I have a question outside of my expertise. I have a customer with a really old and kinda out dated oil furnace. The house was built in 1743. The basement is dirt floor with about 6'-8" of headroom. The house is really nice upstairs, a lot of the charm intact and somewhat updated. House is one zone and about 1700 sqft and well insulated from what I gather. Newer siding, roof, Windows etc...
The new owners just bought it this spring and had me come over to look at removing the oil furnace and possibly installing a pellet furnace instead. Oh and a tight budget isn't the first concern here. They aren't doing this to save $$ but rather "to do their part" and be energy conscious. Either way, the oil system is pretty bad and it needs to go, so he's feeling out his options.
He was also getting quotes for some mini splits, primarily for a back bedroom addition that doesn't get any duct work from the current heating system. The house also has no air conditioning to speak of, but the thought of wall mounted units in the historic home won't fly.
I made some suggestions about maybe putting in a pellet stove in one of the homes 4 fireplaces and that was a start. Though I don't do any HVAC I did mention to him that a heat pump could be installed in the basement, a condensed outside and the current ductwork could be used to supply heat during the swing seasons, air conditioning and the summer and whatever he replaces the oil burner with would be back up or emergency back up or the primary depending how he wants to supply heat.
I'm very partial to PSG's Alterna Caddy pellet furnace. I know the system well. It has a lot of options and can interface with a secondary heating source such as a HP and the blower on the Alterna is a variable speed blower.
My question is this. If we were to buy the Alterna and install it in place of the oil furnace, what all is needed to adapt a HP system too? I'll get on with a local HVAC guy, no issue there, and if any of you service Rehoboth, MA shoot me a PM. I just want to know what I need to do when talking with the HVAC dude. I know my end but have not much of a clue concerning the HP and don't wanna get stuck with someone who has an agenda that doesn't work with our proposed system. Gimme some schooling please.
Thanks in advance.
Just realized I posted in the wrong forum, mods can you move me to HVAC????
The new owners just bought it this spring and had me come over to look at removing the oil furnace and possibly installing a pellet furnace instead. Oh and a tight budget isn't the first concern here. They aren't doing this to save $$ but rather "to do their part" and be energy conscious. Either way, the oil system is pretty bad and it needs to go, so he's feeling out his options.
He was also getting quotes for some mini splits, primarily for a back bedroom addition that doesn't get any duct work from the current heating system. The house also has no air conditioning to speak of, but the thought of wall mounted units in the historic home won't fly.
I made some suggestions about maybe putting in a pellet stove in one of the homes 4 fireplaces and that was a start. Though I don't do any HVAC I did mention to him that a heat pump could be installed in the basement, a condensed outside and the current ductwork could be used to supply heat during the swing seasons, air conditioning and the summer and whatever he replaces the oil burner with would be back up or emergency back up or the primary depending how he wants to supply heat.
I'm very partial to PSG's Alterna Caddy pellet furnace. I know the system well. It has a lot of options and can interface with a secondary heating source such as a HP and the blower on the Alterna is a variable speed blower.
My question is this. If we were to buy the Alterna and install it in place of the oil furnace, what all is needed to adapt a HP system too? I'll get on with a local HVAC guy, no issue there, and if any of you service Rehoboth, MA shoot me a PM. I just want to know what I need to do when talking with the HVAC dude. I know my end but have not much of a clue concerning the HP and don't wanna get stuck with someone who has an agenda that doesn't work with our proposed system. Gimme some schooling please.
Thanks in advance.
Just realized I posted in the wrong forum, mods can you move me to HVAC????
