Ask Me Help Desk - Baseboard heaters

I have some used baseboard heaters I want to install in my basement. 1) They have two wires on the unit itself and four wires on the thermostat, can I assume my power coming in must go to the thermostat first and then to the heater? 2) The four wires on thermostat are labeled L1 & L2 and T1 & T2 , I assume the L wires are for incoming power and T wires go to the heater unit ? 3) How many heaters can I run off one thermostat ? 4) How many heaters can I run off one breaker ( these are 4 and 5 foot baseboard heaters ) ? 5) Is there any advantage to either solid or stranded wire ( copper ) ? This will all be 240 V I phase.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks

S N

You are correct with the wiring, to confirm I added a simple wiring diagram to show that.

A typical heating circuit will be a 20 amp with #12-2 cable with ground, starting at a 20 amp two pole circuit breaker, feed the thermostat and then onto the heater(s) to be controlled by that stat.

A 20 amp 240 volt heating circuit can handle up to a maximum of 3840 watts of heat. So you can use one heater at 3840 watts, or any multiple amount of heaters that add up to no more that 3840 watts.

One circuit can feed more than one thermostat, each that only controls one room. So for example, if there are three rooms, each having a 1000 watt heater, totals 3000 watts, these can all fit on one circuit, just need to feed the circuit to three stats, each controlling it's one heater.

There is no difference in solid or stranded wire. Most cable, Romex, BX, and MC, is typically all solid. Stranded wire is typically used for conduit systems, as solid wire, while still used, is much more difficult to pull than stranded wire.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tkrussell

You are correct with the wiring, to confirm I added a simple wiring diagram to show that.

A typical heating circuit will be a 20 amp with #12-2 cable with ground, starting at a 20 amp two pole circuit breaker, feed the thermostat and then onto the heater(s) to be controlled by that stat.

A 20 amp 240 volt heating circuit can handle up to a maximum of 3840 watts of heat. so you can use one heater at 3840 watts, or any multiple amount of heaters that add up to no more that 3840 watts.

I think I found my answer here, but I want to be sure. I just got back from the electrical supply house and I'm thinking the guy gave me the wrong breaker. I just bought 2 5ft 1250 watt baseboards. So a total of 2500 watts. The guy at the supply house gave me a 30 amp 240 volt circuit. Couldn't I run this off a 20 amp?

And the 2nd question? Is it easier to run the power to the thermostat first then heater 1 then heater 2? That's my planned installation... just wanted to verify. Thanks!