Rental Property Investor · Rochester Hills, MI · Member since 2016 · 49 posts · 18 votes
Hi BP,
I own an upper/lower duplex. I'm converting it into a triplex by finishing part of the basement into a studio flat. The basement flat is a small space, only about 300 sqft. There is one furnace so the heating is shared. The previous owner set up the thermostat in the common area of the basement.
Now I'll have three flats all with shared heating and one thermostat. In the winter, the temperature is going to vary greatly between the basement and second floor flats. What's the best way to ensure the tenants aren't constantly fighting over the thermostat? Should I make the new basement studio completely electric heat? Should I write in the studio flat's new lease the thermostat must be kept at a comfortable temperature for all building occupants, and recommend them by a space heater to cover any temperature difference?
HVAC Tech · Fort Wayne, IN · Member since 2015 · 423 posts · 223 votes
9y
Honeywell makes a thermostat where you can install sensors all over the the building, the thermostat takes an average of all the sensors, and heats or cools to that average. You can wire up the sensors, or get wireless. it's not Wi-Fi, though you can gatelink it to be Wi-Fi. You buy the sensors in groups of 4. so 4, 8, 12, and so on. Its Honeywell Pro 8000 Red Link.
Royal Oak, MI · Member since 2015 · 257 posts · 230 votes
9y
I just installed a second thermostat and damper system into a SFH we were flipping in Plymouth and it has drastically reduced the variance of temperatures between the first and second floors. If you have everyone on shared utilities, this is somewhat fair since the upstairs will use more AC during summer, but the lower will use more gas during the winter. I have the same situation in my Ferndale duplex and I just did what I could with tightening up the building envelope and installing a WiFi thermostat that both could have access too. I will add the damper system in 2-3 years when the HVAC gets replaced.
Rental Property Investor · Jersey City, NJ · Member since 2011 · 1k+ posts · 876 votes
9y
Interesting question. I've never owned forced air but every home my parents did was freezing in the basement no matter what they tried. Assuming you're burning gas, one thing you could easily do to supplement the heat in the basement is run hot water baseboard from the domestic HW heater. I have small apartments where this is the only heat. There's a few design guidelines, but basically you just use a bronze circulator, TACO makes one with built in thermostat circuit, and pipe some baseboard in the unit with it's own thermostat. So it kicks on to supplement the forced air.
Rental Property Investor · Rochester Hills, MI · Member since 2016 · 49 posts · 18 votes
9y
Thanks for all the help guys!
@Kevin Manz thanks for the tip I looked into a thermostat with multiple temperature sensors. Ecobee makes one that's a little more up to date. I may consider that in the future.
@Johann Jells I don't know if I want to sacrifice the hot water heater to heat the space. It will already have it's work cut out for it to provide hot water for showers, etc. Supplemental baseboard heat is a great idea, I am looking into electric ones.
Rental Property Investor · Rochester Hills, MI · Member since 2016 · 49 posts · 18 votes
9y
I appreciate the input everyone! I'm going to see how it goes once I get all the tenants moved in. If the basement tenant complains its too cold, I'll probably look in to provided a space heater or electric baseboard heat to supplement the forced air. Being that the basement flat is <300 sqft I wouldn't need much wattage to supplement the heat.