Installing Toe-Kick Heaters from Coolant Lines

[weboughtabus]

Has anyone tried installing radiant baseboard heat from the coolant lines? I was thinking of plumbing the coolant lines from our rear heater into a standard hot-water baseboard system and running along the cabinets in our skoolie. I'd be installing a shutoff so we don't cook ourselves out in the summertime. Any tips or advice would be appreciated!

[cadillackid]

are you going to run any type of coolant heater like a webasto to heat the coolant when parked? your radiant heaters will start to put out a little heat around 140 degrees. and are OK at 160-180... you will get good heat from radiant in that 180-200 degree range..
-Christopher

[Robin97396]

There have been numerous hydronic flooring projects installed with the small pex all wound through the floor, which I'm told is nice for the feel but is not really capable of heating the bus under cold conditions. But your feel would feel warm.

Someone posted pic of a baseboard heater for use as you're suggesting, probably Rusty or someone. Sounds like a good idea. No idea if it would produce enough or to much heat.

I'm betting someone has tried baseboard heaters. The biggest problem I can see is that a baseboard heater holds things away from the wall which I see as a problem when squeezing so many things into this already tight space. I tried to keep that open feeling in my layout, but the only thing open is the bowling alley right down the middle.

There are no new ideas, just new products to try. I like the idea of baseboard heat because it puts the heat along the windows just like in a house. If the baseboard heaters were designed flatter they'd fit against the wall better.

[weboughtabus]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

are you going to run any type of coolant heater like a webasto to heat the coolant when parked? your radiant heaters will start to put out a little heat around 140 degrees. and are OK at 160-180... you will get good heat from radiant in that 180-200 degree range..
-Christopher

I hadn't really considered using any type of heat source while parked. To be honest, we're mostly planning on just chasing the nice weather in our skoolie and shouldn't have too much need for heat. It just seems silly to take out a potential heat source that, theoretically, wouldn't require a ton of effort to get working in a more space-efficient way.

Originally Posted by Robin97396

There have been numerous hydronic flooring projects installed with the small pex all wound through the floor, which I'm told is nice for the feel but is not really capable of heating the bus under cold conditions. But your feel would feel warm.

Someone posted pic of a baseboard heater for use as you're suggesting, probably Rusty or someone. Sounds like a good idea. No idea if it would produce enough or to much heat.

I'm betting someone has tried baseboard heaters. The biggest problem I can see is that a baseboard heater holds things away from the wall which I see as a problem when squeezing so many things into this already tight space. I tried to keep that open feeling in my layout, but the only thing open is the bowling alley right down the middle.

There are no new ideas, just new products to try. I like the idea of baseboard heat because it puts the heat along the windows just like in a house. If the baseboard heaters were designed flatter they'd fit against the wall better.

Yeah, space is one of my main reasons for wanting to ditch the old coolant line blower system. I figured I could build the cabinets with a few inches of clearance between the floor and the door/drawer so that I can just run the heaters in that space without taking up much living area.

[PNW_Steve]

Maybe something like this would work:

Baseboard Heating Units, Slimline™ Baseboard, Fin Tube Baseboard, Radiant Baseboard, Baseboard, Heated Baseboard, High Efficiency Heater,


Google "low profile hydronic baseboard" and you will see numerous options.

[john61ct]

I would embed flattish rectangular steel tubing as with the embedded floor pipes idea, but with the wide flat surface exposed, flush with the floor level.

Placed so exposed to the main space, not buried inside, just next to the edge of the cabinets, just outside where bare feet won't touch, maybe even design a recess where needed.

A few water2air radiator exchangers for more effective air heating using blowers when needed, flow rate and fluid temp raised by the Webasto-style unit as needed.

Obviously good insulation is what makes it cost effective.

And HWS included, isolated from the rest for summertime.

And tied into the engine block for road trips, and easier starting in extreme cold.

[cadillackid]

you could put ducted blower forced registers in your kick panels.. I did this for a friends house... he has water heat. and didnt want to rip up the floors for good hydronics. but added a kitchen island.. so we put a small fan coil with small ducts to the kick panels of his island... nice warm feet in the morning... fan forced so it works even when his water is at 150 or below..

a small hot-rod type heater can easily be placed in a cabinet, under a seat, etc and ducted in with 2.5" or 3" flex duct to slimline vents..

something like this the louvers can be pulled out and ducted start-offs put in.
just an example.. theres lots of things out there..

JEGS Performance Products 70610: Heater Assembly 177 CFM | JEGS

-Christopher

[Ninjakitty]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

you could put ducted blower forced registers in your kick panels.. I did this for a friends house... he has water heat. and didnt want to rip up the floors for good hydronics. but added a kitchen island.. so we put a small fan coil with small ducts to the kick panels of his island... nice warm feet in the morning... fan forced so it works even when his water is at 150 or below..

a small hot-rod type heater can easily be placed in a cabinet, under a seat, etc and ducted in with 2.5" or 3" flex duct to slimline vents..

something like this the louvers can be pulled out and ducted start-offs put in.
just an example.. theres lots of things out there..

JEGS Performance Products 70610: Heater Assembly 177 CFM | JEGS

-Christopher

I bought one similar to the model you linked. Can I just step the hose size down where the hoses come into the cab or do I need to run new lines all the same size to and from the coolant on/off valves?

Sent from my Vivo 5R using Tapatalk

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by Ninjakitty

I bought one similar to the model you linked. Can I just step the hose size down where the hoses come into the cab or do I need to run new lines all the same size to and from the coolant on/off valves?

Sent from my Vivo 5R using Tapatalk

I can't think of any reason you can't use a reducer from the engine hose to reduce to your heater size.