Thank you for your response Tigerdunes. I will definitely check with the bidder on the third party evaporator coil. I specified matched systems having read your prior posts to others extensively, but didn't catch that this evaporator coil wasn't a matching Trane. Thanks. The boiler was sufficient in heating the entire 1200 square feet main floor living space with AND without all the radiators in place. I don't recall the size at the moment, but will check. The HVAC people were all pleased with its size when they looked at it. Because the house is without electric and water service as yet, we are not totally sure the boiler is still in working order. It was not fire damaged, but water from the fire fighters and heat from the fire might have caused some unknown problems, which was another reason to hedge the bet by adding a gas furnace. The second reason for considering a gas furnace, not just A/C is that a realtor who knows the house and its value, - which is considerable for a small house, given its location and craftsman, cedar shingled cottage charm - suggests that some buyers don't like radiator systems, and feels the addition of an alternate heat system and the addition of A/C will be worth it, which is another reason I got the bid for it. The third reason for considering a gas furnace is code compliance, and the cost to do so. The cost of adding hydronic units to the sunroom, pantry, dining room and bath areas to meet code are unnecessary if I install the gas furnace. Anyone wanting to use the radiator system only for heat would have to add these units, or live without them as I did, but code is met with the addition of a furnace. No furnace, and I have to add radiators in the areas mentioned above and detailed below. I agree that a heat pump would be the way to go if we knew for sure that the radiator system was going to be the primary source of heat as it was when I lived in the house. New owners might opt for a forced air system. My question on this is, can a gas furnace be added into the system as cost effectively later as it can be added now with the A/C going in. The new heating system, if installed, l would heat/coo the 1200 sq ft main floor with its 9 ft ceilings, with two registers in the open 950 sq ft unfinished basement. The basement stays cool in summer and warm in winter without additional heating and cooling. The attic space, if developed later, will be heated and cooled with an in-wall, Mitsubishi type system. Trying to run ducts and vents is a problem, which is why we don't have the new proposed system sited in the attic. It would make the attic fairly unusable in a future development as a master suite and sitting room. The ducting layout using the in the basement location has worked well, and the location of cold air returns well placed and spaced. So the attic will not be heated or cooled with this system. In the past, with the boiler, the heat loss from the main floor was enough to keep the attic above freezing, but does not warm it significantly. The attic has 4 large double window sets, 3 large Velux skylights and a 4.0 french door set, and the roof is black, so it stays warm enough on sunny days, and is well ventilated in summer.. The attic floor will be re-insulated at this time, but not the walls or ceiling. The new insulation in the attic floor will be far better than the old, and as I said, the new windows throughout, from basement to attic are a vast improvement in energy efficiency over what the boiler used to have to handle. The 950 sq ft basement is unheated at present, though I believe two registers will be added to this space with the new furnace The basement stays comfortable in winter when the boiler is in operation simply from the hot water pipes to the radiators and hot water heater and warmth of the up stairs. It is is open space, unfinished and only used for laundry and workshop space/tool storage. The dining room radiator was removed from under a south facing bump out window. That window was removed and replaced by an exterior double french door when a new deck was added at the time of the new boiler. The heat loss to this room was noticeable but not enough to be a problem for me, though it would be for others, and it is for code. Each room has to have a heat source, so I either have to put in a register or add a radiator. The bathroom is only 6x7 and is now warmed by the heat/fan which is not sufficient for code. I have a not yet installed hydronic towel bar that gives off 1500 BTU, enough to handle the bath and the small hall adjoining the dining room, bath, bedroom and parlor. If I do the gas furnace, this is unnecessary. At same time the new boiler was installed, a kitchen was installed in a 11x12 ft space that only had a sink and refrigerator with a radiator. An adjoining but separate 6x8 pantry at the south end of the kitchen had a stove and a cabinet. The pantry is also an access corridor to the basement stairs. So in installing a kitchen, I removed the radiator and replaced it with a toe kick radiator under the sink base the fully fitted kitchen. Base and upper cabinets were added to the pantry on the load bearing exterior wall that separated the pantry from the screen 8x8 screened back porch at the other half of the kitchen south wall. The fire that started at the electric service connection into the house was located on the east wall between the kitchen and screen porch, so this area and the attic above it were severely impacted by the fire. In rebuilding this area, the screen porch got a solid foundation, was mostly opened to the kitchen, and serves as a sunroom breakfast area. It is,fully windowed from ceiling to 36 inches above the floor with a door that opens to the deck. The load bearing wall separating the sunroom from the pantry still exists, but the pantry is now open to the kitchen rather than walled off with a doorway. The kitchen toe kick puts out 5,600 BTU and has to handle the kitchen sunroom and pantry area now. If I do not add a furnace, code will require me to heat the sunroom and pantry areas, which I would do with toe kick units under the pantry base cabinets - one venting into the sunroom through the wall and one venting into the pantry. If I add a furnace, this will not be required, we will simply use those areas for the forced air registers. If I do not add a furnace I will have to provide hydronic heat sources for both areas. So, to answer your question 4, the only addition to the heat load that the boiler has covered adequately (1200 sp ft) is the 8x8 fully weatherized and insulated sunroom. If I go with a gas furnace we will add the register(s) for the unfinished basement. I don't know if code requires the basement to be covered. I do know the non living space attic does not need to be covered. Sorry for all the detail, but I find that sooner or later the information is needed, so I am trying to give it all upfront.

@ Saltidawg: I do see your point... I suppose yearly maintenance is not that big of a deal, and it would be a good idea to have a yearly tune-up/inspection with any type of system anyway. Perhaps "maintenance" is not the right term for all my concerns... it's also the "inconvenience" factor, having to rely on deliveries and worrying about the tank running dry. I know that can be avoided by coordination with your oil delivery service, but I don't like getting on automatic fill-up plans when fill-ups cost so much. (If just using oil as back-up, it would be less of a concern though.) I'm also thinking about long-term costs, such as if the furnace ever had to be replaced (I'm guessing that would be 4-5K?), or if the oil tank had to be replaced (I'm guessing that would be about 2K?). My furnace should be ok for a while, but the tank is 60 years old, so I feel like I could have problems with it. If I consider keeping oil, I suppose I should have the tank inspected. It also has a broken gauge so that should be fixed too. (If I just got rid of the oil, I could avoid that.) It's about about $3,000 more to go with HP with electric back-up than HP with oil back-up. The additional cost isn't just for the electrical upgrade... it also includes going 15 SEER vs. 13 SEER, additional equipment and labor, and removal of oil tank. I would have a higher SEER, sufficient electrical power if it's ever needed for anything else in the house, the tank out of my house, never having to worry about it leaking... also approx. ~20%-ish saving over oil back-up heat if oil stays at $4/gal, potentially more if oil prices go higher. $3,000 isn't a trivial amount, but I feel like once that conversion is done, all you ever have to worry about is one system, the heat pump... no oil furnaces, no oil tanks... so over time, I feel like money would be saved. (Correct me if I'm wrong... an HP with oil back-up should have about the same lifespan as HP with electric back-up, shouldn't it? There's additional electrical components to worry about, but I feel like it's usually the compressor that craps out over time, and compressor usage would be about the same either way, wouldn't it?) That being said, you do have some good points, and I will take them into consideration. If my oil tank is ok, maybe it isn't worth the extra 3K at this time to get rid of oil. If it's not, well then I'd rather take the 2K that would have to go to replacing the oil tank, and put that towards getting rid of oil. @ david_cary and weedmeister: Thanks for the info. I'm still a little confused about actual percent savings, but I think if I'm going to go through with this, it would be ideal to go with a 15 SEER, which I may not be able to do that if I keep the oil. Since my current A/C unit is 10 SEER, I think I would save a decent amount on A/C bills with 15 SEER. (I wish I knew how much of my electric bill actually goes to A/C and what goes to other stuff, but I don't really have a way to tell that.) @ cindywhitall: HP with oil back-up would not have electric back-up strips. If the oil craps out, then it would come down to repairing/replacing the oil furnace, adding electric back-up later, or adding some other back-up later. If I wanted to keep oil AND add electric back-up also, it would cost more than the current higher cost route, and I'm not sure it would even be possible. Oil prices to me seem a lot more unstable than electricity, but that's anybody's guess. Yes, I know I need to make a decision soon, before it gets cold. I know I can easily get through until mid-to-end October without heat, but not beyond that. My electric bill doesn't have the costs on one line either... I added up all the "per kwh" usage charges, and that's where I got the $0.114. My August bill was for acutal usage of 1903 kwh. Does your bill have gas on it too? (BGE puts electric and gas both on the same bill, but since I don't have gas, my bill only includes electric.) I don't know how NJ's rates are, but MD (BGE) did have a pretty big price increase around 2007/2008... however, since then electric rates have come down every year. I use an alternate supplier for additional savings. Rates are only guaranteed until May 2013, and they'll be announcing future rates this fall. My winter rates with the alternate supplier are the same as summer rates. FYI - I am female. My husband doesn't think it's necessary to do an HVAC upgrade, so that's why I'm looking into it. He thinks we should either use only wood and spaceheaters (which we did last year and was AWFUL), or get some oil, but try to make one fill-up (~250 gal, $1000) last all winter, which is unrealistic. Besides the oil issue, we have some other HVAC issues that really should be addressed (we should have some additional ductwork, the A/C doesn't work well on the 2nd floor, etc.), so I think it's really necessary to do something NOW. @mike_home: As mentioned, the tank is one of my concerns, being 60 years old. I wouldn't buy (another) house with all oil either, and if I could go back in time, probably wouldn't have bought this one. BUT - I can't change that now, so here I am :) SO WHERE I AM RIGHT NOW: I know oil alone for heating is not a good option, and something really should be done. I still need to get some more estimates, and I'm honestly not sure yet about keeping the oil as back-up or not. I don't see a big advantage to keeping oil, except less up front cost, and the off chance that oil prices could go lower one day (which I don't ever see happening). I could keep the oil as back-up now and look into other back-up sources later. I don't think we'd really need MUCH oil for back-up... I'm not looking for a toasty 75 degrees... more like 65 degrees most of the time is good enough. We also have the wood stove too. The only drawbacks to keeping oil are that we may only be limited to 13 SEER, and I'm worried about the condition of the oil tank... also it's a good time to remove the 60 year old tank NOW while it's empty... so it's a tough call. No one has commented on geothermal, but I may look into that too... doesn't hurt to get an estimate, right?

"Generally, I am being told that my oil furnace is probably at the end of its life, being at least approx. 25 years old and should consider replacing now. The 2nd contractor that wants to replace existing with 4 ton furnace, states that the current one is not large enough to handle the size of the house. The rest, so far, want to add a separate system for upstairs." ----------- When the cooling A-Coil is set directly on top of the furnace the huge oil furnace heat/exchanger causes a lot of restricted back-pressure leading to a big drop in static pressure which reduces the velocity of airflow. That along with possibly improper duct design & return air filter areas would greatly reduce airflow. I am betting a 60K would heat your hone in that climate. Do your own whole house load-calc: http://www.loadcalc.net/ Or/and, do the floors separate. Print the instructions & follow them; including clicking on thr SIZING LINK when load-calc is satisfactory completed...

(FWIW, ceiling heights in basement apartments might not be biggest concern. I know of two basement units right on my street that have been renovated within the last few years. Both have had stable tenants paying $1600/mnth and $1750/mnth. This despite the fact that although the units look nice, it is clear that they are not legal, with bulkheads at around 6ft and original-sized windows that are too small. yeah, I know. The reason isn't just about legalities, it's about money. Rental Real Estate is a long term game. There's a number of things that can do you in. Legal is one of them, but the cost to entry is much lower. The other con is that real estate is hot right now, been hot for quite a while. So what happens when things aren't so favorable? This isn't to say that if you do xyz, legal etc. That you won't have trouble. Crap happens. Life gets in the way. As you said you don't want to be told what to do. This situation you got is complicated, you do all the work upfront pay for it, then the process of getting paying tenants etc. Not everyone is cut out to be a tenant, not everyone is cut out to be a landlord. If you catch my drift. There is no amount of planning, doing that can prevent life happen type scenarios from happening. I've seen too much... I've condensed this down. Rental real estate can be 'easy'. But often times things get exagerated in terms of how much you make. Especially if you carry debt. This reno is likely going to cost well into the 30K range, maybe more no matter which or how you decide. Unless you do the work yourself, which takes more time. That's a lot of money to stick out there with no realization of ever turning a profit. Remember, this looks much easier from the outside looking in. Tenants don't care about half of what you think they might. Until they do care. As long as a place is clean, nice looking, nice area, nice schools many times that will do it for most. But things go bad after a tenant moves in. I feel the floor removal method is the better way mainly for the access to redo the plumbing runs and get the place height legal. (is it perfect, no not really. It's a choice that opens more options when it's far easier to fix things not thought of when the house was built.) The HVAC stuff is secondary for a basement. There will be little need for conditioning a basement. If the HVAC is problematic for the upper level then obviously before you finish the basement would be a good time to shore up those issues. I think dehumidification / some AC / little heat is really all you need for a basement. If this is your first endeavor into rental real estate, you've got your work cut out for you. It's always adviseable to do 'easy' first. This is complicated for a wide variety of reasons. Not saying you can't do it, but after trying it... well I first rented a home over 30 years ago. It was a complete disaster. Tenants stop paying 3 months after moving in. It took me the better of 20 years to get over those mistakes, and the visual nightmares as a result. Trust me when I say this is not easy, not for the faint of heart. If it was easy, everyone would do it. It's glamorized primarily because RE often is sold because of how glamourous it is. That's misleading when you're knee deep in crap after you've bought it. If this is a "house hack" kind of project, you're slightly better off in terms of getting your money back. But it's easily a 3 - 4 year project of working for nothing, dealing with tenants etc. Meaning this investment is going to take at least 3-4 years of your life before you show a nickel of profit. That's provided there isn't some unplanned "life happens" event that effects you or your tenant. There's far more to consider here, it's not meant to discourage you but as you noted the likely illegal rentals in the area... they're likely illegal due to? money. The whole reason you are contemplating doing this.