chrisk

what size do you currently have?

no, both contractors can not be right.

the vaulted ceings upstairs are how high? how are your home's insulation qualities.

get the load calc in writing. I would lean toward the contractor/dealer who actually did a load calc and provided you a copy for your review.

IMO

this was a small house that we are remodeling to a larger. There was no existing AC.

home will be insulated with R13 fiberglass in walls plus 3/4 foam board. Attic insulated with R30. all new.

vaulted ceilings are 14 ft 2 rooms 12x12 and 13x17. the other rooms have 8'6".

I was thinking due to the extra volume in ceiling height and additional sqft it would be larger than first.

"I was thinking due to the extra volume in ceiling height and additional sqft it would be larger than first."

my thought as well-get the load calc in writing!

Good Luck!

R30 in NY (except maybe LI) in the attic seems low. Here in NC (which has less need for insulation), the payback on going above r-30 was pretty quick. That quick payback was with NG - I imagine with oil or propane it might be less than 2 years.

As a comparison, I have 2000 sq feet upstairs and 3 ton in a hotter climate than you. And 2.5 might have been better but the unit we got was full ton only.

sounds oversized I think. 4+ tons for 1900 sq. feet?

I would do 1.5 tons on the bottom and 2 tons upstairs.

Your bottom floor will not have an unconditioned attic above it. 1.5 tons should be plenty.

Although your upstairs has 1100 sq. feet and vaulted sealings your still insulated very well and have a conditioned floor underneith. I would do 2 tons upstairs. That should be good.

How much does electricity cost per KW where you are at in NY? Upgrading to heatpump can be practical if its a reasonable price for the equipment and electricity isn't to expensive. How do you heat?

spoke to him, and he's faxing me the JCalc.

he says upstairs comes to 1.75 and downstairs to a little over 1.5.

electricity is around .0975 per KWH.

I'm heating with hydroair, a gas boiler running a hot water loop into the air handler. I don't think I want to go heatpump due to the high cost of electric and we already have heat coming from the air handler.

This is not considered high electic rates. National average is 11.5 cents.

What exactly is hydroair? I understand the concept but can't imagine why that is done. Might make sense for wood burning or solar but gas? And by gas are you talking NG?

At 9.75 cents, a heat pump is cheaper heat a lot of the time particularly if you go with an efficient unit. And NG is cheap now but throw in a good fracking catastrophe and prices could double overnight. Or truck fleets switching to NG as oil climbs.

Having 2 forms of heat is pretty common nowadays. Don't knock it - my payback was 2 years on dual fuel.

I checked online, I should really check my bill, I must be wrong on the rate. No one in my area heats with electric.

I'm heating with NG. A boiler sends hot water to the air handler to a hot water coil that heats the air. The benefit in this is you don't heat the air as hot and doesn't take the humidity out and creates a more even heat by not making the air too hot. At least those are the benefits I've heard. I also will run

most of the heating in my area is baseboard hot water, hot water radiators, or steam radiators.

To determine the cost of electricity take the total dollar amount of your bill and divide by the number of KW's used.

That heat system sounds interesting. So if you get A/C where is the new coil going to go? I imagine this is a special coil thats seperate from your A/C A-coil.

unless one has cheap electric rates and/or are in an all electric situation, HPs are rarely the HVAC of choice for New York.

for whatever its worth, I looked up my bill. I got confused online as there are 2 charges involved for every KWH a supply charge and a useage charge.

total charges on my bill run form .19 - .21 a KWH total depending on the amount used on the bill.

none of my contractors thought a HP or a two stage ws the way to go.

I'm going with the last guy who did the manual with a 14.5 Seer Rehem system. besides being recommended (which i guess theoretically all were), he had a lot of pictures of his work which was neat, organized and looked like how a professional job should be done.

Its amazing how different the different parts of the country are as far as heating and cooling. Some of it makes sense regarding climate, but some of it is really seems to be traditon.

yup - .19 to .21 kwh is expensive.

I don't recommend heatpump past .16 or so cents per kw.

The regional differences are interesting. Might be tradition but climate rules. Electric rates also play into it. NG availability also plays a role. Obviously forced air heat makes the most sense when you have to have central a/c.

NG is not the predominant heating fuel in the NE - which is a shame. But that fact alone changes things dramatically. NG is just not available in older areas or rural areas. When I lived in NY, it was oil and it was expensive.

The hydroair is interesting. It is funny because usually the advantage of NG over heat pump is that the air coming out is hot rather than warm. Also humidifiers are pretty common around here - additional complexity to be sure but probably not as complex ($$) as hydroair. And with an addon humidifier, you get humidistat control. Because the winter is dry even if your furnace isn't doing the drying.

To be honest, hydroair sounds a little gimmicky as a way to sell people forced air who are used to heating with water. Forced air heat gets a pretty bad rap and there is no doubt that radiant floor heat is better. But having central air for most of us makes the tradeoff worthwhile.

I was thinking the only way for your electric rates to be under 10 cents would be upstate NY (particularly near Niagara). But then other things didn't make sense. NY has enough variation in climate that you might be more specific.

I'll never forget how my heat cost more than rent in Buffalo and we kept it cold.... I literally pay 10% of that (per sq feet) now 20 years later for a lot more comfort.