Here is a link that may help you to decide if you should go with propane or a heat pump. You will need to know the propane price and your electric rate. I did it for my area and propane is much more expensive.
If you have money to spend on components that have a very small window of operation here in CT, and don't mind making things more complex, then yeah, do a heat pump. I can't remember how many I have taken out to convert to hydro air..
If your heart is set on hot air, I suggest you go LP. I was hoping you wanted a boiler and radiant or baseboard/rads at the very least. I'd stay away from power venting a furnace or boiler. Just too much noise. You can direct vent oil. But I suggest you have a side of the house with few windows and no wood siding that would be difficult to clean.
Since you need domestic hot water also, I think a boiler is a better way to go. An indirect WH can be heated by your boiler bo there's only one burner/flue to worry about. You also can do hydro-air: put a hot water coil in an air handler giving you warm air just like a furnace. Plus you can do radiant floors in hard to heat tiled areas like the bathroom and kitchen.
I live in southern CT and just had a Hydro Air system installed this past spring. It is great! Have a Weil Mclain Oil fired boiler, with a 50 gal indirect fired HW heater, two 3 ton air handlers (one each for the first and second floors) and two 10 seer condenser units. The system is quiet and I had a great contractor install it. I would definitely suggest Hydro Air in CT. Good luck with your job.
There are many direct vent oil boilers. However, direct venting any fossil fuel powered device is not without disadvantages venting into a conventional chimney does not have. But if you pick your side venting location wisely (considering the direction of prevailing wind) it can work OK.
Oil gives by far the most BTU of any fossil fuel. It gives considerably more energy than propane. Nearly 140,000 btu per gallon is what oil puts out....so basically, burning just one gallon of oil per hour could heat a 4000 sq ft house in the dead of winter.
Don't install a warm air furnace system....go hydro-air instead. Same type of heat, but loads more comfortable and you'll have a durable boiler in your house, hopefully cast iron too.
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