When considering which type of heating system to install in their home people are increasingly choosing a system using cast iron baseboard radiators. Although sometimes seen as an ‘old fashioned’ form of heating, when integrated into a system using a modern source of heat generation such as an energy efficient boiler, ground heating system or even solar panels, a heating system using cast iron baseboard radiators has many advantages over many more ‘modern’ systems.
Domestic heating systems today are usually either a sealed hot water system using steel radiators or a ducted hot air system. A system using radiators has several advantages over a ducted hot air system. Radiators can be sited to minimise and eliminate cold spots in areas such as beneath windows and are far more flexible than hot air systems which need to be more centralized.
Also radiators can have very beneficial health advantages over a ducted air system. Their sealed nature means that they do not continually circulate air from ducting in which dust will inevitably collect, in fact many allergy sufferers have found a marked improvement in their condition after replacing a ducted air system with a sealed, radiator based system.
What advantages are there in using a cast iron radiator system over one using steel radiators?. Steel radiators tend to warm up quicker initially than iron radiators but will also cool down much faster. The increased mass of a cast iron radiator will retain heat far longer than a thinner steel equivalent, leading to a steady, more prolonged, diffusion of heat rather than an abrupt cooling.
Perhaps the most efficient and practical radiators you can install are cast iron baseboard radiators. Also known as floor moldings, skirting boards or mopboards, baseboards are simply the name given to the short decorative panels used in buildings to seal the gap between the wall and the floor. Because hot air rises, by placing the source of heat as low as possible a baseboard radiator system will help to eliminate any cold spots developing at floor level.
This type of cast iron radiator system is also far more unobtrusive than a more conventional radiator system. Whether you decide to install a long, low radiator or a system which is literally a baseboard and a radiator in one is a matter of personal choice. If you live in a period property you may wish to install a system of long low ornately decorated radiators to complement your other period features. Alternatively you may prefer not to be aware of your heating system at all, say if you don’t wish to obscure your decoration or you have features such as wainscoting. In this case baseboard radiators will enable you to not only replace more conventional radiator designs but the heating pipes are also carried within the radiator itself for the ultimate in low visibility.
Efficient, cheap to install and unobtrusive, it is easy to see why many more people are choosing a heating system which incorporates the many benefits of cast iron baseboard radiators.