Question: We are remodeling the kitchen in our 1893 house. We would like to have the space our hot-water radiator is taking up. It is 50 inches long by 25 inches high by 8 inches deep. What would be our alternatives? Would under-the-floor heat be enormously expensive? We do have some wall space planned that could accommodate the flat wall-hung-style radiator, but do you know anything about them? The kitchen is about 12 feet by 14 feet with 10 feet of ceiling height.
Your Place: No need to keep bulky, old hot-water radiator
Have you heard any more on the tankless water heater? I remember reading your column, it was at least a year ago or more. I've been thinking about replacing our 25-year-old, oil-burning furnace, which also supplies our hot water, with an efficient gas furnace and tankless heater, but my plumber insists that water doesn't get hot and they don't work well. I wondered if you had heard from any readers about it.
Answer: First question first. There is no need to live with the cast-iron monster inhabiting your kitchen. It predates modern technology by more than 100 years. Most people live with them because we - they - think they fit an old house.
Well, these are modern times, and there are alternatives. The Internet is full of very stylish ones that would fill the bill, although the pipes might need some retrofitting - nothing is ever easy and every situation is slightly different.
My plumber always said that radiator replacement is something best left to professionals, so talk with yours about what it might take to change it.
You might consider radiant-floor heating, but it would be expensive, unless you were taking the kitchen down to the studs and joists, which would make it slightly less expensive. I think replacing the radiator would be good enough.
Tankless or on-demand hot water? The people who have it swear by it, although a few swear at it, and I hear regularly from both. A neighbor has it, making it a part of a major addition and renovation, and he still has no complaints after two years.
Plumbers generally don't like on-demand. Whenever a consumer contacts me about tankless, four out of five times he or she starts "my plumber doesn't think on-demand hot water works ..."
Frankly, pro and con are evenly split. The final decision, I guess, is up to you and the plumber.
Bedbug update. The National Pest Management Association sent me the results of a survey it conducted on American attitudes toward bedbugs.
They are against them. In fact, 77 percent are concerned and embarrassed by them.