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I'm planning to replace my central air/heat soon. This will be a major purchase for me, and I want to get the very best and most energy efficent system I can afford. Unfortunately I know zip about this subject, and even the websites are over my head.
Anyone know if there are energy-star rated systems?
Anyone have recommendations on the best central air/heating systems?
Anyone know how much I might expect to pay for an 1100 square foot single story home (ballpark, I know there are many variabes - I just am interested in knowing sort of what to expect as I have to idea whatsoever).
Well, I'm going to add my plug for a geothermal system if it will work in your area (ie, you're not sitting on pure bedrock). The up-front cost is more than a more traditional system, but you make it back in savings pretty darn fast (faster for us then I had originally calculated).
Price will depend on your area's contractors and you would need to add another bit for the well drilling - again, price dependent on your area & how deep you'd need.
But I have been VERY impressed with our system (and I was an initial skeptic). Keeps us at a comfortable temperature, regardless of the season with NO fuel costs. The only cost is for the electricity to run the pump & fan - which about equals what your more traditional system would use (MAYBE a slight increase because of the pump).
I know that we were spending about $150/mo on heating oil in our old house all winter and a big increase in the electric bill in the summer for the AC. With our new house (approx 4x as big) we have no fuel oil costs and the electrical bill is about the same as the old winter bill all year long. Granted, the insulation in the old house was slight-to-nonexsistant and the new house is sealed to a fare-thee-well, but the savings is still very nice.
I also like the ecological 'warm fuzzies' of it, since it doesn't directly use any fossil fuels (not sure what the electric co in this area uses, actually...hmmm) There's also a federal tax credit for it (along with some other systems, just to be fair ;-) ) and there may even be a state/local tax break for it in your area - you'd have to check.
The only problem I've really found with the system (other than the initial cost) is that it's still not as well known, so your choice in contractors may be severely limited (I found a grand total of 3 in this area - including the whole busy Norfolk area of Va - and several who'd never even heard of geothermal.
We got our system from [HYPERLINK@www.fhp-mfg.com] which has more info on the systems and some helpful links if you like.
I'd never heard of that before. I'll have to google it and find more info. So this is a heating and cooling system - or just heating? The website makes it sound as though it's just for heating, but I'm not sure. Will have to see if Texas has any companies for this. Heating isn't a huge issue here... haha Maybe 3 months total heating is needed - but when it's needed - it's really needed :-)
It's for both. Ours works really well in both directions - and we get everything from -10 to over 100 degrees here depending on the season. The nice thing is, the power output remains pretty constant regardless. Gas and oil systems spike fuel cost in the winter and electric bills in the summer, but geothermal stays pretty much the same. So if your electric bill just kills you in the summer because you're trying to stay cool, this might be a solution.
