Oops. Forgot to mention: I'm in south-central Indiana. Summers are hot (in the 80's Fahrenheit) and sticky, and in winter there are just a few week or more stretches of below-freezing. Usually the low temps are in the 'teens.

perlite

your boiler is oil or nat gas.

how is your home's insulation properties and envelope?

post back...

I have been selling furnaces and air and heat pumps for a while now...I live in Central IL...Every heating and cooling person is going to have a different opinion on this but I tell all my customers that heat pumps simply aren't worth it in our area. Heat pumps work by pulling the latent heat out of the air. Well at 20 degrees, there really isn't any, well, very little. You will not see the savings you might be expecting. If you lived in S. Missouri or Kentucky I might have a different opinion. But in the Midwest there aren't many sold...at least with good conscience. I'd say I sell one heat pump for every 50 jobs I sell and that is because they want it.

"I have been selling furnaces and air and heat pumps for a while now...I live in Central IL...Every heating and cooling person is going to have a different opinion on this but I tell all my customers that heat pumps simply aren't worth it in our area. "

nonsense. i live in cold south dakota and a heap pump give me low average bills. there are a couple of months a year when the electric strips kick in to help the heating but the savings the rest of the year more than offset that.

Thank you all for quick responses!

The boiler is heated with natural gas. Regarding the tightness of the house, I confess I have not popped my head into the attic space to see what the insulation is like. I'm buying on contract from a relative. The house was income property for several years, and owned by an uncle I'm sure had little concern about his tenants' comfort. I'm told there's a single layer of the old pink stuff up there. The brick exterior is very solid- it stays cool well into hot weather before I have to turn on the a/c. Aside from the brick, though, I believe it leaks heat like the proverbial sieve.

I wonder if the positive reports we've heard about the change in folks' bills after installing a heat pump is because the previous system was so bad that installing anything up to date made a huge difference.

I've not asked either of my bidders to describe the accessory heat source, so that's on my list of questions for them.

-perL

perlite,

Greetings from central Indiana.

Here is a general answer... Heat pumps work well in tightly sealed, well insulated homes - particularly where there are mild winters. If you don't have a well insulated home, I would go with a 92% or better furnace and A/C.

You should at least blow insulation in the attic, no matter what you go with. Do it before you size the HVAC equipment.
Do it to Energy Star standards and you can get a 30% fed tax credit, as well as a state tax deduction on the insulation.

The condensing furnace will give you the energy savings that you are looking for. You can vent it through PVC so you don't need the chimney.

Hi Jake,
thanks for a nice, concise answer. My head is spinning with this, though everyone Just Wants To Help, even my big bro who is an industrial HVAC Expert. (He also wants my old boiler for his little house, har har.)

I like the consideration of the house being tight or not tight. You make me wonder if perhaps I should skip replacing the A/C (which is not necessarily very effecient right now, but it works) at this time, and using that money for better insulation under my new metal roof.

I mistrust the current tendency to make a house so tight it cannot breathe, even though my hundreds of indoor plants will improve the air. But I like the idea of making that fancy new roof even better.

-perL

Perl,

There's virtually no likelihood of you making your existing house too airtight. To make it that tight would usually require attention to detail while it's being constructed that's hard to retrofit on an older house.

That said, adding insulation in the attic is no big deal and not expensive. I've helped a couple of friends and family the past several weeks. The cost was around $400-600 for blow-in cellulose and they got a 30% tax credit. That tax credit is good for this year and next. Take advantage of it.

If you need to keep the costs down, look at a Goodman furnace and A/C. Have them bid it with a 92% as well as a 95% that would meet the tax credit. Ditto for the A/C.

Goodman had quality issues several years back, but virtually everyone I speak to now says that those issues have been resolved when Ammana purchase them.