Heating and cooling options?

[Thoughts-from-Jules]

So I am sure this is a common dilema for people building their own homes, but we've been looking at that HVAC estimate for heat pump/AC and wonder if there are any other options that might be feasible?  Something that could possible cheaper to install and still pretty efficient to run as well?

We live in Eastern Oregon and we do need A/C in the summer months (or at least we'd want it in some form for those really hot weeks that won't cool down a night).  This year hasn't been bad at all but in past years it has been so nice to have).

Then for heat we use about 80% wood and only have a gas furnace now for backup and it is very inexpensive to heat with.  We burn about 2-3 cord a year to heat our 1300 sqft house now.  We plan to still use wood heat as our primary when we are home but of course we need something for backup while we are gone or for really cold snaps. 

I have read just a little about a mini split system?  I don't understand what these are about, just that they are an option...does anyone have any advice on pros and cons of something like this?  Is it just best to go with a standard ducted system and fork over the $ to do it?  Is there a way to save money on a system we don't know about?

[Squirl]

It depends.  I don't know as much about heating systems on a large house.  On my 600 square foot place I have 2 direct vent propane heaters, one in the bedroom and one in the living room.  Every now and again I can find them cheap on craigslist, under $200. If you use wood to heat most of your house, I assume you are not looking for heaters in each individual room.  If I were on grid I would look for an electric baseboard heater in each room that it was required.  I know some people that I know do this. Their electric bill goes up around $20 in the winter months. They are very cheap to install, and if you don't have to use them much, cheap to live with.  Be careful though, some code jurisdictions require additional insulation for electric heat.  It wouldn't matter with my design, because I am so far over code in insulation. I have no idea what your design is.

Why look for super efficiency and top dollar for something that is rarely used?

[Thoughts-from-Jules]

That was my thought too, maybe efficiency won't matter as much in our case because the heat is going to be backup....and the AC is only a couple months of the year with varying use. 

We are looking at $12,000 or more for heating and cooling for a woodstove set up and heat pump for both heat and AC.   I just though since our cooling needs are such a short period of time and our back-up heating seems so infrequent maybe we should look at alternatives. 

When we lived in a 900sf house it had an ac window unit framed into the wall permanently, and then it had a tall forced air furnace that had the intake at the top and the outflow at the bottom, it was super warm and powerful and heated the house fine as long as we had some ceiling fans to move the air around some.  It is my understanding those can be inset into a wall as to not be so obtrusive and I think that could be an option if we wanted it (2 units?)

My experience with baseboard heaters is that they really do make a huge difference in power usage.  You knew if you left the heat set too high for sure!  I almost wondered about small wall units so each room could set their own heat comfort level but I understand those are also expensive.

We put in one of those radiant heat mats under our floor tile in the bathroom and it was supposed to be this really efficient heat system and the thing drains power like crazy.  We notice a considerable difference on our bill if we leave that even on low.

The idea is to keep the house around 1500 sf and have all doorways open to the main areas so there are no hallways to have to get heat down etc.  We also thought of utilizing passive solar heat by doing a couple under the south facing windows in winter.  Something portable I would think.

[Thoughts-from-Jules]

I have been interested in exploring something like this as well, maybe a DIY one instead of what these systems cost but a small solar powered fan to move the heat from the heater on the side of the home or on the roof to the interior spaces would help and it won't affect the power bill.  http://www.solarpowernrg.com/products/datasheets/Solarsheat.pdf

Here is more of a home built version.   I doubt this is new to the site but maybe it can help show you what I am considering and you can lead me in the direction of something better or easier etc.

I am just looking at this for one of the options to have supplemental heat to the woodstove, but it might be nice if these helped not to have to build a fire on milder cool days.

Still have to deal with cooling now.  Just window units?  How loud are they these days and what are some pros and cons?  Do you prefer a AC wundow unit or a swamp cooler?

Likely we will swallow it and just do the HVAC system but I want to be sure we've explored other options before we just give in and fork over the $$$$.  We are trying to ride that fine line between putting in good systems to save us money in the long run and also saving money on the initial build.....I know right?  Wish us luck.

[dug]

I've heard some good things about ductless AC's, don't know about the cost.

We use evaporative (swamp) coolers and they are usually great but much of the really hot part of summer here is very low humidity. Once the humidity rises above 30% or so their usefulness diminishes drastically. I wouldn't think they would be an option in Oregon.

[Thoughts-from-Jules]

Eastern Oregon is a pretty dry area, only when there is a thunderstorm brewing do we ever feel humidity here.  We had a swamp cooler once that did a good job it was just really old.  We later put in A/C to be able to cool the whole house. 

[MushCreek]

We're probably going to go with one or more mini-splits (ductless) units. They used to be sort of a window unit, only with the compressor separated to cut down on noise. Now, they are available in a number of different configurations and efficiencies. Some have multiple zones running off of one compressor, which is probably the best option for whole-house conditioning. What surprised me is how low a temp they can make heat at. Some produce 100% of their rated capacity down to about 5 F, and still make usable heat down to -12 F. The SEER ratings can range from the upper teens to as high as 23. One drawback is the wall unit, which would remind you of the A/C unit in your hotel room. Some manufacturers now make a ceiling unit, which just looks like a regular A/C duct. For some reason, these cost a lot more though. As for cost- they ain't cheap. You can buy a basic one for $2K, but it's easy to get up around $6-7K for a multi-zone unit. Installation looks pretty easy, but I'm going to have a qualified A/C guy do the final hook-up.