When we first purchased our house, it was set up with a boiler in the basement linked to radiators in each of the rooms.
The heating system was positively ancient but worked just fine.
Those radiators managed to put out a tremendous amount of heat. Even when the outside temperature dropped well below zero, the house was always warm and comfortable. Plus, the radiators allowed for zoned control. Each room could be adjusted to an independent temperature. This allowed us to avoid paying to maintain unoccupied areas at the perfect comfort level. We could also accommodate individual preferences in the bedrooms. However, I absolutely hated those old radiators. They took up a great deal of space and the furniture needed to be arranged around them. The radiators were horribly ugly, hissed whenever they started up and became incredibly hot to the touch. I constantly worried about one of the kids or the dog getting burned. Despite how well the heating system worked, I wanted to get rid of it. I finally consulted with a professional HVAC contractor. The technician inspected the system and recommended that I keep the boiler in the basement. With regular maintenance, he said it could last many more years. He suggested that we replace the radiators with baseboard heaters. The project wasn’t overly expensive or invasive and made such an improvement. We still enjoy all of the benefits of a hydronic heating system with none of the drawbacks. The baseboard heaters are safe, compact, unobtrusive and handle all of our heating needs.