Heating a finished basement

9 years ago

In the finished basement of my 1960's house, I have an Iron Fireman Chill Chaser supplemental heater. It's hooked up through the boiler. I'm not sure of the age of it, but it doesn't seem to do a great job at heating in general. When I put a temperature gauge right on the grill of the blower, it reads a max of about 88 degrees, which seems low to me.

Would it be beneficial to replace this?

To be fair, the finished area is about 500 sq ft, which is substantial. On the colder days, the room is in the upper 50's with no heat turned on. I'd like to be able to bump that up to the mid 60's.

I was considering putting in two electric fan forced heaters.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Featured Answer

ionized_gw

6 years ago

I am not certain what an Iron Fireman Chill Chaser is, but I will assume it is a hydrocoil similar to a (hydronic) toe-kick heater. Your boiler may be incompatible with it. Is your new boiler a high efficiency, condensing, modulating boiler? If so, it needs to run (provide water) at relatively low temperatures to maintain high efficiency. Hydrocoils tend to be used in applications where the water temperatures are relatively high. As water temps are reduced, you need more massive coils to make the same output.

Assuming that you have a modulating, condensing boiler that is set up well, it makes hotter water in colder weather when you need more heat. It will also run more continuously than your old, high mass, "bang-bang: boiler. In a perfect world, it might fire up in October and never shut off until May just rumbling along at low output at the extremes. That would explain the differing temperatures if the Chill Chaser and the pipes. They will be hotter on colder days and hotter when recovering from a set-back.

If this all seems right, you might need to install more heat transfer in the basement. You can choose between radiators, convectors, hydrocoils and in floor radiant. Cast iron radiators and in floor radiant work best with lower water temps than convectors or hydrocoils. There is one trick that might make the existing Chill Chaser work better. If they are on the end of the circulation of a zone the water temperature will be warmer at the front end. It might not make enough of a difference to help at all. I really don't know.

if you have a condensing boiler, you really should not just turn up the water temp. You can do this, but it will cost you in efficiency and might shorten the boiler life by excessive cycling. You should be able to run your boiler at higher temperature to provide domestic hot water via an indirect tank. They same kind of set-up could be used to run the hydrocoils at higher temperature when they call for heat. You will get a hit in efficiency, but not as bad as if you run them on the same zone as the rest of the heat. This would require a new zone, and setting up the controls for it. It is probably better to just add more heat exchanger in the basement.

I've prattled on way too much not knowing what kind of new boiler you have. Tell us a make and model, please. What kind of heat exchangers do you have in the rest of the house?

OMG, I just had a thought. Is this circulating hot water or steam heat?

Comments (8)

callights
9 years ago
A friend of mine uses these wall-mounted electric heaters in his basement. They do a great job of taking the edge off in his basement .

Here is a link that might be useful: Wall heater
tigerdunes
9 years ago
Finished basement area is partially or fully below grade? If so, it carries a small heating load. Any idea of the BTU output on the Chill Chaser heater?
Has your boiler service company ever looked at the Chill Chaser? What is fuel used for your boiler?

Electric heaters are a cheap fix but can be expensive to operate on a full time basis.

What is your location?

IMO
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ChrisInCT
Original Author
9 years ago
The basement is about 5 feet below grade. IÃ¢ÂÂm not sure of the BTU output. I found a model number, but canÃ¢ÂÂt find any reference to it online. The boiler service company didnÃ¢ÂÂt look at the chill chaser. Oil is used for the boiler.

It seems to be functioning better now, as I recently recorded a temp of about 110 on the grill. I live in CT.

Do you think this is a better item to use in terms of cost compared to an electric unit?

Thanks!

Chris
ChrisInCT
Original Author
9 years ago
Now I am confused because it seems that the air that comes out of it changes dramatically. It was just on and the temp of the air was only 77 degrees...sometimes it is 110. The water pipes that feed it didn't feel overly warm this time either. Why such a variance? We have a brand new boiler. Could the new boiler be incompatible this heater?
wwjayceeskc
6 years ago
I have an exact model - The iron Fireman - Chill Chaser circa 1963 - it works off the burner, has a thermostat and that's how it was controlled - had it repaired a few times and the new service company installed a 'sensor' that wen it drops to a certain temperature, it turns on to a higher degree reading - mine seems to leak right now and would appreciate any recommendations - thank You!
wwjayceeskc
6 years ago
Yeah - I'm the Chill Chaser (see the above dialogue on this page) is similar to what is described where the circulator added to the steam heat boiler forces the hot water into the Chill Chaser Unit and thus he hot air can heat a large finished basement - it has for 50 + years!

The burner/boiler is only a 2009 model and actual replaced the original 1940 model - it all works well, it's just the Unit seemed to be leaking a bit and makes noise where something may even be rubbing somewhere

I had it repaired several years ago and then repair technicians switched the thermostat fan control to a heat type sensor - it seemed to do OK?

Their repair cost - service calls are extremely high for disable & elderly customers - thanks!
wwjayceeskc
4 years ago
Still trying to locate service for CHILL CHASER after many inquiries....