Baseboard heat (apartment, house, water heater)

[citychik]

I've never lived with baseboard heat before. I always had radiators with steam heat wherever I've lived. Now that I'm in Maine, baseboard heat is what I've got in my apartment. The heaters are along all perimeter (exterior) walls in every room. I believe it's electric, but not sure (how can I tell?).

I asked one of my neighbors how close to the heaters I can have my furniture, curtains, or extension cords, and she seemed to shrug and say it was no big deal and not to worry about it. But I'm keeping my thermostat turned down until I know for sure. Any advice?

[OutdoorLover]

Originally Posted by citychik

I've never lived with baseboard heat before. I always had radiators with steam heat wherever I've lived. Now that I'm in Maine, baseboard heat is what I've got in my apartment. The heaters are along all perimeter (exterior) walls in every room. I believe it's electric, but not sure (how can I tell?).

I asked one of my neighbors how close to the heaters I can have my furniture, curtains, or extension cords, and she seemed to shrug and say it was no big deal and not to worry about it. But I'm keeping my thermostat turned down until I know for sure. Any advice?

If it's hot water, and you look closely at the radiators, you should be able to see the piping, typically 1/2in copper pipe as I recall, leading into the radiator at one end and back out at the other... and if there's a slot to look into, you'll see a bunch of parallel aluminum fins inside mounted on the copper pipe, roughly the size of a playing card. You can always ask the landlord if you can't tell for sure.

Hot water is very safe re fire hazard, but you need to provide good clearance for electric baseboard which gets hotter.

[Arya Stark]

Originally Posted by citychik

I've never lived with baseboard heat before. I always had radiators with steam heat wherever I've lived. Now that I'm in Maine, baseboard heat is what I've got in my apartment. The heaters are along all perimeter (exterior) walls in every room. I believe it's electric, but not sure (how can I tell?).

I asked one of my neighbors how close to the heaters I can have my furniture, curtains, or extension cords, and she seemed to shrug and say it was no big deal and not to worry about it. But I'm keeping my thermostat turned down until I know for sure. Any advice?

https://www.thespruce.com/electric-b...erview-1821912

Most baseboard heaters need at least 12 inches between the heater unit and any combustible material, such as drapes or furniture.

[citychik]

Originally Posted by OutdoorLover

If it's hot water, and you look closely at the radiators, you should be able to see the piping, typically 1/2in copper pipe as I recall, leading into the radiator at one end and back out at the other... and if there's a slot to look into, you'll see a bunch of parallel aluminum fins inside mounted on the copper pipe, roughly the size of a playing card.

Oh! Thanks very much for your description! Mine appear to be hot water heaters, then. There are pipes and fins.

Here is a picture of the pipe in my BR closet that leads to the heater on the other side of the wall:


And this is the heater on the other side of the wall, connected to that pipe:


Here I can see the pipe connection from one room to another:


And fins:

Originally Posted by OutdoorLover

Hot water is very safe re fire hazard, but you need to provide good clearance for electric baseboard which gets hotter.

If these are hot water pipes (do you agree?) then they're not much different from steam radiators, which I'm used to. Whew! I'm relieved.

[gf2020]

Originally Posted by citychik

If these are hot water pipes (do you agree?) then they're not much different from steam radiators, which I'm used to. Whew! I'm relieved.

Yes, that is forced hot water baseboard heat, very similar to steam radiators.

[citychik]

Originally Posted by gf2020

Yes, that is forced hot water baseboard heat, very similar to steam radiators.

Thanks a bunch for confirming, gf2020!

[OutdoorLover]

Yep, you've got the good stuff :-) Hot water is definitely safer and provides lower heating bills too.

[citychik]

Originally Posted by OutdoorLover

Yep, you've got the good stuff :-) Hot water is definitely safer and provides lower heating bills too.

My heat is included in the rent, so I won't receive bills for that - it's the safety factor that has me relieved. The fact that the heaters are along quite a lot of walls would make it rather difficult to avoid placing furniture near them. So I'm super glad it's safe to do so, and now it makes sense that my neighbor was blasé about it.

[Demolitionman2]

Had baseboard (hot water) heat off of a boiler in the last house that I owned. Yep, it is completely safe. All of your combustion is in your boiler, which is probably located in the basement, and is generally fuel oil or gas/propane (not so common).

[YorktownGal]

The really nice thing about hot water heat is it doesn't dry out the air. Forced air heat is extremely dry and hard on the sinuses and skin. Hot water heat is much healthier