What is the system of warm skirting boards
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.
This is what heating with a warm baseboard might look like
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 for panoramic glazing - it can be no higher than the frames, so it is completely invisible. She is no worse in ordinary rooms - she is not visible 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.
Warm baseboard without decorative panel
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 either the main one (only baseboard heaters) or an additional type of heating (together with a water-heated floor or radiators).
Heating pad device
In any case, a warm baseboard 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:
- The air is heated, which passes along the pipes and fins.
- from heated walls.
-
From the body of a warm metal plinth.
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.
Types of warm plinth
The warm plinth itself is assembled from separate heating modules. There are two options:
liquid
electric
With liquid, it does not matter from which source the coolant comes - solid fuel, gas or electric boiler. It can even be a low temperature source based on a heat pump.
It can even be a low temperature source based on a heat pump.
With a supply of only 40 degrees, with skirting boards, it is possible to achieve a removal of thermal power in the region of 50W per 1 meter. Here is a table of the dependence of the heat transfer power on the temperature of the liquid for the most common Mister Tectum skirting board in our country:
Economy and the laws of physics
However, not everything here is as rosy as it seems at first glance. If your entire wall is heated, then the heat loss from it increases.
This means that it must initially be made heat-intensive and strive for maximum heat impermeability.
Here, for example, the formula for calculating heat loss known from a physics course:
Where:
S - wall area
T \u003d (T inside - T outside) - the temperature difference between the wall inside the house and outside
R is the heat transfer resistance of the surface
From this formula it becomes clear what heat loss primarily depends on. R - both with batteries and with a plinth, you do not change. The wall is the same.
But the parameters in the numerator will be different. The greater the temperature difference (T), the greater the heat loss. Suppose, when heated from batteries near the window, the wall will conditionally have t=20C.
The temperature along the wall from the radiator to the far point (in the corners) is distributed along a gradient. Sections of the walls to the right and left of the windows do not warm up at all.
If the entire wall inside the house is heated with a warm baseboard, from the same boiler with the same coolant temperature, then the wall will warm up more. Conditionally up to + 25C, which means, according to the formula, the difference in the numerator will increase, and heat transfer through the walls will increase.
It turns out that the more heat you lose, the more you have to replace it.
It doesn't matter how this heat is brought into the room - by radiators or thermal plinths.
As a result, there will be no significant savings and super-energy efficiency here.
The same applies to the area - S. The surface heated by the plinth is much larger than the surface located directly behind the radiator.
It will be possible to slightly improve the situation if the heating plinth is placed not only on the outer walls of the house (as with radiators), but also on its internal partitions.
Most of the heat generated in this case will remain in the house, and not immediately try to go outside. A slight heating of the outer walls is useful not only as a source of heating, but also for the building itself. Dampness as such completely disappears.
Given all of the above, many therefore perceive such innovations with skepticism. There are long-tested and understandable ways - the same radiators under the windows, or a warm floor in a screed.
All other tricks are too expensive either at the construction stage or during operation and repair.
For a room of 16m2 you will need from 10 to 12 meters of plinth. Its price today averages 4000-5000 rubles per meter and above. And this is in addition to the cost of components. Add here the work itself (in Moscow they charge about 1,400 rubles per linear meter), all the rooms in the house and count your expenses.
Is it possible to fully survive the winter with such thermal plinths? Yes, definitely. In the presence of sufficient linear footage and the appropriate temperature of the coolant.
And numerous reviews on the forums confirm this. To warm up the house on the coldest winter days, the temperature of the coolant withdrawal in the collector of warm skirting boards will need to be kept around 75C. On normal days, 50-70C is enough.
The higher the temperature, the more radiant energy you will receive. When it drops to the level of 45C and below, the warm plinth turns into a kind of mini-convector, which heats mainly with air currents.
Therefore, do not expect any unrealistic savings figures from thermal plinths. She won't. A warm floor in this respect is much more profitable.
Nevertheless, the system has been widely used and some consumers actively use it both as the main and additional source of heating for their apartment or individual rooms in the house.
What is a warm skirting board and how does it work
A warm baseboard differs from heating radiators in that it kind of heats the entire wall and thus forms a thermal curtain or screen.
Heat is instantly distributed evenly throughout the room, and not just near the windows.
Moreover, such a system is suitable for any type of floor. The air in the room does not overheat, does not dry out and does not raise dust.
Many mistakenly believe that such heating heats the room by convection. Something like floor convectors.
However, this is not the case at all.The fact is that the convection currents of warm air from the plinth contribute to the heating of the room by only 20-30%.
The main heat is given by the heated wall.
You get a kind of huge floor-to-ceiling batteries inside the house. Therefore, in rooms where there are low ceilings and there is a minimum of furniture, the efficiency of the system is maximum.
In the kitchen, it is better to mount it under a set that has high legs.
It is often recommended to use it instead of floor convectors for panoramic windows. However, keep in mind that full compensation for a thermal gap in such a place cannot be created with a plinth!
It's all about radiant energy. Unlike walls, here you will not notice the effect of accumulation and distribution of heat. It will not "stick" to the glass, but will immediately go outside.
But with the task of simply eliminating discomfort when being next to a cold window, skirting boards successfully cope.
The whole system works on the Coanda effect. In 1910, this Romanian aviator, trying to improve aircraft engines, used special plates that were supposed to reflect the heat flow from the fuselage so that it would not catch fire.
However, it had the exact opposite effect. Warm air was not reflected, but on the contrary, as if licking the fuselage. How is this effect used in the warm skirting system?
The heated air flow from them rises along the wall. At the same time, its speed from below is greater than the speed from above.
That is, the farther from the surface of the wall it moves away, the less its intensity and speed. And here we need to remember Bernoulli's law with pipes of different sections through which liquid or gas moves.
It states that the minimum flow rate and maximum pressure of the medium will be in a pipe section with a large cross section, and vice versa. That is, the faster the flow moves, the less pressure it has.
With regard to a warm baseboard, this means that air flows that move near the wall will have less pressure than at some distance from it. Due to this pressure drop, a force arises that, as it were, presses warm air against the wall.
Therefore, with baseboard heating, the wall is heated first of all, and all objects in the room are already heated from it. The real heating of the walls is felt at a height of up to 1.5 meters.
This is how a thermogram of heat distribution over a surface heated by a plinth looks like in a thermal imager.
As you understand, convection does not play a significant role here. The main factor is the radiation from the heated wall. The so-called radiant energy, as in infrared heaters and paintings.
Thanks to this method of heating, it is not at all necessary to catch up with the air temperature in the room to + 24-25C. Even at 20-21C you will feel comfortable. The walls then you will be heated a few degrees more.
Therefore, the heated wall creates the thermal comfort of the radiation balance, which is not able to create a conventional battery. 
Mounting Features
To create a water system, you will definitely need a collector and a circulation pump. Such a system implies a high fluid flow rate.
Therefore, with natural circulation, the system is ineffective. The pump must be able to adapt to changing flow volumes. Suddenly, you manually or the automation on the collector will turn off some circuit.
The coolant passes through special heating modules with two copper tubes and fins as fins. It is the lamellas, and not the tubes, that act as the main source of heat.
Therefore, if you suddenly decide to assemble such a system with your own hands, first of all, be puzzled by how to solder all these ribs. The more there are, the better.
The standard module length for Mr.Tektum warm skirting board is 2.5 meters. The diameter of the tubes is only 16-20mm.
More is not required. Otherwise, the volume of the coolant would have multiplied and the flow rate would have decreased.And this, in turn, would cause a large temperature difference at the inlet and outlet of the collector.
Connection and connection of tubes is carried out by soldering, or through special adapters and fittings.
It is desirable to connect separate rooms with different circuits. The recommended length is 15-16m. First of all, we mean room loops, and not the length of the entire tube involved. After all, it is on modules with lamellas that the greatest heat removal occurs.
Two circuits are often brought to a large room at once. Do not compare them with warm floors, where the permissible length of the circuit is three to four times longer. This is explained by the different temperature ranges of operation.
The length of the circuit is limited by the temperature drop condition (no more than 5 degrees). If the return is much colder, then it will simply cool part of the lamellas. Which will critically affect the overall heat transfer.
This rule is valid for all microradiators. In order to increase efficiency, it is necessary to significantly increase the flow rate.
In the electric version, a cable and a heating element - a heating element - are laid in the module.
The thermal power of such a system on heating elements is about 200 W / m.p. For water, it all depends on the temperature set on the boiler or collector.
The electric option, unlike the liquid one, can adversely affect the drying of the air. A bare heating element usually heats up to temperatures much higher than the tubes of “water plinths”.
An aluminum box is installed on top of the modules. You can pick it up in any color and then it will generally merge with the interior of the room.
The box is simply removed, so you always have access to its internal elements.
That is, the system is completely repairable and easy to use.
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