Opinions for hydro-air new construction

15 years ago

First, any info would be greatly appreciated as novice would be probably over state my expertise. Anyway, I am in the process of building my home which is approx 2200 sq ft with an unfinished bonus room of approx 500 sq ft.

I will be using an oil system as the area does not have gas available. I have two quotes for sepearate systems and have no idea which is most effective along with costs.

Both call for 2 two ton systems with 2 handlers.

The first is american standard product with an allegiance 13 condensors, first company air handlers, burnham boiler and a phase III smart 40 indirect water heater.

Second quote is for heil products 13 seer, heil handlers again with a Weil Mclain boiler. Water heater not listed.

The difference is $6000. Infor I have been reading leans me towards the the first system but I really have no idea. I believe I will lean away from a Weil McLain noiler as I have read a lot of leak problems occur in oil systems. Some info given has been to upgrade this product with buderus boiler and 30 gallon indirect water heater with logamatic controls which will still keep below this first quote

Thanks for listening, any feed back would be again appreciated

Dave

Comments (9)

baldloonie
15 years ago
What boiler model #s?
funnycide
15 years ago
Where are you located? It would be unusual for new construction to use oil as the fuel source. Is this something you requested?
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fishing1023
Original Author
15 years ago
First the burnham boiler is a v8 model, not specified which exact model, the heil quote does give the model either. I have spoken with another company who has suggested a buderus g 115 boiler s120 water tank and a logamatic 2107 temp control. This would put me close to the bid with the burnham pricing.

Second, We live in Ct. no gas lines accesible and I really do not a large propane tank buried or not in my yard. Just my prefernec I guess
tk03
15 years ago
Look at the Burnham MPO-115. It is a 3 pass like the Buderus but slightly more efficient and easier to service. It is a step above the V8.
A 2200 sq ft new home I feel that 115 anything is way oversized. Did they do a heat loss. Oversized equipment costs more to operate, buy and maintain.
See FAQ about heat loss
http://www.comfort-calc.net/faq.html

Here is a link that might be useful: MPO Info
2ajsmama
15 years ago
If you doing forced hot air, why not geothermal? You'd get AC for free. You don't say how much your quotes are, but we're in CT, we installed 4-ton geo for $36K in 2007. We were quoted $30K (different company) for hydro-air with central AC. With the new 30% tax credit (don't know if it goes that high for even a high-efficiency oil boiler) you could find it's less $$$ than oil to install, and it is definitely cheaper to run!
infohound2006
15 years ago
Ajsmama,

Does the 30% tax credit include the drilling & installation, not only the heat pump itself? We've just been quoted $39K for a 3-ton geo installation in California, of which $30K is the drilling!
2ajsmama
15 years ago
I don't know since I installed when it was $300 max :-(

Check out the IRS website to be sure, but I thought it was total cost of installation, not just equipment. Acdording to the current (capped) instructions, it includes "labor costs properly allocable to the onsite preparation, assembly, or original installation of the property and for piping or wiring to connect the property to the house." As far as I know, only thing that was changed for 2009 was to remove the $2000 cap they had in 2008 (it was $300 in 2007). HTH
funnycide
15 years ago
The 30% applies to a complete geothermal system. That means that it is really great for new construction.

I don't know what type of drilling they want to do for $30k. You should be below $10k (at least in most parts of the country).
2ajsmama
15 years ago
I'm assuming it was $30K for drilling, trenching to the house, and running the lines? I paid $9K for drilling 2 279ft wells and running the lines (my dad did the trenching). But CA is more $$ than CT?

30% is really great period! But I didn't have a crystal ball, and really couldn't go more than a year w/o heat in my new house ;-)

I'm trying to talk my parents into a retrofit - most of their house is ground floor, electric baseboard, so even just doing ground floor ductwork from basement wouldn't be that much. My mom thinks turbines would be worth it to lower their total electric bill (they use woodstove for heat, hardly ever turn t-stat on) but I'm thinking better insulation (they have new T-pane windows that I assume are caulked), maybe replace a few more single-pane windows they didn't do the first time (picture window on east wall, bay on west), CFLs instead of incandescents, then maybe solar HW though I don't think they actually use that much just being the 2 of them. If that doesn't do the job, spending maybe $25 - $30K on say a 3ton GSHP with 1 well (even use current well for geo and drill new one for water since they tend to run out) with a 30% rebate might be worthwhile, esp. as Dad gets older and can't do the wood. Though DH is willing to cut and stack the wood in the basement for him - all he has to do is load and clean the stove.

Opinions for hydro-air new construction

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baldloonie

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Opinions for hydro-air new construction

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