Baseboard Heaters

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31349, 20 April 1967, Page 22

Baseboard Heaters

One of the most successful and recent forms of electric heating system on the market is by electric skirting, or baseboard heating.

This type of heater is available in a wide range of heat output ratings, and the best form is the convector type, where the surface temperature of the heating unit is low and thus the unit is far safer and more adaptable.

The baseboard type of heater is installed at the floor-line, usually on an outside wall, under windows. The units have the advantage of taking up the minimum amount of space in the room, and of delivering heat along a broad area at the perimeter of the rooms, where it is needed. They also offer the minimum interference with furniture placement. The skirting heater is suited to control by a wallmounted thermostat, though some are manufactured with built-in thermostats. Baseboard or skirting heaters can also be used as a central heating system, by

locating a series of the heaters throughout the house in the various rooms at skirting level or immediately above the skirting. The system can even be controlled by a time-clock device to provide warmth at exactly the time it is needed, to suit the schedule of your daily living. The cost of installation varies from one house to another and from area to area within a house, and the makers advise the installation in an existing home may be slightly higher in cost than in a new home being built. The cost of operation also varies from one area to

another, and In an insulated bouse, for instance, the cost will be less than in an uninsulated building. Similarly, some areas require a greater beat usage than others, and some persons prefer to maintain higher temperatures than others. The makers say that throughout New Zealand electricity is an extremely cheap commodity and is comparable in operating costs with the best alternatives, but they emphasise this applies only if its usage is fully and automatically controlled by thermostat controls.. The styling of modern baseboard heating units is designed to merge with any room, and panel units can be painted to match the decor. Installation is quick and easy and the units are completely safe, with no open wires or glowing elements.