Quote:
Originally Posted by Nonhog
Back to the bids.
1st company suggests adding a ductless wall mount in the atrium. and opening the windows to the main room(s) allowing heat to filter.
(I'm no expert but that co. will not get the job)
2nd company, suggest adding 3 ton heat pump to current Propane furnace.
Sounds logical to me.
3rd company says get rid of propane furnace as well as our instant hot water heater (also propane)and add there 4 ton system.
He didn't suggest a new water heater so I can only assume he means get an electric instant water heater which is off topic. Deal with that later.
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Your best bet would be to retain your propane heat as backup and get a heat pump that was just a bit too small.
The rule of thumb (thumb rhymes with dumb) is 1 Ton per 1000 square feet.
The rule of thumb knows nothing about your insulation, and neither do we.
By the rule of thumb, a 1.5 Ton would do it.
But if you had great insulation. a tight house and good windows, 1 Ton or less would be fine.
If your insulation was awful, 3 Tons or more might be required.
I'm beginning that professionals will oversize so they don't have to do call backs. It might also be that they don't actually know how to do an accurate heat load analysis, therefore they can't 'cut it close' because they don't really know what the heat load is. At any rate, when they oversize, the consumer doesn't get the maximum performance for the money they spend on monthly utilities.
Aslo, when it comes to heating their house, most homeowners think first about how to heat, with insulation as an afterthought.
Too bad, it should be the other way around... you should go to every length to keep the heat in the house.
With heat pumps, bigger is not better. Just a bit too small is best, and use some form of backup (wood, propane, electric) to fill in.
You have all summer... insulate your house like it was going out of style.
-AC