Need HVAC advise please

17 years ago

We are looking at replacing our current propane furnaces.

The house is 10yrs.old,with the great room & foyer opened to the second floor. The upstairs area is about 1200sf with the first floor about 2000. The ductwork in the house was poorly done & needs corrected. The proposal from one company is to replace the upstairs unit with a dual system heat pump and an electric furnace & the downstairs unit would be a dual system with a heat pump and a 3-ton propane gas furnace. The idea is that the upstairs gets a lot of the heat from downstairs because of the open floor plan & heat rises. We have been told by several companies that the unit in the attic for the upstairs is an accident waiting to happen (evidence of previous problems)because it was an oversized, high efficiency unit in an unconditioned space. We are the 4th owners of this house located in central Indiana. Our heating bills have been very high & we had our electric co-op do an efficiency evaluation they said our insulation was excellent but our ductwork was the worst they had ever seen. The work was unprofessional & sloppy. Therefore, we are looking at getting new units since they are 10 yrs.old & correcting the duct work issues. Does the proposal sound like a reasonable solution with the electric furnace dual system up & the propane system down? Should we replace both units now or correct the ductwork & wait for the units to die to replace them? Thanks!

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Comments (9)

tigerdunes
17 years ago
linda

what is your cost/gal for propane?

what is your cost for electric?

post back...

any ductwork problems/deficiencies need to be corrected now.

IMO
lkgrow54
Original Author
17 years ago
To: tigerdunes
The cost of electric is .0721/kw and we were on a budget for propane this last winter at a cost of 2.44 but we got a summer fill this week for 1.70.
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garyg
17 years ago
Your electric is dirt cheap if that is the delivered price. Delivered = generation + distribution + transmission.

Heat pump with aux electric on the 2nd floor is a good idea.

Propane is one of the most expensive heating fuels. If you stick with a propane furnace, get a 95% efficient unit.

Ductwork and proper installation is critical.

Good luck.
lkgrow54
Original Author
17 years ago
This a the proposal:
Upstairs: 25HCB324A003 2-ton Carrier Comfort Series 13 SEER Heat Pump+FY4ANF02400 2-ton Carrier electric furnace+
KFCEH2501C08 8kw Electric Heat+digital Honeywell Thermostat+
run new duct work back to furnace & straighten heat runs+media filter at a price of $5820.

Downstairs: 25HPA36H003 16 SEER 3-ton Carrier Performance Heat Pump+58MVB080-F-1-14 95% Infinity Carrier LP Gas Furnace+CNPVP4221ATA 3.5 ton cased coil+SYSTXCCUID01-A Infinity Control+run new cold air return from furnace to all of downstairs & insulate existing duct work in crawl at a price of $10,150. Less a Carrier rebate of $450 + $1500. tax credit.

Does this sound like a good plan/price? Is this all compatible & does it indeed qualify for the tax credit?
Is there more details I need to get from the installer or any other things I should be aware of? I really do appreciate any advise because I don't really understand most of this stuff. Thanks!
tigerdunes
17 years ago
linda

you are on the right track. I will assume you are being sized correctly.

a couple of suggestions. on the upstairs system, I would upgrade to at least the Comfort 15 HP mdl with Carrier Thermidistat not the HW stat. The Performance 15 "H" model like the downstairs system is even better. see below.

3032306 Active Systems COMFORT 15 PURON HP CARRIER AIR CONDITIONING 25HCB524A30 FV4BN(B,F)003 23600 13.00 16.00 23600 8.80 14400

Here are the AHRI matching numbers on downstairs system.

1394162 Active Systems PERFORMANCE 15 PURON HP CARRIER AIR CONDITIONING 25HPA536H30 CNPV*4221A** 58MV(B,C)080-20 35400 12.50 15.00 36000 8.60 21800

both very nice systems and both would qualify for the tax credit. you do want R8 insulation for the ductwork and a box media filter for downstairs system as well.

all of this HVAC would be available through Carrier's sister company Bryant and usually is less expensive. just a thought.

IMO
ryanhughes
17 years ago
I agree with Tiger's advice. For the upstairs, I would either keep the Comfort 13 and add the variable speed air handler FV4BNF003T00 (you do want the T00 tin-plated version) or the Performance 15 (25HPA524H) with FV4BNF003T00 air handler. The thermidistat is a great control for this system (TP-PRH from Carrier).
ryanhughes
17 years ago
The 95% furnace will qualify the downstairs for the tax credit.

You can't get the $1500 for both systems, so just downstairs really needs to qualify.
lkgrow54
Original Author
17 years ago
"They" say there are no dumb questions....
the tin-plated version air handler, what does my proposal have listed? This is all so confusing. What does the AHRI numbers mean?
As far as the above proposal,do I want to change the air handler on the upstairs to the tin-plated T00 version with variable speed & change the thermostat from the Honeywell to the Carrier Thermidistat even if I stay with the Comfort Series? Plus I want to make sure the duct work is R8 insulated...what are the options?
I know DUH.... patience please!
ryanhughes
17 years ago
You have the basic FY4 air handler quoted (not variable speed, base model) with a standard copper coil (the 000 denotes standard coil). The FV4BNF003T00 is what you want (variable speed, tin-plated coil). Hopefully they have the tin-plated coil model in stock. However, if they do not, you still want the variable speed air handler, and that would still be the FV4BNF00300. Hope that makes sense.

You can still get the thermidistat with the variable speed air handler with the Comfort heat pump outside. It's not a bad unit. I just suggested the Performance for a little more efficiency (and, since the air handler and thermidistat are considered from the Performance line). No problem keeping the Comfort heat pump. The thermidistat takes advantage of the variable speed air handler for humidity control--ask your dealer if he's familiar with its operation.