Triplex Heating Dilemma

[Hector Vazquez]

Hi all,

I'm about to purchase a triplex. It has one furnace that goes to all the units. I can already feel all the text and calls it and I will receive from the tenants complaining that the thermostat is either too high or too low. I have one unit in the second floor into units in the first floor. Only one gas line, so I cannot add additional furnaces, and quite frankly I believe it cost prohibitive given the rents in the area.

My other thought was to do baseboard heaters, I do not know the effectiveness of the heat, and it's my understanding that it's expensive to run for the tenants.

At this point in considering putting a high-efficiency furnace with a thermostat that is going at the moment to the unit on the top given that it's the biggest. However I'm not quite sure how to deal with the hassle of the tenants not agreeing on a temperature. I have thought of password protecting the thermostat and controlling it remotely, but I would hate getting texts to move the thermostat so I believe that is out of the question additionally there is no common area where I can put the thermostat.

Cost wise I'm not quite too worried, I'm planning to charge gas on a month-to-month basis based on square footage size and the bill of that month. Although a bit of a hassle, I can have my assistant help with that piece of it.

Any advice is appreciated.

Thank you,

Hector

[Max T.]

Add electric baseboard heaters to each unit with thermostats in each unit that they can control.

Keep the house heater set to the minimum 60 degrees to prevent frozen pipes, and lock the thermostat.