Cold air coming from old hydronic baseboards and feel compelled to share.

I know a lot of us have purchased old drafty houses in the last 10 years that have gone through a lot of perplexing remodels with really out of date oil burners/coal stoves and such so I thought I’d share and get this off my chest because it’s frustrating lol

House: 2 story, 2 bedroom, 1000 sq Ft, and built in 1920

Location: northern half of Pennsylvania

Heating system: I went from an old oil burner to a 24k btu Fujitsu Halcyon XLTH. 18k head unit downstairs (600 sq ft), 9k head unit in master bedroom upstairs (400 sq ft).

I bought my house in 2019 and moved to a minisplit system, last winter being my first winter with the heat pump. I haven’t gotten rid of the oil furnace yet for a hot water heater because I wanted to see how the heat pump handles first and it’s taking me forever to get through this 250 gallons of oil that heats my water (I live alone). The minisplit has been handling great, despite living in an old drafty house. I am able to keep my house hotter than what’s comfortable for me, even during polar vortexes, but I do have to increase the thermostat when temps get below 5 degrees to maintain room temperature.

Apple weather did me super dirty this last weekend while I was out of state for Christmas. When i left, Apple weather said it was going to be 8 degrees, turned out to be -3 degrees, and I didn’t increase temps. I came home Monday to a baseboard behind my laundry hamper and washer had burst. Thankfully it had just started thawing. I was confused, baffled, and irritated. I drained the baseboards immediately, and investigated.

It turns out, there’s about a .5 inch gap between the floor and the wall under all the baseboards in the back of the house that’s under a tight crawl space, and not my basement. That’s been the main culprit of cold air getting into my house this entire time. I hadn’t really realized it, because the baseboards are behind a kitchen table I never sit at, and behind my laundry hamper and washing machine.

This house is dumb.

If your house was a flipped house, sometimes it’s more than just doors and windows. That’s the lesson I learned.

Anyways, thanks for coming to my ted talk.