Holding bracket for hot-water baseboard
View Patent ↗A hydronic baseboard heater for use with PEX tubing has a hold-down bracket which is snapped into the baseboard enclosure to engage the tube of the finned tube element and provide additional support when flexible PEX tubing is used.
1. A hot-water baseboard heater comprising:
an elongated enclosure configured for convective flow of air upwardly therethrough;
an elongated heating element extending within and mounted in said enclosure and comprised of a metal tube having a connection end, and an array of metal fins spaced from said connection end;
cross-linked polyethylene tubing having a fitting joined to said connection end for passing hot water through said metal tube; and
a hold down bracket engaged in said enclosure and fitting at least partly around said tube between said connection end and said array, the hold down bracket comprising a substantially planar sheet-metal body formed with
upper and lower bent portions engaging in channels formed in the enclosure at a top and bottom thereof,
a generally L-shaped transverse plate connected to the body by a fold and fitting over the tube between the connection end and the array,
first and second flanges bent perpendicular to a plane of the plate along edges thereof adjacent the tube;
a third flange bent perpendicular to the plate and perpendicular to the body.
2. The baseboard defined in claim 1 wherein said body is formed with a hole adapted to be traversed by a screw passing through said body and a back of said enclosure into a wall behind the baseboard heater.
3. The baseboard defined in claim 2 formed in one piece from sheet metal.
4. A hold down bracket for engagement with a finned tube heating element of a hydronic baseboard in which a connection end of the tube is connectable to cross-linked polyethylene tubing, said hold down bracket comprising a substantially planar sheet-metal body formed with
upper and lower bent portions engageable in channels formed in an enclosure of the baseboard heater at a top and bottom thereof,
a generally L-shaped transverse plate connected to said body by a fold and fitting over said tube between said connection end and the array of fins of the heating element;
first and second flanges bent perpendicular to a plane of the plate along edges thereof adjacent the tube, and
a third flange bent perpendicular to the plate and perpendicular to the body.
5. The hold down bracket defined in claim 4 wherein said body is formed with a hole adapted to be traversed by a screw passing through said body and a back of said enclosure into a wall behind the baseboard heater.
6. The hold down bracket defined in claim 5 formed in one piece from sheet metal.