HVAC FINISH: BASEBOARD HEAT AND AC UNITS
HVAC FINISH: BASEBOARD HEAT AND AC UNITS
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Window Units and Baseboard Heat should be used whenever there is no Central HVAC in the residence. This will be the method of heating and cooling for residences with singular large open spaces, such as an efficiency apartment, shotgun house with few interior walls, or the like. This method of heating and cooling is allowed in houses that have 1 bedroom or studio apartments. If there is more than 1 bedroom, Jeff will let you know if these are necessaryin a 2 bedroom house. If you are not using through the wall units and baseboard heaters, install circuitry for central heat and air.
There should be ceiling fans installed in properties that use baseboard and window AC, preferably on the other end of the home. (If AC is in the Bedroom, install the fan in the living room)
REMEMBER: The electrical outlets should NOT be above baseboard heaters; we have failed an inspection because of that before.
IF YOU NEED A PLUG IN THE HEATER- there are options- see below from Grainger- these should be used rarely where outlets are not able to be next to the heaters. Keep in mind that these will only work with 120v models and SHOULD NOT be used with 240v models.
Here's the AC Unit we can use from Home Depot Be sure to size appropriately you can go a little bit bigger in BTUs than the plans call for but DO NOT UNDERSIZE
The how to manual has several options in sizing.
WE MUST ONLY BUY MODELS WITH HEAT STRIPS
The AC unit should also have a Wall sleeve, here's the Home Depot link: 26 in. Wall Sleeve for Through-the-Wall Air Conditioners
Locating the Heaters and the AC Units
Please note that the heaters and the ac units are on different sides of this 2 unit to keep things from being jumbled- the ac units and baseboard heaters should be mirrored on BOTH sides of the house.
Layout:
Baseboard heaters should generally be located in EVERY room, under an exterior window.
Air Conditioners: They should be placed in an area where they can circulate air throughout the house. For example, if installed in the front living room, it should be able to blow air to the rear of the house, unobstructed.
Baseboard Heaters: They should be secured to the wall so that they will not fall off from a hard jar. This means to be sure to screw it into a wall stud. They should also be installed beneath a window to ensure proper function.
Thermostats: All baseboard heaters should have a temperature-controlled thermostat installed (DO NOT use one that registers “low,” “medium,” and “high” commands) to control them. You may run multiple baseboard heaters on the same thermostat.
Sizing:
Baseboard Heaters: The following chart details how big a baseboard heater should be used in rooms of a certain size.
A Baseboard heater produces roughly 250 Watts per foot. A typical bedroom will need a 4’ heater. But refer to the chart below. Also, if the bedroom has HIGH ceilings (say, 10ft or more), add 20% to the heater wattage required.
You will need to calculate the square footage of each room needing a heater to gather the sizing info from the chart below.
The formula is LENGTH x WIDTH of the room. Use this number with the chart below to find the number of watts for the room.
MULITPLY the area of the room by 9, then divide that amount by 250. This will give you the number of feet of baseboard heaters that you need.
EXAMPLE:
10'x17' room size: 10 x 17 =170. 170x9 = 1530 watts are needed to heat the room.
1530 watts divided by 250= 6.12 FEET of baseboard heaters needed to heat the room.
ROUND DOWN if the decimal is .25 or less. If it is .26 or more, round up to the nearest foot.
Sizing of AC Units for rooms and houses.
How do I calculate the wattage of my baseboard heater
In bathrooms, use a ceiling vent fan, WITH a heater in it, as is pictured. we use broan/nutone brands so that replacement parts will be easy to find.
The heater should be on it's own switch, and the light and fan should be combined onto one switch, as we would normally wire. This will require 14/3 or 12/3 wire running from the wall switches to the exhaust fan.
The exhaust fan should be piped out of the house with hard pipe.
The reason we want the heating element on a separate switch from the vent fan and light that are on the same switch, is because we don't want to be heating the bathroom in the summer.
PLEASE NOTE that these exhaust fans are not meant to be the primary source of heat for the bathroom. That is for the baseboard heaters in the rest of the house. This is only for extra heat when the bathroom is in use.
Thermostats should be installed for each room that a baseboard heater(s) are in. Conduit is fine for these runs in a pinch. You typically want the thermostats to be on the other side of a room from the heater though. If across the room- DO NOT use conduit.
Install baseboard heaters JUST ABOVE your trim. The bottom of the heater should be within 1/4" of the baseboard you install. This will allow for different brands or sizes of heaters to be used if there is a replacement needed. Too often, we have seen these not match up with the baseboard.
While some may think that this will heat the house less well, 4" of height is deminimus, and will keep there from being as much dust accumulation in the heaters. Additionally, from where we have fans in our houses, air circulation will even out any problems with consistent temperature.
Window Units: Install a 2 pole 240v receptacle. Generally, we like for AC units to be installed at about head height (cold air falls) and mounted on the exterior wall of a house. Install below a window if this cannot be done without causing a hazard for people walking by the dwelling unit. Installing the framing of the house like this allows for securing the units so that theft will be deterred.
The units that we use can both provide AC but also provide supplemental heat.
When installing, make sure that screws are holding the unit in the sleeve (in the top of the unit and sleeve. NOT THE SIDE OR BOTTOM- USE 1/2" sheet metal screws and a Simpson strong tie angle bracket (see pic below) and that the sleeve is anchored into the framing of the house. Additionally, the pitch of the unit should be tilting outside and to the ground so that no condensate will drain into the house.
There have been MULTI MILLION dollar lawsuits related to improper installation of these units, because water came back in the building, and rotted out flooring, framing, and other items. This included MOLD growth in the units.
MAKE SURE THE UNITS AND THE SLEEVES TILT OUT OF THE BUILDING
Sample of through the wall heat pumps
NOTE: We do not need an inspection for the baseboard heaters.
See documentation below;
Window Air Conditioner
These window heat pumps will be used in a small house. We would typically use this in the house that has no HVAC. Where the HVAC is much more expensive to install.
If we install these heat pumps, we do not need to have baseboard heaters in the house, but we need a heater in the bathroom. And there should be one of those in every room, and make sure to use the sizing chart for the window AC units.
They have to be mounted in the window with T25 Security screws. Put the screws through the bracket (L Shape Angle Bracket) into the window frame.
The bracket is here in the Home Depot List: Strong ties
There needs to be a short security (1/2 inch )that put's into the actual HVAC unit to hold it in place, make sure that it's not going to hurt any of the interior parts of the unit. The long screws (2 1/2 inches) need to go into the framing of the house.
The T25 Security Screw in on this Amazon List: Hardware
We also need to make sure that they drain appropriately and make sure that that it drain away from the house.
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