politic

can you clarify and verify these base charges both for nat gas and electric?

I stand by my post from your other forum thread.

politic
here is a snapshot for NO climate.

Climate averages for: NEW ORLEANS, LA, 70130
Hot weather Cold weather
Average days per year above 75: 214 Average days per year below 40: 0
Average high temperature: 91.1 Average low temperature: 52.6

obviously cooling is more important than heating considering your mild winter climate.

I would not have a furnace. period. not needed plus you should have very favorable electric rate.

yes a high eff HP can easily handle the winter temperature range for New Orleans.

It would be a mistake not to take advantage of the fed tax credit for HVAC including heat pumps. I would not leave it lying on the table when the govt is paying for the upgrade.

again here are the specs you should consider.

15 SEER, 12.5+ EER, 9 HSPF
matching var speed air handler
R-410a refrigerant
full BTUs in both cooling and heating for your rated size
scroll compressor preferred
electronic defrost preferred
thermostat with "dehumidify on demand" feature
staged backup heat strips

I can make some suggestions if you like. You should start with a dealer who will perform and provide in writing a Man J load calc for correct sizing.

IMO
Good Luck!

what size condenser is being quoted?

refresh my memory about size of your home.

homes that are very tight usually require the ERV.

do not leave the $1500 fed govt tax credit lying on the table.

have you had a Man J heat/cool load calculation performed yet? if so, what were the results?

My personal favorite HPs are the following:

Trane XL15i or sister company AmStd Heritage 15
Carrier Performance 15 "H" mdl or sister company Bryant Preferred 15 "H" model.

IMO
Good Luck!

Another HVAC PRO [QUOTE]JMHO, but anything above a 14 SEER is a waste of money.[/QUOTE]

For many reasons, I tend to agree with the quote above.

There are so many factors that can lower SEER, that the "SEER Rating becomes a lesser factor than correct duct sizing, blower sizing, equipment sizing, etc."

If the condenser is over-sized SEER will take a significant drop!

IMHO, the higher the SEER the more sensitive it is to the other degrading factors.

One might go for a SEER level that gets all the credits, rebates, etc.

However, if everything else is not perfect including not too high a humidity there may be little or no savings due to the higher SEER Rated equipment.

If you want to preserve your reputation with your customer's, I would not use the SEER promo estimated savings. In the real world too many user's may feel
the equipment was misrepresented.

2) Also still debating whether to go with 16 SEER or 20 SEER system. Obviously, we'll be running the A/C about 9 months a year down here. The cost difference is $500 on the Trane quote and $1000 on the Am Std quote (which seems odd, but ok). Is the extra efficiency just a waste of money?

If your area is high humidity, I doubt I would go to 20-SEER.

Nine months of the year makes the 16-SEER a good choice, if duct system is correctly sized, blower & equipment all correctly sized, etc.

Now, I could be wrong, it is just "My Humble Opinion."

Here is a link that might be useful: Proper Sizing

I can't add anything new that hasn't already been suggested. I will give my opinions on 2 areas Tigerdunes and udarrell pointed out....Go with the heat pump by all means and opt for the lower seer (16). There is absolutely no comfort benefit and very little monetary benefit for you to go to a 20 seer and in fact it can have some reverse effects as already pointed out that can cost you more money in the long haul.

Tigerdunes, I stand corrected. It's been a while since I looked over an energy bill (my roommate pays them) and I'd forgotten the misleading way they break things down.

Electricity: $.095/kWh
Gas $1.55/CCF

Home is 2135 sq ft, one story slab, brick exterior. Can't recall the roof pitch right off the top of my head. The house previously had a gas furnace (which is still in good condition, but only 80% efficiency and won't work well with foam). Existing ductwork consists of a metal box trunk line and older ductwork - all in fair condition, and I'm less concerned about the insulation of the ducts now that the attic space will essentially be conditioned.

As for the other comments/suggestions:

1) The tax credit is capped at $1500 for 2009-2010 for all energy efficient improvements (other than things like geothermal, which have separate caps). By foaming the entire house, we'll incur enough expense that we'll get the maximum credit. That means any other energy efficient improvements we make won't get us any extra tax money, so we don't need to take that into consideration when making HVAC decisions. We're not leaving it on the table, we're just getting it elsewhere.

2) I've had multiple, multiple quotes... already ruled several out entirely, and now left with these:

Carrier
15 SEER 4-ton w/ 96% furnace
no model nos. provided
excludes new ductwork - reuses existing
$13,100
Upgrade to 20 SEER for add'l $2,200

Trane
16 SEER 4-ton Communicating System
Condenser: 4TTX6058C
Heater: TUD2C08ACV4
Coils: 4TXFH054
Thermostat:TCONT900
Warranty: 10 parts/2 labor
Cost: $10,750

TRANE
20 SEER 4-ton Communicating System
All same as 16 SEER system except:
Condenser: 4TTZ0048A1
Cost: $11,240

American Standard
16 SEER 3.0-4.0 Ton 2 stg Heat Pump (Model 4A6H6048)
Variable Speed Air Handler (Model 4TEE3C06A)
15.36 kW 2 stg aux. heat (Model BAHTR1415BKR)
Thermostat: ACONT900AS
This option includes all new R6 flex duct
Cost: $10,700
Add'l cost of $1200 for ERV

American Standard
20 SEER 3.0-4.0 ton heat pump (4A6Z0048A)
Variable Speed Air Handler (Model 4TEE3C07A)
Cost: $11,700
Add'l cost of $1200 for ERV

I think given the comments I've gotten, cost, etc., I'm leaning towards the American Standard 16 SEER with ERV and all new ductwork. My only real concern at this point is that my fiance tends to be cold and if the heat pump doesn't keep her toasty warm on those few cold weekends we get I'll be replacing it in two years.

As for the manual J, I've had two guys run the house through load calc software (one who offered to sell me the 28 page report for $500 if I didn't go with his quote), and both quoted 4 ton systems paired with the foam.

Heat pump would be drastically cheaper to heat with than even the 95% furnace. You'd need little backup heat. I'd just get electric strips in an air handler.

Who determined the size? Seems like 4 or 5 ton for 2200 sq ft foamed house seems very high. Oversizing the A/C is just asking for trouble. Someone who knows foam should size it. Friend of mine is a foamer. He has a customer whose dealer oversized and they have problems. Check out the link below.

I would consider a ventilating dehumidifier instead of just an ERV. That way you can have dehumidification in mild weather when the A/C isn't running or running enough to suck enough moisture out.

Here is a link that might be useful: Check out these people

I've had 5 separate contractors come through and do estimates. All have suggested a 4 ton system, with the exception of one who initially quoted a 5 ton system. When I reminded him that I was going to foam the interior he revised and submitted the two Trane 4 ton system quotes. Of the 5 contractors, 2 took extensive measurements (including each door & window, roof pitch, etc.) and told me they use some "very expensive" load calc software that generates a 28 page report showing exactly how to run the system for best performance, which they won't give me unless I either give them the job or buy it from them. I've asked for the Manual J from everyone and so far this is the best I've been able to get.

More information from my American Standard dealer:

Based on his measurements, insulation, etc., his software spit out 3.1-3.2 as the tonnage required for the house. Based on that, he suggests the 20 SEER HP because it's got an effective range of 2.0-4.0 tons cooling capacity (meaning it'll run at 4 tons when max cooling is required and can run at as little as 2 when its just maintaining humidity levels). The 16 SEER can only run down to about 70% of max capacity (which the brochures seem to support), so it won't handle the house as well when we've got mild temps (70s) but still 100% humidity.

He also STRONGLY suggests the AccuClean whole house filter, which seems like an unnecessary gadget to me (I've survived my whole live without one), but I'll search the forums and see what others have said about that.

How can I determine cost for use of my heat pump versus my oil furnace at a given temperature based on oil cost and electric cost. It seems that heat pumps are over 100% efficient due to moving, not creating, heat so a direct comparison of electric heat versus oil heat (using kwh cost and oil cost) is not a good way to do this determination. In addition, I cannot seem to get any data from Carrier as to the actual (not SEER) efficiency versus the outside temperature. There should be either a curve or family of curves for this determination. I have a 3 ton Carrier Infinity system including 2 speed piston compressor and variable speed furnace fan with oil furnace. I can set the "changeover" temperature but not sure where the most cost effective temperature is since I do not have efficiency/temperature data for the AC only seer.I live in SW Pennsylvania where we get down to 0 only a few weeks a year and are mostly 15 to 25 degrees in the ccoldest winter months.