Do Electric Hydronic Baseboard Heaters Help with Asthma?

Electric hydronic baseboard heaters have become very common in domestic areas and other environments. It was only around the 1960’s and 1970’s that they were first introduced inside houses to heat the rooms within the household. The working process of an electric baseboard heater is very simple; it takes in cool air from the room, heats it within, and throws it back out as hot air, which then rises and circulates around the room to keep it warm. The cool air is taken into the heating component of the heater, which has a number of metal pipes around it. The best place to put an electric baseboard heater is under a window, so the heater takes in the cool air coming through the window.

Hydronic Baseboard Heaters

These heaters are otherwise known as hot water baseboard heaters and though they do the same heating job as electric baseboard heaters, the heating process is different, the reason is that electric baseboard heaters heat up the house room by room, whilst the hydronic baseboard heaters use central heating through hot water pipes situated under the floor. The rooms in the house heat up together and there is uniform heat in each room.

Hydronic baseboard heaters make use of radiation to heat up the environment, unlike their electric counterparts which make use of convection. Since warm air rises into the room through the floor, then you will no longer have to walk barefoot on cold floors. Europe is the country that uses hydronic baseboard heaters the most.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Baseboard Heaters

Baseboard heaters are considered to be very efficient compared to other kinds of heaters which run on resources other than airflow or water. These include such gas heaters as kerosene and propane heaters, as well as stoves that burn wood to generate heat.

The heating process used by baseboard heaters has its own advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage is that in the case of electric baseboard heaters, the air is not forced in and out, therefore dust and other particles are not being blown throughout the house and the environment does not become too dry as a consequence of this. Therefore, these heaters help with asthma and other allergies or respiratory conditions because there is no dirt or dust involved.

On the other hand, the main disadvantage of baseboard heaters is due to the lack of forced air, the environment takes longer to heat up or cool down. Another disadvantage concerns electric baseboard heaters in particular; although the equipment of electric baseboard heaters is known for its low cost and the air they produce is dirt-free and very healthy, the electric power they need is the most expensive among all resources required by other types of heaters i.e. natural gas, oil and wood.