How to Baby-Proof Baseboard Heaters

Baby proofing your home involves removing as many dangers from the baby’s environment as possible, reducing the number of household opportunities for injury. With a baseboard heater, the design of the heating system itself poses a danger. Most heating covers use a fin-shaped design to allow for efficient dispersal of heat from the heating element inside. Curious children see this fin as an opportunity to explore with hands or flammables, causing severe burning or fires. Baby proofing requires replacement of this cover with a new perforated steel design. The holes in the replacement are too small for items or fingers but can still grow hot with use, so blocking the heater slightly is necessary as well.

Screwdriver
Tape measure
Baseboard heater cover with perforated galvanized steel holes
Fireplace screen

Instructions

- 1
  Remove the endcaps from the baseboards. Most baseboard endcaps will pop right off. Check for any screws holding them in place if yours does not. Unscrew the endcap then remove it from the side of the baseboard.
- 2
  Measure the heating element without the endcaps for the fit of the replacement cover. Take measurements from the bottom of the finned heating tube to the tip edge of the baseboard, from the wall to the front of the tube and from the top of the board to the floor.
- 3
  Use the results to order a replacement baseboard heater cover with galvanized steel holes that allow the heat through rather than the traditional finned design.
- 4
  Remove the existing baseboard heater cover by grasping the front panel with both hands and lifting it up and away.
- 5
  Place the replacement panel over the baseboard heater with the rear ledge of the panel against the wall and push downward so that the replacement panel slides over the heating unit. Push the replacement endcaps on both ends of the panel to complete the installation.
- 6
  Place a fireplace screen against the wall surrounding the baseboard to prevent the baby from reaching the heater at all.

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