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Electric Heating Baseboard Installation & Wiring Guide InspectAPedia®  -     How to wire electric baseboards & wall or floor mounted electric heaters How to locate & install electric baseboards safely - avoid electrical fires How to buy, install, inspect and diagnose each type of electric heat in buildings Electric heat choices, electric heat wiring and installation tips and safety suggestions How to estimate the amount of electric heating baseboard needed

Here we discuss wiring and overcurrent protection for electric heaters and electric baseboards, followed by notes on the proper location for electric heating baseboards to avoid overheating or fires. This website answers most questions about all types of heating systems and gives important inspection, safety, and repair advice. Methods for saving on heating cost and on improving heating safety are included. Heating safety hazards such as carbon monoxide gas leaks, unsafe furnaces, furnace and boiler recalls are addressed. If you don't know what kind of heat your building uses, see our introduction at BOILERS, HEATING. Sketch at page top courtesy of Carson Dunlop.

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Wiring and Overcurrent Protection for Electric Heating Systems

The wiring sizes and overcurrent protection for electric heat must be correct for fire safety, as Carson Dunlop's sketch demonstrates.

Special electrical wire used for electric heating circuits is coded with red or orange plastic exterior sheathing and contains internal conductors colored black (hot) and red (hot) as well as a ground wire.

The sketch at above right handles a common electric heat wiring detail where this special electric heating wire has not been used. Since usually our electric heaters are 240V and require two hot wires, it's common for an electrician to run conventional 12-2 NM plastic electrical cable or BX armored cable to the heater.

In order to avoid confusion during future electrical work, the white wire of the black-and-white wire pair is wrapped with black electrical tape wherever its ends are exposed for wiring connections. This tells future electricians that this is a "hot" wire, not a neutral wire.

Overcurrent protection for electric heat: Electric 240V heaters also should be powered from circuit breakers using a common trip tie or fuses that are linked together - (we don't want just one leg of the circuit to be turned off or to trip off in an emergency).

Electric Baseboard Heat Installation Safety Details

Here are some suggested safety details to avoid a fire from electric baseboard heat. Sketches courtesy of Carson Dunlop.

As we discussed at Electrical Outlet, how to install, we don't place electrical outlets over or too close to the ends of electric baseboard heaters. (Sketch above at right).

Don't locate curtains or drapes over or in front of electric heaters. Keep drapes and curtains at least 8" above electric baseboards, and at least 3" in front of them. The reason for the 1" floor clearance is also to allow air to circulate. Circulating air both helps the heat to enter the occupied space and it also helps prevent the curtain from becoming too hot.

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• Thanks to Alan Carson and Bob Dunlop, Carson Dunlop, Associates, Toronto, for permission to use illustrations from their publication, The Illustrated Home which illustrates construction details and building components. Carson Dunlop provides home inspection education, publications, report writing materials, and home inspection services. Alan Carson is a past president of ASHI, the American Society of Home Inspectors.

Use links just below or at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.

ELECTRIC HEAT
  Types of Electric Heat
  Feet of Baseboard Heat Needed?
  Electric Heater Locations
  Wiring and Overcurrent Protection
  Electric Baseboard Heat Safety
  Staged Electric Furnaces
  Diagnose & Repair Electric Heat
  Test Electric Wall / Floor Heater

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