*
We have an old house, been added onto many times, and the hot water heating “system” is a patched together mess. (3 tanks – 2 small electric and 1 huge non-working solar “warming” tank, mystery pipes running through the attic, mystery pipes coming out of the ground and capped off, etc.). I’ve had audits from the electrical company (“convert to gas – you’ll save $75 to $100 a month on your electricity bill”), from the gas company (“gas will cost you maybe $30 a month”), from the water company (“no idea how the water gets to your house – maybe we should run a new main?”) and 3 hours of inspection by my favorite plumber (“I have no idea where most of these pipes come from or where they go. Just tell me what you want and I’ll figure out how to do it.”)
The whole thing needs to be scrapped and redone. I need someone who can design a new system for me, taking into account the need to conserve water (long runs to get hot water to different parts of the house being the problem), and to advise me whether to use one or multiple tanks and where to locate it/them to get the most efficient system. Who is this? Some kind of engineer? General contractor? Everybody is so specialized – who would have the “big picture”? Thanks for any advice.
Replies
*
We have an old house, been added onto many times, and the hot water heating "system" is a patched together mess. (3 tanks - 2 small electric and 1 huge non-working solar "warming" tank, mystery pipes running through the attic, mystery pipes coming out of the ground and capped off, etc.). I've had audits from the electrical company ("convert to gas - you'll save $75 to $100 a month on your electricity bill"), from the gas company ("gas will cost you maybe $30 a month"), from the water company ("no idea how the water gets to your house - maybe we should run a new main?") and 3 hours of inspection by my favorite plumber ("I have no idea where most of these pipes come from or where they go. Just tell me what you want and I'll figure out how to do it.")
The whole thing needs to be scrapped and redone. I need someone who can design a new system for me, taking into account the need to conserve water (long runs to get hot water to different parts of the house being the problem), and to advise me whether to use one or multiple tanks and where to locate it/them to get the most efficient system. Who is this? Some kind of engineer? General contractor? Everybody is so specialized - who would have the "big picture"? Thanks for any advice.