Hello,
I'm in the process of buying a very old village house that is already divided in 5 studio apartments with individual entrances and electricity meters.
My plan is to live in one of the studios and rent out the others, total occupancy range 5 to 10.
Well I couldn't embed the image but here's the google maps location, it's the abandoned house in the corner: https://maps.app.goo.gl/LSNiott7zKBHWKZj8
<a href="https://ibb.co/3WLXZQ7"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/5vfDHw6/PXL-20240109-142828111.jpg" alt="PXL-20240109-142828111" border="0"></a>
Currently thinking of some options for centralized solutions I could use for ecology and to save the future tenants on utility bills, but also have reasonable renovation costs.
I plan to share cold water supply (usage is a small % of the bill here, the rest is charges for this and that), and high speed internet since a 1GB connection is more than enough for all.
Now I am wondering what to do about heating, cooling and hot water. This is in Portugal so temperatures range from 0 to 40 and I would deem both necessary long term.
The property doesn't currently have plumbing so it's all new runs.
Although I currently live in the UK, I'm not familiar with all the acronyms I've come across some other posts, so please bear with me...
I am considering a couple solutions:
Big immersion heater for all. Would have to be 3-400L?
Unsure if it's a waste of electricity to keep all that water hot.
Could still run out due to similar shower schedules.
Unsure if it can handle simultaneous showers.
Individual immersion heaters in each studio.
Most common here.
Fairly cheap to buy/run.
Takes up the most space.
Some form of Instantaneous water heater that would serve shower, basin and sink since they would be only meters apart.
Cheapest/easiest install, less pipes.
Most expensive to run.
I've never been happy with an electric shower due to low flow and wouldn't want to impose that on anyone else, but maybe they were cheapos.
ASHP for heating and water with a shared tank.
Big ass bill and most complex install, requiring loads of space (but do-able).
Highest efficiency and ecology.
Big tanks, I imagine it wouldn't run out.
Still need a separate cooling solution for the hot summers.
Options 1-3 mean I can separately add air-to-air ASHP for heating and cooling budget permitting, and just use electric heaters and ice packs in the mean time 😅
Air-to-air would be cheaper, and it would be individual to each studio for usage and billing purposes.
I worry that the shared solutions don't work due to careless use (ah it's included!) and either run tanks dry or drive my electric bill up in a way that it will be hard to evenly distribute through the rents.
Any advice appreciated 😁