I have baseboard heat in my house. We have one baseboard that is frequently blocked by coats hanging on a coat rack. When this happens my wife is upset because she thinks that it will prevent the house from warming up effectively.
But this doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. With an unblocked baseboard the heat radiates off the baseboard fins into the air which is now warmed and the house is comfortable.
In the case of a baseboard blocked by coats wouldn’t I just have a situation where the baseboard warms a coat and then the heat dissipates from the coat into the air? There’s heat rubs no less frequently or intensely as the thermostat is in a different part of the room. So the same net amount of heat is being generated. It just has a detour before it gets into the air. No?
Thanks for explaining.
In: Physics
Baseboard heating works primarily by convection, meaning the process of heating the air creates the air circulation, albeit slow circulation. They’re designed with the fins not only to provide surface area for heating, but also to be a medium that air can pass around easily.
When you the coats are “covering” the radiator, do you mean just in the in over/in front of it, or actually on and around it? If they are just in front of it and not blocking it, the difference should be negligible. If they are actually covering the radiator, then you may notice it doesn’t work as well because hot coats can’t transmit energy (heat the air) as well as a very hot heating tube.
One more recommendation, very important, if your baseboard heaters are electric heaters, as opposed to hot water pipes, you shouldn’t have coats near them at all. Electric heating elements can get up to several hundred degrees, so they can be a legitimate fire hazard if you aren’t mindful.
Latest Answers