I live in an apartment with baseboard heaters. As the temperature outside gets colder so does my apartment. The thermostat is set high enough, but it just doesn't reach that temperature. When it's warmer outside the inside temp is fine.
The pipe is hot on one end and gets cooler the farther along you go. It's almost room temperature by the time it gets to the end.
The bottom of the baseboard heater is covered by wooden baseboard. There is no gap between the floor and the heater.
Is the fact that there's no gap there enough to stop my apartment from getting warm? Are there styles of baseboard heater where there wouldn't be a gap?
Best Answer
Baseboard heaters work largely by convection--the heating of air by the radiator fins causes a rising action, and a low pressure zone below. That zone must be replenished. Ideally, open space below allows a "chimney effect" to occur.
However, since you say that the downstream end of the pipe is room temperature, all available heat is already being extracted, and therefore no efficiency stands to be gained.
I'd test that, though, to be sure. Take an accurate temperature reading at the downstream end of the system, and if it's more than about ten degrees above ambient you have more heat available to be released with better airflow.
If you can't get the property owner to assist, a small fan directed at the heater would provide adequate airflow to extract additional heat during very cold spells.