Baseboard heaters offer a convenient heating alternative to traditional forced-air furnace systems. Whereas forced-air heaters warm air and push it through a duct system to different rooms in the home, baseboard heaters use electricity, steam or hot water underneath the floors to heat living areas from the ground up. If your home is built on a slab foundation, this construction will determine the type of baseboard heating system that is right for your home.
Types of Baseboard Heaters
There are several types of baseboard heating systems available to consumers. Radiant-air floor heaters use hot air to heat a room but are almost never cost-effective for a residential installation since they need to be run constantly and at a high temperature to deliver sufficient heat output. More common in homes are electric and hydronic baseboard heating systems; the former uses electricity to generate heat while the latter connects to a boiler and directs hot water and steam through the floors. If your home has a concrete slab, the thermal resistance of the concrete plays an important role in which type to choose. In most cases, hydronic baseboard heating is the most cost-effective since very little thermal energy will be lost traveling from the concrete slab to the floor.
Installation Methods
Where a concrete slab really plays an important role is in the type of installation method you choose for your baseboard heating system. Homes with concrete slab floors or with a layer of lightweight concrete over a wooden subfloor typically use a "wet" installation, whereby the cables and tubing needed for an electric baseboard heating system are embedded in the concrete slab itself or in a thin layer of concrete, gypsum or other material installed on top of the subfloor. This installation method is always the most cost-effective in the long term for homes that use slabs because it takes advantage of the large thermal mass of a concrete slab.
System Design
Another choice you will be faced with, when installing a baseboard heating system, is the design of the system itself. Some baseboard heating systems use a central thermostat to maintain a single temperature throughout the home while others allow users to set a specific temperature for each room in the home. The latter type of system involves the installation of zoning valves, pumps and other equipment, in addition to the cables and tubing already needed for the system. Installing these components is expensive enough on their own but will be much more expensive if it involves drilling into the concrete slab and re-pouring concrete. Weigh the costs of installing this type of system in a concrete slab versus the comfort needs of the people in your home.
Other Considerations
Choosing the type of baseboard heating system to install in your home can be an extensive process, often involving complex calculations, such as thermal resistance and the thermal mass of concrete and heat loss when thermal energy travels from the concrete slab to your floor. Don't be afraid to defer to the experts and seek several opinions regarding what type of baseboard heater is best for your concrete slab home. Choosing a baseboard system that takes into account the natural thermal properties of your concrete slab will go a long way in ensuring the energy efficiency of your heating system.
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