Changing Electric Meters & Installing Two Zoned Heating System

We are considering a two family house in which the electric meters are as follows: one meter is for the top floor; the other meter is for the parlor & garden level. We plan on renting the garden level, thus we would need to change the configuration, so our tenant is paying separately for their electric. Is this a big undertaking? We would also like to put in 2 zoned heat: we are willing to pay for the heat, but would like the zoning for the tenant (who will primarily be there during the daytime), and for my family, on the two top floors. Are both an expensive cost? Thanks

mag

in About Brooklyn 10 years and 4 months ago

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DouglasAlan | 10 years and 4 months ago

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When we bought a two-family with the unit on top, the electric was all over the place. It cost us around $10K to isolate the tenant’s floor onto a separate meter. The work was done to code, but I wish we had gone with the next lowest bid of $12K because I kinda got what I paid for regarding neatness and professionalism. Even though your work probably won’t require a gut, the electrician will need to remove significant portions of drywall to get his work done. This gets dusty, and you’ll almost certainly have to handle that part of the repair yourself.

ellenlourie | 10 years and 4 months ago

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It does not matter hot water or steam system, you have an option to control temperature in each room individually.

eman134 | 10 years and 4 months ago

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If you have steam heat, forget about zoning it…if your system is hydronic (hot water) it is doable but will entail new runs from the boiler to the upper unit for every set of risers(typically 2-3)and a reconfiguration of the boiler piping and wiring

shahnandersen

in About Brooklyn 10 years and 4 months ago

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You are not telling us very much here. Are you planning to gut the building? If not I’d be more concerned about relocating the kitchen from the top floor (and installing a bathroom in the garden floor if necessary. Again, if you are not gutting, the cost of the electric depends a lot on whether currently the parlor floor and garden share circuits. It will be a lot easier to move whole circuits from one meter to the other, than having to split them.

Master Plvmber | 10 years and 4 months ago

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What kind of heat? Steam? Hot water? Forced air?