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Jimmoe t1_j25v8cm wrote

Pick up a couple of oil-filled space heaters for the tenants, and if the renters are paying for electric, shave some money off of that month's rent. That's how we cope with cold weather in our brick rowhouse. Heat the room you are in, and wear warm clothes.

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Blecher_onthe_Hudson OP t1_j25zvth wrote

Yeah, that's what I did in this unit before it actually had heat! The only heater it had was an old style 'gas on gas' stove with a convection heating unit on the side. The bedroom at the other end of the apartment got pretty cold and I provided an electric radiator. But electric radiator should not be part of the plan in my opinion.

But your response illustrates the conundrum I pointed out far up thread of where homeowners feel ok improvising while some renters feel their climate should be perfect no matter what's going on with the weather.

Years ago just after I bought a building and had the oil boiler replaced with gas I got a February call from a tenant saying it was freezing in the apartment. In a panic that the new boiler had failed I hustled up there with an infrared thermometer and found the apartment was 70° everywhere. The tenant was standing there in shorts and a tank top, and when I said the apartment was perfectly warm and maybe she should put on some clothes she screamed at me "that's bullshit!"

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Jimmoe t1_j261izj wrote

Hah. Good tenants are worth their weight in gold; bad tenants are a leaky bag of shit. This is a much more expensive solution, but what about a heat pump to augment your hot water system. It'll take care of your air conditioning needs too, and you'll probably snag some sort of tax rebate.

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Blecher_onthe_Hudson OP t1_j2647jq wrote

A two head minisplit would be a fantastic solution for this apartment, but it's rather expensive and I do not believe the 60A electric service to the unit could handle the load. But I actually have not really looked into it even though I have been harboring fantasies of doing just that for my own apartment, mostly for the air conditioning. Our New Jersey electricity is so damn expensive I have a hard time believing that a minisplit can compete with gas no matter what they say.

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Blecher_onthe_Hudson OP t1_j269odm wrote

Huh, it seems an 18k BTU 2 head minisplit will only need a 20A circuit! But as I've found with the current project, sizing heating for these uninsulated & leaky apartments is not easy, it would suck to spend all that money and still not have enough heat for the cold snap.

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wasting_-my-_time t1_j28ebk6 wrote

I have three heat pumps, one per floor, and had no trouble keeping the house over 70 even on the coldest days. They run on 20A circuits. My electric bill has been shockingly low. But we also haven't had a really cold day in years. My December bill (reading on 12/12) was $157. That's my highest bill. If I remember I'll post the next one

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Blecher_onthe_Hudson OP t1_j2903w2 wrote

What do you call a really cold day? One of my sources said we were at 7°, it's a really cold day in my book and I've lived in the area my whole life.

I assume you have more than one room per floor, how is the heat distributed around?

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wasting_-my-_time t1_j296ncr wrote

Really cold is the weather we had here last week or the polar vortex winter from 5-6 years ago. I'm in Hamilton Park and stayed toasty with the heat pumps.

Yes I do. It's a ducted mini-splits. Fujitsu has a fantastic low profile air handler. I have one in a wall and two in the ceilings.

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Blecher_onthe_Hudson OP t1_j29a3pq wrote

Wow, that sounds extremely cool but something that's not installed other than as part of a major reno.

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