Have you looked into a geothermal system? Once you get near a $20k investment in residential HVAC for new construction, geothermal starts to make sense. What are your electric rates?

garyg:

Rates are 8.9 cents per KWH. I have looked at info re: geothermal but it seems from most of the posts around here that the cost is much greater than $20K. At least 30K and up. Are you aware of how it can be done for 20K? Thanks.

Whenever I see "3 zones" I get a little quezzy feeling. Over the years I've seen so many botched 2 zone installations. IMO 3 zones is alot to ask of a 2 ton or 2 1/2 ton system as is the case here. Better hope this company knows what they're doing pertaining to duct sizing, bypass dampers etc.

Since youre custom building a new home why not consider leaving all the last century conventional HVAC technologies behind and install a triple function geothermal heat pump with radiant in-floor heating? This way one unit will heat and air-condition with forced air, provide the most comfortable heating, radiant in-floor heating, and heat your domestic hot water. You will achieve the lowest operating and maintenance cost, greatest degree of comfort and safety and highest resale value. Not to mention its THE most environmentally friendly way to space condition.

The money saved on operating and maintenance costs plus financial incentives will likely cover the cost differential between conventional and geothermal technologies. Any money invested in green eco-friendly systems is a wise investment from every point of view. HVAC is not the place to be cutting corners. Youre already planning an energy efficient, tight envelope. Do your HVAC right; how your home lives and breathes is how you and your family will live and breathe. You should have ductwork with an ERV system AND you can have radiant in-floor heating too. Its not either or do both!

Since were talking about first costs, as this is new construction, look at the cost differentials. Explore green mortgages, lower interest rates for going green. Research state, federal and utility incentives for installing geothermal. The quotes youve gotten for HVAC are already a lot of money. The cost to go the rest of the way is NOTHING over the life of a mortgage challenge yourselves!

IMO

SR

At the Nordic link below, click on Products, and then click on TF Series

http://www.nordicghp.com/mg/

Hello;
I don't know what you should or shouldn't use but here is what I did!
We took over (bought) on a log cabin being built in the Lake Tahoe area and I did a little research & I went with hydroic floor heating system. What was so neat was when you walked in, the house was just unblievably warm. No dust, no fan , nothing! Our cabin was 2,000 sq ft with 4 heating zones (2-bedrooms, loft, & kitchen/nook/greatroom combo. We placed a thermostate in each zone so that we could not heat each zone independently as needed.

I did do some of the work myself like cutting up the 1,000 ft roll rubber hose to 4ea. 250' sections so that I could run them in a continuous form with out any joints except at the boiler (No Leaks). I started every run with a loop through the bathroom then along the out side walls and into the center until my half way mark was secured to the floor then i reversed back to the boiler. I did this to each area & then ordered light weight concrete & had it pumped in over the floors to 1-1/2" thickness to cover the piping.

I ran plastic, cardboard, & then my hardwood (glue together, NO nails) flooring for great looking floor that was warm to your feet on a cold night. I also used a non-conventional water heater that a line from the boiler runs though or around the outside walls (separate from your house hold water) that heated the water, & we also installed a 1/4 h.p. motor on a circulating line that saved us from having to wait for the water to get hot to take a shower.
Because I was in an area that I didn't need A/C help make this a player for me & I absolutely loved the system that cost us an extra 20% over forced air system, but this was in the early 90's, so I'm not up to speed on whats available now. That system is now 15+ years old and still working well! Elden