Hydronic baseboard heater near ceiling?

[Mattlt]

I know this is not optimal, just wondering if it will work.

I would like to add a little more heat on one end of the basement. It has one heat duct, but I think my HVAC guy undersized the run to this end of the house, as the room above (master bathroom) is also fairly cold in winter.

My plan is to run a PEX line from my outdoor wood boiler setup to feed a baseboard heater in the master bathroom. Wondering if I could tap into the same line and again use a baseboard heater in the basement, basically below the master bathroom? However, I'd like to mount it near the ceiling, to avoid having to rip up existing walls, etc.

Note in the photo, there is a chase / soffit where the PEX will run through to reach the master BR. This chase contains the forced air ductwork. Would be very easy to poke into it to run PEX through it and mount a piece of baseboard up there. Ideally on the front side, but I wouldn't be opposed to the bottom either.

 

[Mattlt]

Why do pictures post 90° off kilter yet look normal when you attach them?!?!

 

[Jackfre]

Water is much like electricity. It is lazy and will take the path of least resistance, meaning that hot water will not flow down unless you make it do so. You need a couple mono-flow tees to do this. Mono-flow fitting have a "scoop" at the side outlet. You need one on the supply to the basement leg and you need one on the return. And, you need to tear up the sheetrock and install it at the floor for it to do its thing. Remember this is a gravity system as far as the air coming out of the baseboard is concerned At the ceiling the heat will simply lay against the ceiling.

 

[Jim Sperry]

Why do pictures post 90° off kilter yet look normal when you attach them?!?!

Unknown, Captain. However, dragging the image to the desktop to examine it's attributes reveals this:

Orientation: 6 (Rotated 90° CCW)

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Baseboard at ceiling level won't heat the area below. Also, I wouldn't use a monoflow tee where the unit is below the piping. I can almost guarantee you'll have problems bleeding the air out...

Tommy

 

[volleyball]

I would think about fixing the ductwork for the trouble you will be going through.
I'd pay an expert to properly size the ductwork and then maybe put in new SEALED ductwork across the basement, even if it is finished space.

 

[Bondo]

Baseboard at ceiling level won't heat the area below. Also, I wouldn't use a monoflow tee where the unit is below the piping. I can almost guarantee you'll have problems bleeding the air out...

Tommy

Ayuh,.... Not very well anyways,...

Baseboard radiators work by Convection air currents,...
Unless they're down low, they won't work for squat,...

 

[volleyball]

There are hydronic heaters with blowers such as toe kick to spread the air.

 

[Mattlt]

There are hydronic heaters with blowers such as toe kick to spread the air.

That was going to be my Plan B.

Thanks for the info everyone.

 

[rlitman]

Baseboard at ceiling level won't heat the area below.

You may get some undesirable "stratification" in the room, yes.
A toe-kick heater mounted high in a room would face the same issue since they are designed to blow horizontally, unless it was modified with a register that points down.

But there are products out there designed for just this issue. They are called radiant panel heating, and these are available hydronically heated.

The idea is that instead of heating through convection, the surface area of the panel heats the entire room through radiation. This works in much the same way that radiant flooring works, except that the panels are designed to mount high on the walls.