Electric baseboards is a great idea for landlords because you pass all the heating costs to the tenant, so your heating bill will drop significantly.
One downside, particularly with small, cramp brownstone apartments, is where to put them. You will need to put one in every room except the kitchen, and, more problematic, the boards are typically 4' or 6' long, and they really only heat well if unobstructed (no furniture in front of them). So that's 4' to 6' of wall space that you and the tenants will need to keep bare in each room, and space is obvioulsy one thing brownstones don't have much of.
A second concern would be whether your wiring can handle it, because if the wires get too hot, then you have a fire risk on your hands.
A 3rd issue, not really your problem but, your tenants might not like that their electric bill is $100 higher, NYC tenants are not used to paying for their heat, and if this becomes too popular it will put some heating/oil companies out of business; so in more than one way there might be a ground swell against it.
If you ever get in major flooring work done, then floor heating systems might be a good idea. Heating guys will still suffer, but it would solve the space problem, wiring concerns, you can still have it done in a way that the tenant bares most of the costs, and it'll cost much less electricity.
Electric baseboards is a great idea for landlords because you pass all the heating costs to the tenant, so your heating bill will drop significantly.
One downside, particularly with small, cramp brownstone apartments, is where to put them. You will need to put one in every room except the kitchen, and, more problematic, the boards are typically 4' or 6' long, and they really only heat well if unobstructed (no furniture in front of them). So that's 4' to 6' of wall space that you and the tenants will need to keep bare in each room, and space is obvioulsy one thing brownstones don't have much of.
A second concern would be whether your wiring can handle it, because if the wires get too hot, then you have a fire risk on your hands.
A 3rd issue, not really your problem but, your tenants might not like that their electric bill is $100 higher, NYC tenants are not used to paying for their heat, and if this becomes too popular it will put some heating/oil companies out of business; so in more than one way there might be a ground swell against it.
If you ever get in major flooring work done, then floor heating systems might be a good idea. Heating guys will still suffer, but it would solve the space problem, wiring concerns, you can still have it done in a way that the tenant bares most of the costs, and it'll cost much less electricity.
Posted by: dpadean at July 18, 2008 3:31 PM in response to Questions on electric baseboard heating