Hello wonderful people of this amazing forum. As the title says I need a bit of help. My husband and I bought a triplex built in 1917. We are rehabbing the building and need to make some decisions about heat. There are no systems at all right now, it's unoccupied, we're going down to the walls in most room and gutting all three bathrooms and kitchens.
The place had radiator heat that was operation in 2015 when the place was last rented. It a two pipe system with copper pipe run through the floors. I don't know how well it's zoned. There's also three gas lines so each unit is split.
Ideally we want each tenant paying their own heating cost. We know that means buying three of whatever system we chose.
Personally, I want to keep the radiators. Radiators work well and keep your house warm even after you turn them off. Every HVAC we've spoke to is trying to convince us to install forced air. It means running all kinds of ducts through the apartment and on the outside. They claim it a lot easier, cheaper, and reliable than radiators.
I was looking into tankless hot water heaters. The units are each 2 bedrooms one bath, about 900 sqft. I figured a smaller unit would be okay in each unit. If that's not feasible, my gas company also gives rebated for boilers. $1500 for the and 800 for each additional unit. It would still be more expensive than the tankless heaters but not by much 900-1500 more for all three boilers after rebates.
question 1, is three tanks or boilers ridiculous,
question 2, will it be cheaper and easier to switch to forced air (estimates are between 15k-20k)
Question 3 Boilers vs hot water heaters. (tankless options on both)?
Please fee free to rip apart any holes in my plans. I want to make sure we do everything as right as possible. We are planning to keep this house and rent it, it matters more that our tenants are happy with the heat (it works and doesn't cost an arm and a leg) that the heating being "pretty"
The place had radiator heat that was operation in 2015 when the place was last rented. It a two pipe system with copper pipe run through the floors. I don't know how well it's zoned. There's also three gas lines so each unit is split.
Ideally we want each tenant paying their own heating cost. We know that means buying three of whatever system we chose.
Personally, I want to keep the radiators. Radiators work well and keep your house warm even after you turn them off. Every HVAC we've spoke to is trying to convince us to install forced air. It means running all kinds of ducts through the apartment and on the outside. They claim it a lot easier, cheaper, and reliable than radiators.
I was looking into tankless hot water heaters. The units are each 2 bedrooms one bath, about 900 sqft. I figured a smaller unit would be okay in each unit. If that's not feasible, my gas company also gives rebated for boilers. $1500 for the and 800 for each additional unit. It would still be more expensive than the tankless heaters but not by much 900-1500 more for all three boilers after rebates.
question 1, is three tanks or boilers ridiculous,
question 2, will it be cheaper and easier to switch to forced air (estimates are between 15k-20k)
Question 3 Boilers vs hot water heaters. (tankless options on both)?
Please fee free to rip apart any holes in my plans. I want to make sure we do everything as right as possible. We are planning to keep this house and rent it, it matters more that our tenants are happy with the heat (it works and doesn't cost an arm and a leg) that the heating being "pretty"