Heating the fishroom

[Marz]

Has anyone used these to control the room temperature? My basement doesn't have a door and I am thinking about heating the room instead of using individual heaters. Do you think it will do the job? Any cheaper alternative ideas?

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Aleco-Clear-Flex-II-5-ft-x-7-ft-PVC-Strip-Door-Kit-440183/203909270

 

[jonclark96]

I work for a general contractor and have installed the strip doors on projects. They may help with air flow, a bit, but for about the same amount of money, you can get a pre-hung door that would do a better job, assuming the wall to your fish room has an opening that is the right size to install the door. I imagine that the strip doors would bother me as everyday access into the fish room, getting slapped by strips every time i walked in or out.

 

[Marz]

Thank you Jon, installing a door makes more sense but the hallway is not an option and the fishroom entrance at the end of the hallway is a weird "L" shape. I thought maybe the strips would be more flexible with the entrance shape.

 

[Becca]

Double doors?

 

[Marz]

Becca here’s the weird L shape entrance. I’m not sure how I can put a double door here. I was thinking, making a temporary frame and covering it with plastic drop cloth. It will be ugly but it should work.

By the way, the room is 19 x 12. Do you guys think a 700-Watt radiator heater (with thermostat) will be enough if I can cover the entrance properly?

 

[Becca]

jonclark96 - My answer would be to extend out the shorter wall and add a door. What's your opinion on that, as a contractor? It could be done in a temporary/quick & dirty fashion with some 2x4 framing and some drywall or even plywood.

 

[jonclark96]

To do it right, after looking at the pictures, it could get pricey. The floor looks like stone tile, and you could frame the wall on top of the tile, but that's not optimal. There is a high chance of cracking the tile trying to attached the bottom plate of the wall to the floor. You could do something temporary , but it would look like it.


What's at the other end of the hallway? is there a better spot for a door there?

 

[Marz]

No, not really. The garage door, the utility room door and the stairs. I think the ugly plastic drop cloth is the way to go 😄

What about the room size and the heater wattage? Is 700-W too small for a 19x12 area to maintain 76ish degrees? I think it is.

 

[Becca]

No, not really. The garage door, the utility room door and the stairs. I think the ugly plastic drop cloth is the way to go 😄

What about the room size and the heater wattage? Is 700-W too small for a 19x12 area to maintain 76ish degrees? I think it is.

Why not put a door at the top of the stairs?

 

[Marz]

Also not an option:

 

[FishEggs]

I think Becca has the right idea. But the real question for a quick, easy and cheap install is do you have the height for the rough opening of a prehung door? It looks close. Use an adhesive like carpet tape to attach bottom plate of wall if it is not a vinyl tile. Looks like maybe 2 sheets of drywall, about a dozen studs, a prehung door and a small bucket of joint compound. Door hinges would be towards the existing wall on the left of that picture.

 

[Marz]

do you have the height for the rough opening of a prehung door?

8 feet .. a pre-hung door is 80 inches, so the answer to that is yes. Carpet tape to attach the bottom plate is a good idea if it can hold. Thank you for all your input, I think I'm getting somewhere with the idea.

I still have one unanswered question. What size heater is good enough for a 19 x 12 room? The lower the wattage would be better of course because "smaller bill" lol. Do you think 700 W is good enough or should I go with 1200 or 1500 W? And should I go with a radiant heater or a fan heater?

These are the two options I am checking out:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/1-500-W...pace-Heater-with-Thermostat-HO-0279/309069851

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Vornado...e-VH203-Personal-Vortex-EH1-0120-69/308717950

 

[FishEggs]

heater size all depends on the construction of the basement i.e. how much insulation in the walls, air sealing, drafts and ambient room temperature or current hvac system used. that being said 700 watt still sounds kinda small. i think i would go with a 1200 watt radiant heater and it would be best if you have it on a dedicated circuit.

 

[Marz]

heater size all depends on the construction of the basement i.e. how much insulation in the walls, air sealing, drafts and ambient room temperature or current hvac system used. that being said 700 watt still sounds kinda small. i think i would go with a 1200 watt radiant heater and it would be best if you have it on a dedicated circuit.

The walls are well-insulated and the door situation will be fixed soon, the hvac will be set to 68 to 70 in winter. Thanks for the tip on a dedicated circuit, makes total sense. I'll get the 1200 w, it will be still cheaper than individual heaters.

 

[FishEggs]

we have issues with those little ceramic heaters at work all the time. people bring them into the office for their little cubicles and when a couple of them kick on at the same time pop goes the circuit breaker. then i get a call that the power is out.
a 1200 watt heater will pull 10amps and most homes use 15amp circuit breakers so you have a little bit left on that circuit but not much and you dont want that circuit breaker to trip shutting off the heat or filter equipment/air pumps and losing fish.

 

[Marz]

Thank you. And please forgive my ignorance but by “circuit” did you mean 15amp on each outlet or all outlets in the basements that are controlled by one switch in the Electrical box? There are a few outlets in the basement and they’re all in use for mostly LED lights and a couple of canister filters and a central air pump.

 

[FishEggs]

the switch in the electrical box is called a circuit breaker. the circuit is anything connected to that one breaker. older homes it could be lights and outlets and sometimes appliances. newer homes they usually separated them onto different circuits. all depends on what the local building codes were at the time of install. So 15amp total on that one breaker (assuming it is 15 which is most common in homes. there should be a number on the breaker that signifies what amp it is)
the reason the breaker will trip is to stop the flow of electricity because too much is being pulled through the wires and risks overheating causing a fire.

 

[Marz]

Got it. There are about 12 or 13 breakers in the box, each one covering a section in my house and there’s one for the basement. I did shut it off once when I changed a couple of outlets in the fish room.

So I have about 600 w left for everything else in this circuit (minus the heater). I’ll have to check and see what kind of wattage the other equipments are drawing. If only there was an easy way to calculate the LED light wattage.