Quote:
Originally Posted by Via Chicago
i will say, the thing i hate about remodeled buildings is the forced air heat. its not a step up IMO. radiators are still the gold standard and its why i still choose to be in older buildings. A) it saves me a buttload on heating costs as a renter, and B) dosent dry everything out. plus theyre more efficient and require less maintenance anyway.
my girlfriend bought a house in Little Village for 50k (speaking of affordable housing) and is actively looking to rip out the duct work and put radiators back in.
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Don't do it, it's a terrible idea. As a renter radiators only save you money because you aren't paying for gas. What you don't see is the cracked pipes in the basement that cost $3000 to fix, the blown pumps that cost $5k, or the huge heating bill you get just for having it turned on in Septembers like this year when it's 60 degrees all month and you are burning gas like it's -10 degrees in january.
The absolutely do not require less maintenance, I'm not sure where you are getting that from. Any time you are talking about water it's a maintenance nightmere and a liability just waiting to totally trash your asset. Water is the enemy of property owners and can do a tremendous amount of damage in a matter of hours. With radiators you are talking about hot water under preassure that sits idle for 6 months a year. Ugh, gives me the creeps just thinking about it.
Anyhow, I've never even owned a building with radiators. Every single property I've bought up until the one I just mentioned, I mean every single one (and I've bought and sold double digit numbers of properties) has had space heaters when I've purchased them. Now these are the best thing ever, like modular radiators that can be easily turned on and off and sip gas. They also have zero maintenance other than occassionally sucking all the dust bunnies out of them so they don't catch fire. The only problem with them is that they are single point sources of heat and massive fire hazards which is why I always end up eventually tearing them out and putting in ductwork.
The best option in Chicago is spiral duct forced air with AC. No soffits needed, easy to adjust if you are getting uneven heating after install, just add another vent and point it at the cold spot. AC, easily accessible to clean out in the future. I'm not sure how having to swap out a filter every few months is more maintenance than having to totally drain the system of water once a year.