Convert to baseboard heating?

Question

Hi, in need of a second opinion on my idea. Ive been having trouble in my home (Bergen county NJ) regarding the heat. issues such as the radiators leaking, one tenant having control of boiler so he shuts it off when ever he is too "hot", whole home is currenlty running on gas boiler with steam radiators with one thermostat.

anyway, my idea is to convert to electric baseboard heating, the units are not that big maybe 1200sq. Tenants pay own electric with separate meters.

Is installing electric baseboard a good idea over all?

even if it eliminates all issues?

will the electric bill sky rocket?

if so, can i get a specific wattage baseboard?

Nathan Gesner · Answer

If you have a boiler, you should be able to create different zones so each residence can control their own heat. That should be your #1 option.

Removing the boilers and installing electric baseboard would be a major expense and could be more expensive for your tenants based on the cost of electricity.

John Warren · Answer

@Lenin Garcia I recently installed electric baseboard throughout a 22 unit building in Cicero. Our boiler did not have any zones for 22 apartments which is an insane set up, and the tenants obviously were very uncomfortable being either too hot or too cold. Electric baseboard is the best for smaller apartments as it has no maintenance schedule and it is a very simple heat source. As a manager or owner, you have nothing to do for electric baseboard. You just install it and forget it.

The tenants may have issues with the bill over the long run if you put it in larger units. It costs around 25-30% more to heat the space based on my past experience, BUT gas prices have shot up so this may not be true any longer. There is a lot of false information out there about how cheap gas is, but now that prices are up I would not be surprised if electric types of heat ended up being similarly priced.

Joe Splitrock · Answer

@Lenin Garcia electric baseboard will be very expensive for the tenants. You may think, "who cares they are paying". That is a common mistake landlords make. Tenants cost to live in your property includes utilities. If your competitors have heat included and rent is $1000 and you make tenants pay for heat at average month expense of $200, then you can only charge $800 rent to be competitive. Tenants will move out of properties with electric heat after one cold winter.

I would fix the radiator baseboard heat and get better zone controls. This will be your most efficient heating method.

Joseph Guzzardi Jr · Answer

@Lenin Garcia you will need to look and evaluate the cost of separating the heat or zoning it vs another type of system. I am hoping I'm done with all my steam boiler issues myself. I honestly don't think I'll buy another house that has a steam boiler. If the electric is separate perhaps look into ductless mini split system or as you mentioned electric baseboard.

Shawn Mcenteer · Answer

@Lenin Garcia I would look into separating gas so each unit base their own meter.  New heating system and new base board for the unit.  I did this for my first house hack in North New Jersey. It made life much easier for me knowing I did not have 1 unit controlling all the heat.  Both units now put there name in the utilities instead of landlord paying bill

Colleen F. · Answer

@Lenin Garcia  electric baseboard is expensive to run but relatively cheap to install if your electric is sufficient.  I wouldn't do it though. yes, the electric bill will skyrocket.   If you want to convert a single unit you could do minisplit but  also alot. Your best move is probably to get the radiators working right and not have the tenant shut off the heat. You don't say if you have steam or hot water radiators but leaking at the radiator may be caused by a number of things and the shutting off of the system is probably contributing.  If your boiler is good there is no reason to change. Now if you have an end of life boiler you might look at mays to split the system but electric baseboard wouldn't be my choice

Tim Miller · Answer

We have an over/under duplex with a boiler system. You need to show the tenant how to adjust each radiator per room. Than you need to put in a new electronic thermostat that you can lock with a code. We have one that we can control with an app and this makes life soo much easier. After setting that up and training the tenants, advise the tenant not to shut the boiler off, unless it's an emergency. If he continues to shut if off, don't renew him.

Joe Martella · Answer

How much would it cost to change everything to electric, vs. putting in another furnace or zone?

Colleen F. · Answer

@Lenin Garcia  sounds like you have steam radiators IF you can't fix the issue Like @John Bucci advises you might be better off with one unit on minisplits, depending on the setup. Don't discount that this would add AC to the unit, a nice to have in NJ.  Yes more expensive then electric baseboard but I had a house on electric baseboard and got nothing but cost complaints. That same house is now on minisplits and the cost looks to be cheaper to run.

You need to compare cost to the hot water conversion John reccommends.  Electric baseboard will increase your turnover.

John Bucci · Answer

@Lenin Garcia

Hey Lenin, I am a plumber in New York and can guide you a little about steam boilers and possibly give you some insight. Basically with steam heat you cannot create or make separate zones. You can only make separate zones with a hot water boiler. If some rooms are getting to hot and cold the system may not be balanced correctly because of the relief vents on the side.

Option 1: Would be to change the radiator valves for each radiator(which will allow tenant to open and close the valves depending on which rooms get to hot). The old one may be faulty and allow steam to pass through. This process may be a little costly because it’s a decent undertaking.

Option 2: Install a hot water boiler with separate zones for each unit. This requires running separate lines with new baseboard or radiators. There may be a possibility you can convert the old steam radiators to hot water radiators but the plumber may spend more time on each individual radiator than you buying new material.

I don’t know much about electric so I can’t give input on that topic.

Good luck! If you need more info please feel free to contact me

Convert to baseboard heating?

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