On Thu, 9 Apr 2015 14:59:36 -0700 (PDT), Ivan Vegvary
wrote:

Contemplating adding an ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit) to an existing residence in Portland, Oregon. In California this was called a "Mother-in-law Apartment".

Unit to be in basement. Main floor already has owner

Are you the owner? You live there all year round?

and two room mates sharing utility (gas and electric) bills. ADU will be 2 bedrooms and a large open kitchen-dining-family room. Separate street entrance. Approximately 800 square feet.

HVAC guy says electric heaters are out of the question due to utility costs. Next best would be 3 mini-splits (different sizes).

3??!! One for each room?

Down side is the high initial equipment cost ($4-5 k) plus installation.

What does the HVAC guy care. He's not paying. In fact I'm bet his
making money on it.

Also it's kind of wasteful since the air-conditioning capabilities of the mini-splits will rarely be used.

My basement is cool all summer

Most favorable would be keeping the existing furnace and adding additional ducts for a separately zoned system. Low initial cost, only one piece of equipment to maintain, easily serviced and easily replaceable.

Said furnace is gas and I need advice on how some of you have split the utility bill. To date the heating (furnace-air conditioning and water heater) averages about $70 per month. If we follow this model (splitting cost) what prevents the basement tenant from cranking up the heat to 90°, either on purpose or carelessly while away at work?

A separate thermostat that he doesn't know about that you control. You
could set it to 74 maybe. Or 70.

When I was in a small college fraternity, which used what had been a
farily large private home, the house manager (one of the members), the
thermostat was in the dining room, and he drilled a hole in the
indicator plate on side which had marks for the degrees the stat was set
to, and he put a screw in the hole so the lever could not be moved
higher than the screw allowed. Maybe 74 when he set it for 70, or 72
when he wanted it set for 68.

And some of the guys would turn the thermostat up to the maximum. But
the house manager was my roommate and I learned that the thermostat was
not actually connected to the furnace. He had another thermostat
somewhere else that controlled the furnace. It was warm enough for me
all the time so I never followed the wires or searched for the other
thermostat.

(He also thought we watched too much TV, so he took the plug and ripped
out one prong, and plugged it back in. We didn't really watch much tv
(I didn't watch at all) or someone would have wanted the set fixed, and
it never came up at the once-a-week chapter meetings. It was a serious
school and no one goofed off much, and most went on to grad school, so
TV was really not a big thing. )

Tnese are college stories but I see no reason you can't do the same
thing.


There are plenty of solutions to separate the electrical charges (second se=
rvice, private meter etc.). However don't see an easy way to split out the=
bill for a single gas furnace that is zoned to take care of two areas.

Itemize the percentages and show the past bill (bills when there are
more than one) and point out how cheap it is. Tell 'em, iti's as fair
as I can make it and it's defintelty cheaper than anywhere else. Or
any other way, like minisplits.

I had a 2-BR apartment for $175, and 2 straight guys trying to save
money wanted the second bedroom. So what is fair? Who knows, but I
thought 75 for me and 100 for them seemed pretty close to right, and
they said fine, and it was fine. They also had a living room that
iirc they never used, a kitchen and a bathroom for 50 a piece .

I'm sure some of you have already solved this. Subject is new to me.

BTW, would it be legal for me to place a temperature sensor (full disclosure to tenant)
in their unit and ding them for heating above a certain temperature?

I don't see why not but you'd better get every detail in the lease.
What happens if the price of gas goes up or down. What happens if one
moves out. Or don't base it on the price of gas. Still, it sounds
complicated and a source of friction. Despit your sensor, he'll say he
never turned it up, if it went up it's because of some weird thing your
furnace did. Your furnace, not his.

Maybe best to include heat and just not let it get too hot,

Or Itemize heat at so much per degree day -- boy that sounds like a lot
of work.

All suggestions greatly appreciated.

You don't really mean that.

Ivan Vegvary

On Thu, 09 Apr 2015 20:05:18 -0400, micky
wrote:


A separate thermostat that he doesn't know about that you control. You
could set it to 74 maybe. Or 70.

I meant connected in series or something so that they could control the
temp with their thermostat up to the maximum you set on yours.