Hot water baseboard heat and aquastat settings

[muncybob]

My current Operating Limit aquastat is set at 180 degrees with a 20 degree differential. Would I gain or lose efficiency by setting it to 190? I guess the rooms would heat up a bit quicker and the room thermostats would stop calling for heat sooner but then wouldn't the boiler run more often due to it's own heat loss?
How about just the opposite and reducing the Operating Limit to 170? In my feable mind I can reason that each has it's advantages(at 170 boiler stops burning sooner but circs run longer and then possible "restarting" the boiler again?).

 

[tbsdolmar]

That is your operating limit. Your high limit is on top and should be 200.

 

[muncybob]

That is your operating limit. Your high limit is on top and should be 200.

yep, my mistake. I did edit the question.

 

[tom in maine]

If you are doing this on a fossil fuel boiler, dropping the operating temps will save fuel.(I forget the percentage, but it
is significant.)
This trades off against the time the circulators are operating, since they will run longer.
This is not all bad since the room is being actively heated while the pumps are circulating hot (or warm) water.

Many baseboards stop putting any usable heat out when they drop below 140F.
This makes thermal storage for wood boiler systems falter somewhat.

 

[WoodNotOil]

This makes thermal storage for wood boiler systems falter somewhat.

That is why you should double the btu output of heating zones, especially if you plan to use storage. From what I hear that is how they design systems in Europe and they can produce heat even with temps as low as100-120*. Sure makes storage last longer!

Your fossil system would have been designed for a temp of 180* and you may lack enough btu output in really cold weather running it lower... then again, it may work just fine... experiment and see what happens.

 

[mrhaney]

DOES ANY BODY KNOW THE TEMP DROP PER FOOT OF BASEBOARD AND HOW MANY FEET YOU CAN RUN IN ONE LOOP, I NEED TO INSTALL SOME THIS SUMMER IN MY ATTACHED GARAGE AND A SUN PORCH AND LIKE SO MANY THINGS IVE INSTALLED I DONT WANT TO DO IT AGAIN BECAUSE I PUT TO MANY FEET ON ONE LOOP

 

[Gooserider]

DOES ANY BODY KNOW THE TEMP DROP PER FOOT OF BASEBOARD AND HOW MANY FEET YOU CAN RUN IN ONE LOOP, I NEED TO INSTALL SOME THIS SUMMER IN MY ATTACHED GARAGE AND A SUN PORCH AND LIKE SO MANY THINGS IVE INSTALLED I DONT WANT TO DO IT AGAIN BECAUSE I PUT TO MANY FEET ON ONE LOOP

Please TuRn OfF yOuR CaPsLoCk KeY... Typing in all caps makes us think you are either being rude and yelling at us, or that you are possibly a contract lawyer (Is there a difference?) Please use normal MiXeD CaSe typing...

The heat outputs and distance rules vary with the brand and style of baseboard - as well as how hot the water is that you are going to be running through it. You should probably go to the manufacturers site for the stuff you'll be using and get the official numbers... If you just want some generic figures, I've found the Slantfin site is pretty good for info.

Gooserider