Alternative heat/cool solution for section 8 rental

[Mauricio Quintana]

Hi all,

I'm hoping to get some feedback from Section 8 landlords. I'm working on my first rehab that will be designated as a S8 rental. This will be in Macon, GA and the guidelines state the house must have a heat source. The property is a duplex that will have window units as a cooling source. The only problem with getting the heating/cooling window units is the amount of electricity needed to run them. I would have to put all 4 units on separate breakers which would be very costly. Electrician is telling me that even then, I would have to get the city to provide more voltage to the house in order to make this happen.

Do any current S8 landlords use something outside of a central HVAC unit for their places? If so, what do you use? Any recommendations on the above would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[John Warren]

@Mauricio Quintana I second the electric baseboard heat idea. I own quite a few units that are heated this way in Lyons and Berwyn, IL. They are more expensive to operate which is all the contractors ever talk about when they try to force you towards gas solutions. Once you have them in, you will never hear about them again. They appear to be almost bullet proof, and best of all they are redundant. If one heater stops working you still have multiple heat sources going. This helps you avoid the 2 a.m. call to the hvac tech because your gas furnace or boiler went out.