How Does a Baseboard Heater Work?

Types of Baseboard Heating

There are actually two types of baseboard heat that can be installed in a home: the more well-known electrical, and the hot water. The units installed in the rooms of the home look the same and most people would not know the difference at a glance, but they both work in different ways.

Electrical

With an electrical baseboard heater, coils are inside the unit attached to an electrical supply. When turned on, the coils heat up and warm the air inside the unit. As the air in the unit warms, it rises and is replaced by the cold air that is still in the room being heated. Once the temperature in the room matches the set temperature on the unit, the unit will turn off until the temperature drops again. With older models, the units will only have an on and off switch, which means that they will need to be monitored more carefully and not left unattended. Electrical units are easily replaced if they break down, and only the one unit that breaks has to be replaced, which means they are cost-effective.

Hot Water

With hot water baseboards, the water is heated by a furnace and pumped through the baseboards throughout the house. The heating of the rooms works the same. The air inside the unit heats and rises and is replaced by the colder air still in the room. The water furnace is controllable, which is good since it takes a bit of time to heat the water in the furnace and send it to all the rooms. This time delay means a person has to set the thermostat to increase the temperature in a house at least an hour before he arrives at home, so that it will actually be warm. On the plus side, water baseboards are very efficient. Most all of the heat from the water is transferred to the surrounding air.