Fine/Line 30 2 ft. Hydronic Baseboard with Fully Assembled Element and Enclosure in Nu White

A:  The OD and ID thing gets very confusing as some trades such as plumbers refer to pipe and tube by its ID whereas HVAC contractors refer to the same material by its OD. What a plumber calls ½” copper tube an air conditioning contractor will call 5/8”. Also, we sometimes refer to things by traditional or nominal measurements rather than actual measurements. For example, a two by four is not 2” x 4” it is much smaller. The majority of residential baseboard, Slant Fin 30 series included is ¾” ID and 7/8” OD. If your element is built on tube that is 1 1/8” OD, I suspect it is 1” ID. I would therefore suspect that commercial fin tube was used. Why would this have been done? Capacity. Three quarter tube can carry 45,000 BTU’s and one inch can carry 80,000 BTUs. Some may dispute those figures due to flow rate and temperature variations but let us accept that a larger diameter pipe allows for greater flow rate. If you do have 1” element, you do not want to reduce it by putting a piece of ¾” in the line. That will restrict the flow rate on the entire zone to that or ¾. Slant Fin does produce 1” element. It is not common but can be special ordered from the factory. It would be in the Slant Fin 80 series and be the H4 element. The element and enclosure are sold separately. You can find further information on the Slant Fin Baseboard website. Home Depot can get it for you as a factory special order. If you have further questions, you can reach me at 978 651 3301 Chris

A:  Slant Fin produces product in one foot increments from 2' to 10'. Unfortunately longer sizes are not practically shippable via small package carriers. This product in a 4’ length is Home Depot SKU 202312899. If you put that number in the search box, on the Home Depot site it will come up.

A:  The front cover comes with it. The picture shows a translucent front cover so that you can see the element. As a plumber I have not installed a bleeder valve since modern venting technology was introduced. I install a Spirovent or equivalent main vent at the boiler. That should make the water so oxygen deficient that any air, not removed during the purging process will get pulled back into stasis and then removed by the main vent. Sometimes with older system I end up cutting in bleeders at the highest point in the system if they were piped in a monoflo configuration. But only put them in when needed. Why? Although bleeders can be a tool for removing air they can also be a source of oxygen infiltration. So today they are a band aid only used when needed.

A:  Yes.

A:  Hydronic baseboard is sold two ways. Complete and enclosure only. Complete comes with the element and enclosure. Enclosure only comes less element so that the enclosure can be used as a pipe chase. Some people purchase enclosure only in an attempt to rewrap existing element. This is not the intended use and ends in varying degrees of success. The item you are asking about is complete so it includes the enclosure and the element. The fascia in the picture is translucent so that you can see that it includes the element. Accessories such as endcaps are sold separately.

A:  Yes, the covers are but the end caps are separate.