New HVAC system - recommendations ?

[carry15+1]

We have a walk out basement home in SW Missouri, 1500 sf upstairs and the same down, all finished. The tax credits being offered, plus the rebate from our electric provider has tempted me to replace the furnace and air, both of which are around 16 years old. We have propane heat right now. I'm thinking of going with a twin compressor air-to-air heat pump and a new two stage, variable speed Trane propane furnace. We have experienced several long term power outages and I want to be able to heat the place with propane and my generator (6500w) if needed.

I guess my question is if anyone else has upgraded their HVAC lately and what they went with. I have an HAI RC80B thermostat now which will not work with a new system and I'm guessing I'm not going to find a stat that will work with my Elk M1G and provide 2 stage cooling and 2-3 stage heating. My neighbor has a Honeywell Vision Pro thermostat which seems to handle an installation similar to what I'm proposing, but obviously won't work with the Elk.

Any comments, suggestions or advice greatly appreciated.

 

[AceCannon]

The Aprilaire 8870 can communicate with the M1G and supports a large # of HVAC configurations.

Installation manual (for sure I know it mentions 2 stage heat with 2 stage cooling)

Operating manual

 

[DavidL]

The Aprilaire 8870 can communicate with the M1G and supports a large # of HVAC configurations.

Installation manual (for sure I know it mentions 2 stage heat with 2 stage cooling)

Operating manual

I just replaced my Water to Air Geothermal, that had secondary Propane heat that doubled as emergency heat while on generator, with a new Water to Air Geothermal that has a second and third stage electric heat. I moved the old Propane furnace to be used only for generator fed emergency heat. I am using a RCS TR-40 that also happens to be connected to an ELK M1. The transition to emergency heat is done using relays via the ELK. The generator transfer switch "tells" the ELK that it is on backup power. A rule in the ELK "tells" a relay to switch thermostat relay output over to the propane furnace.

This is the plan...I haven't gotten the control system emergency fail over wired yet as the new furnace just went in a couple of weeks ago and I still need to do some wiring on the propane furnace. There is also some ducting that has to be switched over as the primary and emergency systems run in parallel.

 

[RAM]

You'll need to make sure that the new Trane propane furnace will run OK off of a generator. I've heard of problems with the new furnaces with their fancy circuitry not playing well with generators.

 

[nov0798]

Ram,
If you buy a generator that delivers True Sine Wave Voltage, you should not have a problem.
As for HVAC, I recently upgraded to a Carrier Infinity system with Hybrid heat, utilizing natural gas and a heat pump. So far, very happy with the system.

 

[carry15+1]

Thanks for the replies.

I received my first estimate this evening. Trane XC95 3-stage, variable speed gas furnace plus Trane 20I two stage air-to-air heat pump with a Trane Comfort Link communicating thermostat. Total installed $8188. I can get the $1500 from Obama and another $450 from my electric company bringing the total down to just over $6k. I think this system is overkill for my climate. That said, it seems like quite a system for $6k.

I have a Honda EU6500is invertor/generator and I'm sure it puts out clean enough eneregy for the Trane furnace.

DavidL - Actually it was an article in my coop newsletter that started this whole thing. They claim you can get a $22k geo-thermal system installed for around $12k with the 30% rebate from the Feds and $750/ton from the coop. I'm 66 and I just can't convince my wife that we should dig up the yard to save some energy costs ;-)

 

[86turbodsl]

Thanks for the replies.

I received my first estimate this evening. Trane XC95 3-stage, variable speed gas furnace plus Trane 20I two stage air-to-air heat pump with a Trane Comfort Link communicating thermostat. Total installed $8188. I can get the $1500 from Obama and another $450 from my electric company bringing the total down to just over $6k. I think this system is overkill for my climate. That said, it seems like quite a system for $6k.

I have a Honda EU6500is invertor/generator and I'm sure it puts out clean enough eneregy for the Trane furnace.

DavidL - Actually it was an article in my coop newsletter that started this whole thing. They claim you can get a $22k geo-thermal system installed for around $12k with the 30% rebate from the Feds and $750/ton from the coop. I'm 66 and I just can't convince my wife that we should dig up the yard to save some energy costs ;-)

I dabble in HVAC from time to time. For your location, I'd look really hard at an air source heat pump. Skip the geo unless you have high AC needs. The newest ASHP's have a ROI better than GEO. Make sure you look at R-410 units.

 

[nov0798]

carry15+1,
Make sure when you are looking at generators, you need to know the actual starting load on the generator. Some motors like big heat pumps have quite an initial surge load when starting. Just make sure the generator can handle it.

 

[DavidL]

I am assuming he will only be firing up the gas Trane when on generator power. If the "6500" in the model name is the watts....he isn't going to be running a Geothermal compressor on that small of a generator.

 

[carry15+1]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm replacing a near 20 year old Rheem 120k btu furnace and 3 ton AC. They have been reliable and did a great job, but I hope to reduce my energy costs with the new system.

I signed the contract today and hope to have everything installed by the end of next week. The Trane propane furnace is a 100k btu, XC95, 3-stage, VS motor, 95% AFUE

Trane Heat Pump is 3 ton, 2 stage, (with dual compressors, not an unloader), model XL20I, with a seer rating of 19 and HSPF of 9.0.

I'm really anxious to see how this effects my AC bills this summer. In a power outage I only intend to run the propane furnace, not the heat pump. The generator is 6500 watts and does a fine job on 2 refrigerators and one upright freezer, plus furnace and some lights.

The original quote has been reduced about $200 as Missouri is having a green tax free week and I'm hitting the purchase at just the right time.