Which system would you buy?

[UncleRico]

Thanks in advance for offering your opinion. I am new to this HVAC game and am just looking for some advice.

A little about my house...

It's a 1940's house that was remodeled and had an addition installed in 2003. The existing furnace is a 23 year old natural gas 75K BTU? Heil and it is currently operational. I have a little money so I want to get it replaced before it goes TU.

There are 8 register all on the first floor. The addition has a loft area with no registers. The heat from the first floor heats the area just fine though. There is one return in the loft and one return at the furnace.

I live near Seattle so the weather is pretty moderate. In the winter it is in the 30's at night most of the time. We did have a 2 week spell in the 20's and lower this year however. The summer days make it to the 90's a few times a year but mostly in the 80's.

I am looking to replace the furnace and put in a heat pump. I have had 3 vendors out to my house now and they all are coming in around the same price. Here is what they are offering:

Trane
XV80 furnace 80% with variable speed fan
xl15i heat pump 2.5 ton I believe

Lennox
G60V furnace 80% with variable speed fan (wanted to do 90% furnace but it won't fit)
XC13 air conditioner

Carrier
Infinity 80 80% with variable speed fan
Peformance 15 heat pump 2 ton

I was impressed with all 3 companies that came to my house. They were very professional and they offer excellent service and use their own people.

I would feel comfortable using any of them for the install. Price is a factor and Trane is coming in a little cheaper. Carrier is next followed by Lennox.

I am questioning the AC unit from Lennox. I think his thought was to put in a HE furnace and use the AC for our short summer season. Since the HE furnace won't fit, it doesn't make much sense to me now.

Anyway, any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[UncleRico]

It's a 1900 square foot house but the downstairs is 1600 feet approximately. The windows have all been upgraded to Milgard double pane vinyl as well if that helps at all.

Thanks!

[DanW13]

Just courious as to why the HE furnace will not fit in your house. Most all furnace's today are multi pos so if you do not have the height having the furnace installed upright they can be installed horizontal, are you installing the new AH/funace in your attic or basement ? with one they should be able to install the furnace most anywhere IMO. As far as going with a 80% or 90% what's do you have running now 80% ? If you can afford a HE furnace make sure what ever brand you go with to have a ECM VS blower motor will net you huge savings on the electrical side of both the HP and furnace. How well is your home for insulation, windows, air leaks ? Before getting equipment I would go thru your home and do all the air sealing you can do, replace all windows they may need replacing, caulk around all your doors and windows if needed then have a blower door test done along with a load calc to size the new equipment properly will give you years of comfort and savings. By sizing the equipment first and then you go and seal the home and replace windows and such after you may find the new equipment will be oversized costing you more to operate and result in less comfort due to oversizing.

[heatpumpguru]

Tell Napolen Dymamite HI!!

[UncleRico]

The furnace is located in a closet in the kitchen. The width of the closet is 18 or 19 inches. My understanding is that the HE furnaces vent out the side with a 90 degree bend. I was told that they need at least 21" to make that happen.

Height isn't an issue from what I can tell.

Insulation, windows, and doors are all up to date and quality. I'm sure there could be more sealing to be done around the doors especially though.

I was kind of surprised at the lack of a load test or calc being done. They based it off of the number of registers, returns, sq. feet, etc...

The old furnace is an 80% at best. They all told me it was running about 65% to 70% efficient at its age.

Vote for Pedro!!!

[heatpumpguru]

AWESOME!!

[Kevin O'Neill]

It is a shame no one did a load calc. The lack of a load does not sound very professional to me......

[catmanacman]

they are all good systems out of the box how well they perform after installation depends on the contractor as far as the lennox i would prefer the xc14 as it can get close to16 seer in some applications and it is also not a heat pump

[DanW13]

Before you make a decision on your AC/HP read thru this thread might give you some needed info http://hvac-talk.com/vbb/showthread....=1#post2430302

[james80031]

It is a shame no one did a load calc. The lack of a load does not sound very professional to me......

My thoughts as well. We get under bid quite often by companies that size equipment over the phone, but our customers give us great referals. I guess it equals out, because we build bridges with customers rather than burning them.

[texahoma]

Did any of these three companies offer a load calculation to properly size your unit with all the remodel? Not to mention to make sure your ductwork is properly sized?