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Joseph Meehan

wrote:
I'm looking for advice on heating my 100+ year old 3-flat (no tenants,
just me and my sister).

It is currently heated by cast iron gas space heaters, 1 or 2 units
per floor, approximately 35000 BTU per heater. The brick building,
for the most part, has no insulation. It has an unheated glorified
crawl space, 3-5 feet in height. New windows and doors, so leaking
air is not a problem.

I'm remodeling the place and my contractor has suggested lowering the
10 foot ceilings to install central heat. I don't want to do that,
but I'm at a loss for alternatives. I'd like to install radiant
floor heat on the first floor, and gas fireplaces or heaters on the
other floors. I really like my old space heaters, but my sister
doesn't, and we should probably replace them anyway. I have a newer
space heater that doesn't work as well, plus it's downright ugly.
Direct vent gas firelplaces are being considered, but that requires
punching a hole in the wall, which I'm not too keen on.

Vent-free gas heaters are out of the question, as the aggrevate my
respiratory problems. Likewise for any heating system with a fan.

I'm afraid to convert to electrical heat completely, as I have no idea
what it would cost. Ideally, I would love to have a dual fuel system
(gas/electric), to be able to take advantage of whichever fuel is
cheaper. I live in Chicago, and electric rates are due to rise around
20% soon.

What are my options? (I plan to stay in this building for another
8-10 years.)

Karen

I would suggest contacting one or more local contractors and discuss
your options. I suspect that sticking with gas heat will be far cheaper for
heating than electric.

--
Joseph Meehan

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