Converting rental units to have their own separate utilities (heat)

[Peter Fokas]

Looking to get a better assessment of the costs separating utilities so that each renter is responsible to pay their own heat. I know this question depends on a lot of variables so cannot give one specific answer so just looking for general ballpark numbers for different cases. Perhaps someone who has done this can provide some details on how much it cost them to do this with their rental units.

[Steve Babiak]

Again, it depends on the specifics of the house. The pipes going to the radiators might be readily accessible, or they might all be between walls or floors and ceilings. At minimum you will pay for a new boiler sized sufficiently to heat the space for the smaller unit, assuming the existing boiler will heat the larger unit.

Then you might need to have more of a combustion air supply in order to support the additional burners. And there might be limitations on the exhaust vents also.

You also have to look at hot water heating, if the existing boiler is one of those winter-summer hook-ups.

And as for separate electric, if you have any public lighting in common areas or hallways, then you will need a house meter to keep that from being billed to tenants. If your electric utility or state has "foreign load" rules, not having a house meter could get you into trouble.

Then you might want to separate water. If you go that route, then you might want to consider what happens if there is only one water shut-off valve at the street, and one of the tenants decides to not pay the water bill; water company comes out and shuts off water at the street - and nobody has water.

I suggest you get some contractors to come in and give you a bid. I could guess a number like 7K or 8K, due to boilers being as pricey as they are - but you need real numbers, and prices for materials and labor could be much higher or lower where you are located.