Landlord Saves $2300 per year with Natural Gas Boiler
In February 2011, Brad Boehringer contacted reVision heat to look into having natural gas heat installed in his three story apartment building. At that time, the building was heated with a 20 year old oil boiler and each level had it’s own natural gas hot water heating system creating an inefficient way to heat and provide domestic hot water to the apartments. Knowing that his heating system was nearing the end of it’s lifespan, Brad contact reVison heat on the recommendation of a neighbor.
“I wanted to be proactive with the aging heating system and deal with it thoughtfully and logically before I had an emergency in the middle of winter that required an expensive band-aid.” ~Brad Boehringer
When Pat Coon, Managing Partner of reVision heat visited Brad’s apartment building, he knew right away that reVision could upgrade Brad’s system and save him a substantial amount of money in energy costs per year. He proposed doing away with the oil boiler and replacing the three hot water heaters with one natural gas boiler for both heat and hot water. He estimated that Brad would save $2036 per year with one natural gas boiler and insulation upgrades.
“High efficiency NG was a no brainer with respect to the trends in energy costs. Pat Coon helped me figure out what worked best for my house!” Brad Boehringer
Financing was a concern for Brad but he was aware that reVision heat was a registered vendor with Efficiency Maine and had experience with the newly established Pace loan program. Pace, at that time, was in it’s infancy so the journey was a bit bumpy as they waded through the unknowns. In the end, Brad admits, “I couldn’t have done it without the Pace option!”
In order to qualify for a Pace loan, in addition to the new heating system, Brad was required to have an energy audit as well as insulation and air sealing updates. Henry Clews preformed the blower door test while New England Spray Foam spray foamed the rim joist and foundation 2 ft down. The installation cost for everything was approximately $16,000 with $5,450 worth of rebates and a small cash payment. The remaining cost was financed through Pace at 4.99% interest rate for 10 years making his monthly payments $95 per month for his new heating system and energy upgrades .
Before, the system update, Brad’s apartment building used on average 800 gallons of oil per year while the hot water for all three units typically cost around $969 per year. At last years oil prices, Brad would have spent $3,040 or a total of $4009 ($334 per month) for heat and hot water. Instead, with the help of reVision heat, Brad’s 2012 energy expenses were $1,626 for a total energy savings of $2,383 per year.
Brad loves that his natural gas heating system is “Low maintenance, easy to program, lower energy costs (I pay the heat bills for my first and second floor tenants). I set it and forget it! Plus it is about 25% the size of my old system, sexy looking and quiet.” reVision heat loves that we were able to help Brad find the best solution for his apartment building and make his journey of qualifying for Pace as easy as possible.
Brad’s 3 unit apartment is a wonderful example of how combining energy updates with an efficient heating system that utilizes a less expensive fuel can bring big savings to your home. When all is said and done, Brad is paying for his Pace loan with the savings generated through his updates and still has about $1500 leftover a year to use towards future weatherization upgrades, paying off his loan quicker or for whatever he wants.
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Interested in learning more about how to save money with your heating system, give us a call at 207-221-5677 or shoot us an email.