Would Like to Separate Upstairs and Downstairs Heat & Hot Water

DIYHomeOwner · May 10

Hi Guys, is it possible to separate the upstairs heating and hot water for showers etc. from the downstairs basement? Presently the basement is unimproved. I presently have only one thermostat in the entire 1950's ranch style house. I eventually want to rent out the basement. I am about to get a natural gas line from the natural gas company installed. Presently, I have an older Weil McLain oil burner which works well. It looks kind of smallish and I believe it was installed in 1987. Not sure how much longer the oil burner boiler will last. I have hot water cast iron radiators in the upstairs and in the basement. The oil burner heats the hot water (with a coil). I guess I should get rid of the oil burner and take advantage of the incentives the natural gas company is offering, although the incentives apparently end in June. Not sure if I will be able to take advantage of the incentives before the offer expires. So I did some research and found out there is a meter that can be installed after the natural gas company's meter. That way the basement could pay for their own consumption of natural gas. Apparently after doing some research there is a way to measure electricity also, after the electric company's electrical meter. I was thinking I could possibly have an electrician install a separate tankless heater for hot water for the radiators and shower etc. in the basement. Or I could just have one boiler or tankless installed for the entire house, upstairs and downstairs rental, but I am unable to figure out how to separate the consumption of natural gas for the basement, as opposed to the upstairs if only one boiler or tankless is utilized?

Thank you. I would appreciate your insight and opinions into this matter.

Jamie Hall · May 10

Really two quite separate problems. The easy one is physically separating the first floor heating and hot water from the basement heating and hot water. Depending on exactly how the piping runs, it is more or less simple.

And, once they are separated, having a different control (thermostat) for the first floor and the basement is also simple.

HOWEVER. The other half of the problem is not so simple: how do you power the two systems if you want to have each tenant pay for their own heat and hot water? The only really good way to do it is to have separate appliances for each. Then you can also have that split natural gas meter arrangement — essentially two services for gas with one main meter — and also split the electricity if need be.

What is very difficult to do with any accuracy is to split the cost if you have only one boiler serving both units, or only one water heater. Not that it can't be done, but it requires particular meters to measure the actual amount of power going to each unit after the boiler and hot water heater.

All of which is to say that in my opinion you would be best advised to have separate boilers and water heaters, one for each unit. Do NOT be tempted to use a tankless water heater in place of a boiler, however. They are designed, built, and controlled to do the job they are meant for and in particular a water heater will have a short and miserable life if you try to use it as a boiler.

EBEBRATT-Ed · May 10

While you can split thing most place will not allow you to have a separate sub meter for billing purposes.

The easiest way with a small house would be to put the basement on its own electric water heater and electric baseboard heat and have them pay their own electric bill by splitting the electric service with two panels.

But it may not be so simple to convince the town to allow a two family house

DIYHomeOwner · 2:04AM

Thank you very much Jamie Hall and EBEBRATT-Ed. You gave me important information to think about. I can foresee asking to pick your brain in the future. 👍️

EdTheHeaterMan · 3:18AM

First step is to find out if that property is zoned for two family dwelling. In most cases you can do that without a problem. You may not even need any permits to divide the property into two separate units.

Next step, assuming that you can separate the basement into a separate apartment, is to decide how you plan to separate the electricity. One meter and increase the rent enough for you to pay the electric bill yourself. There is no metering involved. You just rent the space with utilities included.

If that idea is not appealing to you, then you would need to remove all the wiring from the lighting, electrical outlets, and appliances that serve the basement apartment, and disconnect those wires from your existing electrical service panel. The electric company would then provide a second meter, and you would need to install all new wiring dedicated to the basement apartment.

This would include:

electrical outlets spaced every 12 feet (or whatever spacing your local electrical code requires),
lighting fixtures,
appliance connections,
and all related branch circuits.

All of that wiring would need to connect to a new electrical panel, which would then connect to the new meter socket that you provide.

That work would require an electrical permit, so you may need to hire a licensed electrician. It is expensive up front, but you only need to do it once. If you are a DIY homeowner, you may be allowed to pull your own electrical permit for work in your own home. However, since you are planning to rent the space to someone else, you will most likely need a licensed electrician to obtain the permit. After that, tenants for years to come would pay for their own electricity.

Does the basement heat need to come from those radiators? Would the electric bill be too high if the space were heated with electric baseboard heaters? Or would the space require less heat because there is no cold roof above it and part of the basement is below grade?

Electric baseboard heaters are usually the least expensive option to install; however, they are generally the most expensive to operate. That is your next decision.

Finally, you would need to remove all the radiators from the basement, or at least disconnect them from your upstairs heating system. If you do not, then your gas bill would still be paying for part of the downstairs heating. While you are at it, you would probably also want to insulate the heating pipes serving your apartment upstairs. Those pipes radiate a considerable amount of heat into the basement, which means you would still be paying to heat the basement every time the pipes get hot to heat your apartment.

Lots to think about.

hot_rod · 3:21AM

The basement has a separate entry??

Sleeping rooms in the basement need egress windows also.

Would Like to Separate Upstairs and Downstairs Heat & Hot Water

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