Rental Property Investor · Sioux Falls, SD · Member since 2015 · 9k+ posts · 18k+ votes
10y
@Atwan Kwan that seems like a really high gas bill. Can you provide more detail on the property like age, square feet, furnace age, is it single or multifamily, etc? Replacing the thermostat with a digital programmable type is a good first step. Next look at the furnace. You could have a 70% or worse efficient furnace and a new one could be 95% or better. The furnace upgrade could pay for itself quickly. You get to depreciate it on your taxes. Check the attic first because that is where most of your heat escapes. Should be 18" or more of insulation in the attic. If not, having insulation blown is cheap and fast. Once you start getting into windows, it is going to help but will cost lots of money up front.
Just to summarize in order. Thermostat upgrade, furnace upgrade, attic insulation, windows.
One final caution is that tenants who do not pay their own heat will often be careless. I had a property where I paid gas and I drove by in January to find all the upstairs windows open. They said it was hot so they opened the windows. Whenever possible have the tenant pay all utilities and you will be amazed how much the bills decrease.
Property Manager · Rockville, MD · Member since 2014 · 287 posts · 29 votes
10y
@Account Closed thanks for sharing your input. We're pretty diligent about airfilters and putting dates on them to remember to switch out. we do duct cleaning about once a year....
but knowing how bad our costs are and how long it's been going on, why would you not consider changing the mechanical unit?
That's really going to depend on the location. For Maryland, I expect you are correct and there is a substantial difference in cost/Btu between natural gas and electricity which will offset the increased efficiency of using a heat-pump .... kind of like how inordinately low petroleum prices offset the *real* cost of operating large, fuel-inefficient vehicles in North America.
Here in the Maritimes where oil, natural gas and electricity are equally expensive, a heat pump is an ideal replacement for a gas furnace (we've replaced a handful in the past three years).
Of course, the selection of a heating fuel is only a factor until you design the building to be sufficiently efficient that a traditional HVAC system is not required ... an area where we are decades behind despite some of the earliest building efficiency research having been done in Canada and the U.S.A.