baseboard heater

[stl]

We have a small powder room that has no heat or a/c. The room is on an exterior wall so it gets pretty cold. My wife spends a fair amount of time in there to make her self beautiful every morning. She often complains of the cold so I put an electric space heater in there. It does the trick, but it is a little cheesy. I was thinking about surprising her by installing a baseboard heater. The room is only 3x6 so it won't take much. Can these be wired to a standard 110v 20 amp circuit. Can I just run a line up to the powder room and wire it up, or do they require a 220. If any one has any experience with these please let me know. A permenant baseboard heater would be nice, but if it is too much trouble the space heater will be fine. Just looks a little goofy when guests come over,

 

[mthieme]

Re: baseboard heater

They come in 110 and 220. Sounds like one with a built in thermostat would be easiest.
There's always the option of an overhead in-ceiling light/fan/heater to, but then you'll have to wire the switch too.
Or under the floor radiant heating - electric grid mat.

 

[arks]

Re: baseboard heater

Yeah, I added an electric baseboard in my daughters room when she was a baby. It was easy to do as long as you know how to do the wiring.

I bought a 220V unit with a wall-mounted thermostat, which made it a lot easier to adjust and also made it kid-resistant. The separate t-stat also makes it look more "professionally installed".

 

[jlinder]

Re: baseboard heater

On item to consider is that when wiring devices like heaters that can draw high current for long periods you need to de-rate the currant capacity of the wire by 20% for safety

A 12 ga wire would go from 20a to 16a. That is one of the advantages of going to 240v - half the current for the same wattage.

 

[rogerwa]

Re: baseboard heater

How big is the electric heater you have in there and does it do a good job? That should be able to help size what you would need.

I would be surprised if you needed more than a 500W heater. it would not be a big deal to add that into your 110v circuit as it would only draw ~4.5 amps, which depending on what you are running for a space heater is probalby less. And certainly less than her hair dryer (usually 1000-1500w)

The wiring and installation is easy if you can access the electricity source.

The heater panel will be cheap to buy, but could be expensive to run..

 

[stl]

Re: baseboard heater

Thanks for all of your replies. The little space heater I am currently using does an excellent job of heating up that space. I looked at the specs on the heater and it reads 120v 60hz 1500w and 12.5w. I know how to wire things up, but don't have a good understanding of watts hertz and so forth. I have told her not run it while she is using hair dryers, curling irons and whatnot, therefore no problems with tripped circuits. I could run a new line up to the room from another circuit if 110 is ok. I think if I would have to hire an electrician then that would be a deal breaker. She will have to put up with the cold.

 

[NoKlu]

Re: baseboard heater

If you can get at the heating ducts it's easy to add a hot air vent to the room. I did one for about $50 and a few hours work. I just tied into the main duct and fed the new pipe between the joists and up through the floor. It actually warmed up the whole end of the house.

 

[180shabah]

Re: baseboard heater

If you can get at the heating ducts it's easy to add a hot air vent to the room.

Good suggestion, most HVAC units are slightly oversized so adding an extra duct should have little to no impact on the rest of the house.