups;
tubular electric heater (TEN);
three-core cable with a heat-resistant braid;
terminals (flat, round), washers and nuts for electrical wiring;
The thermostat is suitable for both analog and digital.

Assembly and installation of the heating module

Before installation, it is necessary to measure the distance for their connection to each other and wiring. With a hacksaw for metal, we cut the module into the necessary parts. We remove the extra lamellas with pliers from the edge of the module.
We install a heating element (tubular electric heater) in the lower tube.
We lay a special (heat-resistant) connecting three-core cable into the upper tube. We cut the cable so that there are ends sufficient for electrical connections, about 15 cm.

Assembly of the electrical circuit.

We assemble a system for connecting to the mains. We use a single-phase electrical circuit with three wires: phase, ground, 0. The silicone cable has 3 wires with a cross section of 1.5 mm². Connection of shadows is carried out according to parallel circuit. Grounding and tip contact group we supply with a crimping collar (insulating tape). To connect to the wires, we attach terminals with PVC cuffs: a flat part is for grounding, and a round terminal is used for phase.
We install the heating module in the brackets. Then we insert a plastic wedge between the bracket and the module, which ensures rigid fixation of the heating module. We cut off the protruding part of the wedge with a mounting knife.
We connect the corresponding tena contacts to the phase and neutral wire using a lock washer and a nut with a thread diameter of m4.
We close the contacts with a sleeve, which we evenly heat with a hairdryer. This will ensure the tightness of the connections and electrical safety.

Installing the thermostat and connecting to the network

According to the installation method, thermostats are:

built-in, they are installed in a mounting box;
overhead, they are mounted on the wall.

The temperature sensor is a thermocouple that changes the resistance of the circuit when heated. Both wires are connected to the corresponding terminals of the thermostat. For correct readings sensors are installed at some distance from the existing baseboard or other heat sources. A network with a voltage of 220 W is connected to the appropriate terminals: the common designation L or F is for phase, N is zero.

All connections electrical wires supplied with heat shrink sleeves or insulated with tape. Connections between heating modules are closed plastic boxes.

The final installation of the electrical and fluid systems is carried out in the same way:

Tape the inside of the closing strip with heat-reflecting tape.
Fasten the bar: her upper part put on the hooks of the brackets and firmly snap the bottom part.
Install inner and outer corners if necessary.
Lastly, close the ends with tips.

Turn on the thermostat first before starting the system. After making sure that the baseboard heats up, consider the work completed. If you have basic electrician skills, then installing a warm plinth with your own hands is not difficult.

Invisible, efficient, comfortable heating. A very attractive combination of features. A warm floor immediately comes to mind for many. And rightly so. But this is not the only heating method that meets these characteristics. There is also a warm plinth. The system is easier to install, most of it is available for maintenance at any time. So a heating baseboard should also be considered as an option for invisible heating.

Warm skirting system: what is it

Heating baseboards or baseboard heating are not new in the field of heating. The idea was proposed at the beginning of the last century, but due to the complexity of implementation and high price, it was almost forgotten. With the development of technology, the complexity has become lower, but the price is still high. It is this, in the main, that deters potential users.

The main difference of this system is the non-standard form of heating devices and their unusual location. Heaters are long and low, located along the perimeter of the room at floor level. The heaters are covered with a long decorative strip that looks very much like a plinth. When installed, they replace the usual plinth. Therefore, such a system is very often called a "warm plinth". This system is very good at panoramic glazing- it can be no higher than the frames, so it is completely invisible. She's no worse than ordinary rooms- you can't see her at all.

Types of warm plinth

There are two types of warm plinth: electric and water. Electric warm plinth is different in that each heater is independent and can work separately. They can be installed in case of lack of power of the main heating - as an additional one, in case of cold weather. Installation is simple, but it works efficiently, is invisible, does not dry the air too much.

There is a water warm plinth. This is one of the subspecies of water heating, that is, all heating devices are connected into one system. It can be both main (only baseboard heaters) and additional view heating (together with or radiators).

Heating pad device

In any case, a warm plinth looks like this: these are two copper tubes, which are located at a distance of 7-15 cm from one another. To increase heat transfer, vertical plates of aluminum and brass are put on the tubes (they cost a little less, but the heat transfer is slightly lower) or copper (more expensive and warmer option). From above, the finned tubes are closed with decorative covers made of extruded aluminum. Aluminum was not chosen by chance - it transfers heat well. So the heated lid itself radiates heat.

There are air holes at the top and bottom of the lid. Cold is sucked in through the lower ones, heated comes out through the upper ones. So it turns out that heating comes from three sources:

Such a triple heat source contributes to the fact that the room heats up quickly, and the location of the heating elements around the perimeter contributes to uniform heating of the air throughout the volume.

Advantages and disadvantages of baseboard heating

What is the difference between heating using a warm baseboard? Warm air is taken from heating element up, along the wall, warming up the wall. As you move up, the air gradually cools down, then falls down, but not along the wall, but in the center of the room.

As a result, it turns out that the warmest air is at the bottom along the perimeter of the room. The warmest object - other than heaters - is the walls. Also, warmer air is located near the floor. Rising up, it cools down and at the level of the head it is a little colder. The difference is small 1-2 degrees, but it is this distribution of temperatures that is better for a person's well-being.

Uniform distribution of heat over the entire area and volume is one of the most important advantages

Heating with a warm baseboard is inertial. It is impossible to unequivocally attribute this property to advantages or disadvantages. There are both positive and negative points. Minus: until the walls warm up, the room is cool. Because such a system is good only for houses permanent residence and completely unsuitable for a summer residence. The positive point is that when heated, the walls work like a large stabilizer - they maintain the temperature at the same level, giving off the accumulated heat if necessary. Such big battery heat will help to hold out for a while even if the heating is turned off.

The advantages of heating systems with heating skirting boards include their efficiency. After the walls are heated, the boiler consumes a minimum of fuel - only to maintain the temperature. And such modes, as a rule, are more economical. But this applies to any inertial heating system, so this cannot be considered a special advantage of a warm baseboard.

Warm plinth assembly a little closer

There are skirting heating and undeniable advantages. The first is one of the few systems that provides uniform heating. Even the corners are always warm. The second is the most inconspicuous system that easily fits into any interior. With all this, heating devices are easily accessible, the system can be repaired at any time.

It has a warm baseboard and a clear drawback - a high price. This is due to the fact that copper and aluminum are used to increase heat transfer, and they cost a lot.

Types of heating skirting boards

The baseboard heating system can be of two types: with electric and water heaters. At the stage of installation harder system with warm water baseboards (collector or beam connection is required), but during operation it is more economical. Electric warm plinth is mounted quickly - you just need to fix the heaters to the wall, immediately after installation it is ready for use. But heating costs, like any electric heating, are high.

One of the most inconspicuous heating systems is a warm (heating) baseboard.

Heating device with water warm plinth

The system of water plinth heating differs only in the non-standard form of heating devices. The key components do not differ from the standard ones: you need a hot water boiler, a collector assembly and a pipe system with which a warm baseboard is connected.

There is also a combined warm plinth - with an electric heating element and pipes for the coolant

Note: optimal mode system operation - low temperature. On the supply 40-50°C, on the return about 5°C lower. Therefore, it is necessary to select a boiler or build a system based on this. If the boiler is gas, optimal choice- condensation. When installing any other, the system requires a heat accumulator and / or mixing unit- to reduce and stabilize the temperature.

Connection method

There are features in the choice of connection method. Serial connection of all baseboard heaters in the room is inefficient: until the coolant reaches the last ones in the heater branch, it will cool down greatly and they will remain cold almost all the time.

For a water heating skirting board, a beam system is used: devices are connected one at a time or in pairs. To do this, a collector node is built into the system, to which pipes are connected that go to heating appliances. The disadvantage of such a system is high flow pipes. After all, two pipes go to each device (or a small group) - for supply and return. The pipe consumption is much higher, but the heat distribution is more even and the system itself is more reliable. Why is it more reliable? If pipes or radiators in one group are damaged, all others work normally.

Mounting Features

When installing water plinth heating, pipes are usually hidden in the floor. Laying them along the walls will not work, as the place is occupied by heating appliances. That is, the installation of warm water baseboards is possible only at the repair stage - you will have to raise the floors.

Special polymer pipes are recommended to be laid in a screed - they are not subject to corrosion and have low heat transfer, that is, heat loss during transportation of the coolant will be small. But since the availability for repair of these systems is low, you need to take high-quality goods from well-known manufacturers, and this is not cheap.

Electric warm plinth

The electric warm plinth externally differs from the water one only in the presence of terminals for connecting the power supply. The rest is the same view. These are two tubes with aluminum/brass/copper plates fixed perpendicularly. A heating element is located in the lower tube - a heating element, wires for connection are laid in the upper tube.

It is much easier to install and connect an electric warm plinth. You just need to fix it, stretch the wires and connect them to the terminals. To maintain the set temperature, a thermostat is built into the system, which turns the heaters on and off. The use of thermostats is desirable, as it optimizes work - saves electricity.

Installation is really simple, but you need to connect an electric warm plinth to a dedicated line with a properly selected circuit breaker rating and copper single-core wires of the appropriate section. So in this case, repairs are also required - it is customary to lay the wiring in the wall, and for this you need to do it, that is, break the walls.

Installation of a water warm skirting board system

Installation of an electric warm plinth is very simple: we fix it on the wall. Everything, the system is ready for operation. It remains to plug in the sockets. The main thing is to be correctly calculated, standing. This is the main problem in the case of using an electric warm plinth. Water is much more difficult to mount. Everything must be assembled into a single system, and this is not easy.

Calculation of baseboard heating

A complete thermotechnical calculation of heating is a long and complicated matter. The size and geometry of the room, the material of the walls, floor, ceiling are taken into account, the degree of insulation of all structural elements, including windows and doors, is taken into account. In general, the calculation is quite difficult. Therefore, most often they take the average figure, which is derived from the analysis of many calculations.

It is believed that 100 W of thermal energy is needed to heat one square meter of a room with medium insulation. That is, to calculate the power of a warm baseboard, you need to multiply the area of \u200b\u200bthe room by 100. Get the required figure. That is how much (and preferably more by about 20-25%) should give in total all the elements of a warm baseboard.

For example, the area of the room is 18 square meters. For its heating, 1800 watts will be needed. Next, we look at how much heat is emitted by one meter of heating. A water heating skirting board can work in different modes, depending on the mode it emits a different amount of heat. The table above shows data for one of the systems. For example, let's take the heat output of one meter of warm plinth from this table (other manufacturers may have significant differences).

For example, the system will operate with a supply temperature of 50°C. Then one running meter produces 132 watts of heat. To heat this room, you will need 1800/132 = 13.6 m of warm plinth. When ordering, it is better to add a margin of 20-25%. This reserve is necessary so that the system does not work all the time at the limit. This time. And also in case of abnormal cold weather. This is two. So, with a margin we take 17 meters.

Once again, we draw your attention: these are average data for some average house. And here even the height of the ceilings is not taken into account. It is again taken as an average - 2.5 meters. If you have better insulation, you will need less heat; if worse than "average" - more. In general, this method gives only approximate calculations.

How to act

The first thing to do is to draw a plan on which to indicate the length of each heater, the length of the connecting tubes. After all, the length of a warm baseboard is not always equal to the perimeter of the room. In this case, the segments of heating devices are interconnected by copper or polymer pipes. It is undesirable to use steel, as they chemically interact with copper (it is gradually destroyed).

Preparation for installation takes place long before its actual start. At the very beginning of the repair, even before the leveling of the floor, from the boiler or collector node pipes stretch to the connection point of the warm plinth. Pipes are laid, tested for integrity, filled with a screed in a filled state under pressure (working pressure in a private house is 2-3 atm, in a multi-storey building you need to find out in the housing office). Then all are carried out repair work and only after finishing the walls and floor, the installation of a warm plinth begins. Here is its order:

Actually, the installation of warm baseboards is not too complicated. But the tightness of the joints is important and special attention must be paid to this.

In this article: the origins of baseboard heating; installation of a baseboard heating system; water and electric baseboard radiators; the principle of operation of baseboard heating; why only copper and aluminum are used in the design of skirting radiators; pros and cons of baseboard heating.

With the onset of autumn colds and until mid-spring, we are forced to additionally heat our bodies, despite the properly functioning heaters. How is it, because the radiators of the heating system and electric heaters warm to the fullest, but your feet are still cold? It's all about air convection - the warmest air, which receives heat from radiators and heaters, rises to the ceiling, and the cold one is always near the floor. Solving the problem of heating and freezing feet is within the power of the “warm plinth” system, and in fact it is not its radiators that heat the premises, but radiant heat emanating from the walls heated by them.

The history of baseboard heating

No doubt the founder this method heating can be considered a Russian heating engineer, professor Vyacheslav Avgustovich Yakhimovich. At the beginning of the last century, he developed and patented a steam-concrete heating system - pipes through which hot steam and, in some cases, water was channeled through and along walls, covered over with gypsum, concrete, or wood paneling. Steam-concrete heating of Yakhimovich had a number of advantages over water heating, which was gaining popularity in those days. natural circulation- heat was transferred from the coolant to the gypsum or concrete finishing layer, and these materials retained it well and gave it to the premises in the form of radiant heat long time which allowed to cope with frequent failures in work heating systems. Disadvantages of steam concrete heating, namely the need overhaul walls in case of any leakage of heating pipes, complex installation pipe systems, requiring many days of work with stucco and high heat losses of the buildings themselves prevented its spread in Russia. Meanwhile, in Europe, panel or radiant heating, based on the developments of Jachymovic, enjoyed high popularity in the 20th century.

However, in the USSR there were still similar heating systems - heating steel or cast iron pipes they were laid along the walls along the line of the plinth, covered with concrete on top, from which the plinth was formed. Such plinth heating in the middle of the last century was used in children's and medical institutions of the Soviet Union.

In Europe skirting systems heating have been further developed - hollow panels were developed in the form of a classic plinth, covering heating pipes equipped with vertical fins along the entire length. The ribs made it possible to increase the heat transfer of skirting radiators by more than 60% compared to flat and round heating panels without fins.

How the baseboard heating system works

Baseboard heating is divided into water and electric. The main components of a water cooled system are a warm baseboard radiator block, a distribution manifold and oxygen-tight plastic pipes placed inside a corrugated XLPE pipe.

The radiator block consists of a heat exchanger and an aluminum box. The heat exchanger is made of two copper tubes, the outer diameter of which is 13 mm, the wall thickness is 2 mm, with vertical aluminum or brass lamellas fixed to them. The aluminum box consists of three planks profiled by hot extrusion - plank bottom mount, top and front cover. Box width - 28 mm, height - 140 mm. The heat exchanger is mounted inside the box using holders of a special design.

The distribution manifold consists of two steel tubes parallel to each other, equipped with outlets, inlets, air vents, cut-off and drain thermal valves - the upper tube is designed to connect to the coolant supply source and its further wiring through plastic tubes to heating radiators, the cooled coolant is returned through the lower one to the heating boiler or, in the case of central heating, to the return line.

When building plinth heating, a plastic tube, through which the coolant is delivered to and removed from heating radiators, is placed in a corrugated pipe. Since part of the heating circuit will have to be laid in the floor and passed through the walls, the external corrugated tube will allow replacing the internal one without opening the floor - by simply removing the last one from the corrugated channel and inserting a new PEX tube into it. However, the complete absence of air inside the baseboard heating system and the immunity of plastic tubes to the salts contained in the water will allow it to function trouble-free for a long time.

The highest temperature of water or antifreeze used in the baseboard heating system as a heat carrier should not exceed 85 ° C, the operating pressure should not exceed 3 atmospheres, otherwise the cross-linked plastic tubes will lose strength. Since the water temperature in the central heating system can be more than 85 ° C, and the operating pressure can exceed 9 atmospheres (when testing the heating system with water hammer), it is required to take additional measures. Instead of plastic pipes, you can use metal-plastic or copper pipes connected to each other by soldering, as an option - use a heat exchanger, embedding it as a receiver of thermal energy from the central heating network, transferring it to the heat carrier of the plinth heating system through copper plates. The latter measure is especially effective, because it allows you to maintain high performance characteristics baseboard heating and completely secure it from the temperature and hydraulic effects of central heating.

When installing a baseboard heating system, it may be necessary to equip it additional equipment, such as: thermomechanical or thermoelectric thermostats for each group of heating radiators, a servo drive on the distribution manifold, a circulation pump, a pressure gauge and a thermometer at the coolant inlet to the manifold.

Electric baseboard heating is built on radiator blocks with an air heating element built into them, i.e. its installation is much easier than systems with a liquid heat carrier. Appearance electric plinth radiators are completely identical to liquid ones, the difference is in the absence of coolant supply pipes, the heating element is built into the lower copper tube of the radiator, and the power cable in heat-resistant silicone insulation is laid in the upper one. The power of the heating elements is 200 W per linear meter, the power source for them is the usual household power supply. Despite the high level of moisture protection, electric baseboard radiators are not intended for installation in rooms with high humidity air.

Plinth heating radiators are not able to warm the atmosphere of the room by air convection, because they are located close to the planes of the walls and the air convective flow emanating from them is affected by the Coanda effect.

The strange behavior of a jet of hot air from a lit candle - its desire for any nearby surface - was also noted by the English physicist Thomas Young, who mentioned this in a report that he delivered at the Royal Society of London in 1800.

A detailed study of the "sticking" effect air flow the Romanian scientist Henry Coanda, one of the first researchers in aerodynamics, who accidentally discovered it at the beginning of the 20th century, led to nearby surfaces. While experimenting with a jet turbine designed by him, Coanda discovered the same physical effect, as Jung did 100 years ago - the flow of fluid from a working turbine rushed to the wall located to the side of it, and seemed to stick to its surface. After conducting additional experiments, the scientist found that the air flow behaves in exactly the same way. In 1934, Henry Coanda named the effect he discovered in his honor, explaining it as follows - a zone of low pressure forms near the surfaces, caused by their impermeability and free access of air from only one side. At the same time, a covering air flow spreads over a large area, developing only along the enclosing surface.

Radiators of the warm plinth system are installed along the outer (one side facing outside the building) walls. The box formed by aluminum slats has two horizontal slots along its entire length - one is located near the floor, in the front panel, the second is located in the upper part, closer to the wall. Cold air penetrates inside the box, heats up and rises, as in the operation of any heating equipment, the principle of heating of which is based on air convection, however, in this case, the air flow obeys the Coanda effect and spreads only along the surface of the wall. As a result, heat from the air is transferred not to the air atmosphere of the room, but to the structural material of the wall, which, like infrared heaters, radiates uniform heat in the form of infrared rays as it heats up.

Since the space is not heated by convection, there is no need for high heating of the coolant - in the design of radiators, it is only necessary to use materials with a high thermal conductivity. This explains the use of copper and aluminum, the thermal conductivity of which is, respectively, 390 and 236 W/m·K. For example, for iron, this coefficient is only 92 W / m K, and for metal-plastic 0.43 W / m K, i.e. copper and aluminum are the most suitable materials for baseboard radiators.

The maximum temperature of the aluminum box of the warm baseboard during the operation of this heating system will be no more than 40 ° C, and the surface of the wall near which the radiator is installed will warm up no higher than 37 ° C - you won’t be able to burn yourself about them with all your desire.

Characteristics of baseboard heating - pros and cons

Positive properties of a heating system based on baseboard radiators:

lack of convection air movement, accompanied by dust weighing;
positively perceived human body infrared heat;
uniform distribution of heat throughout the room, only opaque objects in the room are exposed to IR heating;
warm air does not accumulate near the ceiling, which usually happens with convection heating. The same temperature is set throughout the air volume of the room;
the surfaces enclosing the room have a temperature acceptable to humans, i.e. they do not steal heat from human bodies;
the problem of moisture deposition on the surfaces of walls and ceilings is completely solved - they will always be dry, which means that neither mold nor the backlog of finishing materials threatens them anymore;
work on the installation of the baseboard heating system is carried out quickly, regardless of the age of the building. Plinth radiators, although they are somewhat larger than a wooden plinth, do not catch the eye as clearly as cast iron or bimetallic ones, usually installed under window hole;
the absence of a need for a high temperature of the coolant can significantly reduce the fuel consumption spent on heating it - the savings will be about 30-40% compared to the needs of classical heating systems. In addition, fuel savings are achieved by lowering the air temperature in the premises - if the walls are heated to +22 °С, then the comfortable air temperature will be +16 °С, compared to +20 °С air and walls with a temperature of +18 °С, pulling heat from household members;
high maintainability of the system elements, which eliminates the need for dismantling finishing coatings in case of need for repair;
equipped with thermostats allows you to adjust optimal temperature in every room equipped baseboard radiators, separately.

It should be noted that the baseboard heating system can also be used to cool rooms if it is filled with a cold liquid carrier - the Coanda effect will work in this case too, only with less efficiency. When using the system for cooling, it is important to maintain the temperature of the liquid in the system at a level exceeding the dew point under given conditions (depending on the humidity of the air and its temperature), otherwise condensation will form on the surfaces of the circuit, which must be drained somewhere.

The disadvantages of the system include:

high cost - about 3000 rubles. per meter of the heating system with its installation. However, this price is explained by expensive materials that are essential in baseboard heating;
installation of the system is carried out only by professionals who have the appropriate certificates from the manufacturers of skirting heating systems. An amateur approach to installation will not allow achieving the necessary thermal and physical characteristics, significantly reducing the service life;
the maximum length of one heating circuit should not exceed 15 linear meters - one of the reasons why the system in without fail equipped with a distribution manifold. With a longer circuit length, the heating efficiency decreases markedly;
installation of various decorative overlays on the radiator box is not allowed, since they reduce heat transfer;
a tighter fit of skirting radiators to the wall surface, which allows full use of the Coanda effect, eventually leads to warpage of the film finish of the walls;
it is required to keep the room heated by baseboard radiators as free as possible, without obstructing the surfaces of baseboards and walls with cabinet furniture, as this prevents convection and infrared radiation, distorting the air flow and absorbing infrared heat emitted by the walls.

In the last century, baseboard heating, as well as radiant heating in general, was not very popular due to the high heat losses of the structural materials of buildings - it was easier to heat the air in a convection way, which made it possible to quickly compensate for heat losses, despite the obvious disadvantages of such heating. By the way, it was for this reason that heating radiators were installed under the window openings - the cold penetrated especially quickly through the cracks in the frames and the glazing area.

Today, there are construction and Decoration Materials for facades, which can significantly reduce heat loss through building envelopes, and modern window frames, equipped with heat-retaining double-glazed windows, do not let air in at all. All this allows us to move away from classic convection heating systems to more efficient radiant heating, while significantly improving the quality of living in our houses and apartments. In the very coming years, heating pipes and radiators, common for systems with forced and natural (gravitational) circulation of the coolant, will disappear from our homes - they will be replaced by more advanced heating equipment.

Warm plinth system

Imagine an ordinary heating radiator in miniature, and stretched around the entire perimeter of the room. This is how you can describe in simple terms the design of a warm baseboard. Only the most heat-conducting materials are used for the production of this radiator - aluminum and copper. The heating element is a set of aluminum or copper plates attached to pipes with a heat carrier or a heating cable. Accordingly, the plinth heating system is of two types:

water;
electric.

The heater is attached to the rear aluminum plate, which, in turn, is attached to the wall of the room just above the floor. From above, the heat exchanger is closed with a front aluminum plate, so that in general the whole system resembles a plinth, only of a larger size. At the bottom and top assembled module slots for air circulation are provided. The cold flow, entering through the lower slot into the housing, passes between the heater plates, after which it goes out through the upper slot, as shown in the figure:

The principle of space heating is explained by the manufacturers of baseboard heaters in the following way. The heated air, leaving the warm baseboard and obeying the Coanda effect, spreads vertically along the wall, thereby heating it.

In turn, the wall evenly heats the room with infrared heat over the entire height, as shown in the diagram in comparison with traditional radiator heating. on the same principle.

Water radiators cannot be connected in series around the entire perimeter, while the coolant has gone all the way, it will cool down significantly. Therefore, the heaters are switched on in series in pairs, and the leads are connected to them in a radial (collector) way, laid under the floors. FROM electric cable the situation is simpler, it can be connected to the network at 1-2 points.

Manufacturers and sellers offering skirting water heating declare the heat output of those and other products at the level of 200 W per 1 running meter. Only in the case of water systems, the temperature of the coolant for such heat transfer should be 65 ºС. The surface temperature of the front panel is safe - only 40 ºС. The connection of the heat exchangers to each other and to the distribution manifold is carried out by polymer pipes supplied in the kit.

Advantages and disadvantages: truth and fiction

Since some of the advantages of these systems declared by the manufacturer are a marketing ploy, we will list them with our reasoned comments:

Thermal plinths heat the room with healthy infrared heat coming from the walls.

Judging by the data presented, the wall is heated by the flow of air passing through the heat exchangers, which are real skirting convectors. Wall temperature in different points is 26-30 ºС, and with such heating, the radiant component is negligible, this requires a higher surface temperature. This means that the room simply warms up evenly from the flows warm air, ascending along all walls, as well as from radiators.

Skirting heating is efficient and economical due to the low temperature of the coolant.

The statement about efficiency is contradictory from the point of view of logic. Between the heater and the room, according to the manufacturer, there is an intermediary - the wall. Is it possible to increase the efficiency of the system by adding an intermediary to it? Since it is known from practice that baseboard-type heating can quite successfully heat a house, the conclusion suggests itself that there is no intermediary in the form of a wall. Convectors above the floor simply heat the air, as mentioned in the previous paragraph.

If the declared heat transfer indicators are correct, then the statement about efficiency is true. A simple example: a 4 x 5 m room with an area of 20 m2 and a perimeter of 18 m requires 2 kW of thermal energy. 17 m of thermal plinth will give 17 x 200 = 3400 W or 3.4 kW (we subtracted the width of the doorway from the perimeter). Heat is released one and a half times more than required, which means that the temperature of the coolant can be reduced from 65 ºС to 40 ºС, and this is savings.

No mold and dampness.

The presence of fungi in the house depends to a greater extent on the supply and exhaust ventilation, and not on heating. The assertion is incorrect.

The system warms up the lower zone of the room well, as well as underfloor heating.

The statement is true, aluminum boxes radiate infrared heat to the legs, which is very comfortable for people.

It fits perfectly into any interior.

Indeed, the plinth box for heating pipes looks great in a room for any purpose. The only caveat is that cabinet furniture interferes, it will not be possible to go around it. We will not discuss one more statement about the absence of dust sublimated by convective air movement from traditional heating systems, because this system also convective. But in general this the new kind heating deserves attention, because it meets the highest requirements for interior design and takes up absolutely no space.

One trouble, it is also the only drawback, is the significant cost of thermal and distribution equipment as well as its installation. It should be noted that plinth wiring of heating pipes is almost the most expensive of all existing water systems.

Another indisputable advantage of baseboard heating is quick installation, but only if there are ready-made connections. As we already wrote, eyeliners are laid in the floor or can come out of the walls of neighboring rooms. But even at the stage of purchasing equipment, it is necessary to demand from sales representatives to carefully select heaters in terms of power and correctly distribute them along the perimeter of the room.

When the plinth wiring of the heating system is completed and the ends of the pipes (or electrical wires) are brought out at the required points, then you just need to install and connect the heat exchangers. To do this, first markup is performed, and then the installation of the rear panel or decorative corners(depending on design). Between the wall and the heater body it is necessary to lay a layer of thermal insulation, it is glued in accordance with the photo.

The next step is the installation of brackets for fixing plate convectors, which is done with ordinary dowels. The distance between the brackets will not be uniform, it must be adjusted to fit each heat exchanger.

Next, the installation of convectors and their connection to water or electrical networks. It is important here not to bend the pipes, connect everything carefully using sets of connecting parts. Pairs of heat exchangers are joined together directly with the help of couplings.

The last stage of do-it-yourself installation is the fastening of the front panels. It is carried out with self-tapping screws, previously on inner surface panels are glued with heat-reflecting foil, as shown in the photo:

Conclusion

This is not to say that baseboard heating is available to a wide range of homeowners. The cost of copper heating elements and other parts of the system is too high. On the other hand, it is economical and efficient, and most importantly, it perfectly harmonizes with the interior.

But there are also plinth wiring systems for hiding pipes, and for batteries - decorative screens. That is, the problems of the interior can be solved with the installation of traditional heating, which will be much cheaper.

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