Electric Baseboard Heater Reviews

Electric baseboard heaters are heating appliances that are installed or placed on the floor of a room to raise the temperature of circulated air.  They are so named because of their placement, a baseboard (sometimes called mopboard) is a bit of wood, plastic molding or even masonry that is used to hide the joint between the floor and an inside wall.

Technically, baseboard heaters can be hydronic or electric.  Hydronic heaters have a liquid which is heated, most commonly by a basement boiler and circulated via a system of pipes.  Electric heaters are most often than not self-contained units that have a heating element or coil which is used to raise the air’s temperature.

Electric baseboard heaters are quite common, specially in places where electric power is notably cheaper.  These heaters are popularly installed in older houses where refurbishment of the old ducting and boiler system will be particularly expensive.  They are also a favorite heating application for houses with rooms that do not all have to be heated at once, negating a larger centralized system.

Of course, since these will be used to heat just a specific area at a time, careful measurements of the room and the required heating power will have to be considered.  As with most electrical appliances, it is recommended that only heater units that have been certified by a reputable organization be installed for safety reasons.  To reduce chances of fire, most heating experts also recommend that no furniture be placed within 3 feet of the heater.

Advantages of electric baseboard heaters include lower initial installation costs, lower to no maintenance costs, quieter operation and faster heating times.  Since a single heater unit will be used to heat a specific room or area of the house, no expensive ducting or piping will need to be installed within the woodwork or masonry.

Individual heaters contain no filters that need to be periodically maintained, and when one unit does conk out, only the faulty unit needs to be replaced.  Most baseboard heaters operate on natural convection to circulate the air, meaning no noisy fans are used to blow the air out of the unit, resulting in quieter operation.  Compared to hydronic heaters or even oil-filled radiators, electric baseboard heaters can bring the air temperature to the desired level a lot more quickly.  Lastly, these baseboard heaters have very low or negligible unit surface temperature, so they are cool to the touch and offer no health hazards, even with very young children in the room.