I swore after last summer I would no go through another one without AC.
This one is shaping up to be a hot bitch.

Here is my situation

The house was built without a system, no ducting, etc. Just electric wall heaters.

We put in a pellet stove and a Rinnai propane wall furnace. For heating that works out fantastic and is economic. So no issues there. But keep in mind pellets are somewhat labor intensive. So the older you get the tougher they are. I love them though and currently not a problem.

Hvac guys says our house is not a great situation for a mini split, so lets leave that there plz.

He says doing the duct work with return air is all doable and not terrible expensive. Pretty straight forward with no long or complicated runs. No tile or rock to cut through, etc.

So he says 8 runs in this house will be perfect and a 3 ton is more than enough.

He says doing the duct work with return air is all doable and not terrible expensive. Pretty straight forward with no long or complicated runs. No tile or rock to cut through, etc.

Here are some options we discussed.


For AC only an air handler with coil and outdoor unit. Lineset, tstat and elect. work.
Heat strips can be added for little cost for heat.

Next would be a heat pump. More expense OD unit. Same other wise. Way cheaper on the heat side than heating with the heat strips only on above system. Unless it gets really cold then heat strips kick in like the above system.

Thirdly would be an AC ready propane furnace since we already have propane plumbed. Extra cost would be the furnace and coil. Venting, propane piping and associated evap pump etc.

He is going to give me pricing. I am thinking
cheapest to most expense will be in the order of how I listed them.

Do you have any thoughts or advice.

To keep the cost down he will be quoting lower end non brand name equipment. He won't sell junk. So I don't have issue with that and he is a good Hvac man. That I know.

Thanks guys.

Since you have alternative heat sources already installed then I'd go with a good quality heat pump. It will already have the heat/cool capabilities, you can use it on days that are just cold enough that you want a bit of heat but don't want to fire up the pellet.

Heat Pumps are efficient, get the highest seer you can justify since the higher the seer the lower the bills but the higher initial cost.

Why were you told no mini-splits? They are perfect for houses that have no ducting and are relatively easy and straightforward to install. Is it that your HVAC doesn't do them and is trying to steer you toward a ducted system? I'd go get a couple more quotes and ideas here first. A friend has a 120 year old home that was a farmhouse originally and got the mini-splits put in and they do heat pump in winter and AC in summer and he loves them.

I guess your location is a secret. It is an essential part of the equation.

Yes, location matters. Heat pumps suck in cold areas like say, Michigan. Much better in the south and west. Also, get a guy to calculate your actual need. "More than enough" is often not helpful, and appropriately sized unit is.

Thanks guys, yes it is a secret
Northwest quadrant on the conus. Heat pump would be fine the majority of the time.

but since we have propane and the Rinnai is really efficient and does a great job taking the chill off on those mornings and evening when running the pellet stove is not necessary. kind of feeling like the heat pump would be 2nd or third on the list.

Since we are trying to address AC primarily option number one will accomplish this and be the cheapest.
Will see how the numbers come in.

Ask a couple of HVAC contractors in your area what they recommend.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Thanks guys, yes it is a secret
Northwest quadrant on the conus. Heat pump would be fine the majority of the time.

but since we have propane and the Rinnai is really efficient and does a great job taking the chill off on those mornings and evening when running the pellet stove is not necessary. kind of feeling like the heat pump would be 2nd or third on the list.

Since we are trying to address AC primarily option number one will accomplish this and be the cheapest.
Will see how the numbers come in.

All true, however having the Heat Pump as a backup source, in case say we have another DemPanic and pellets become scarce, or something happens to the Rinnai unit, would be a good thing, you have the ability to switch.

Our Heat Pump here in Florida is 99.95% used for AC, Think I have turned the heat option on maybe 10 times in 30 years, mostly to be sure it works, but we have it, just in case we have Global Cooling or something.