Morrelli
Member
Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving! Looking for professional opinions. My current HVAC system is hydronic with air handlers ( two units, upper and lower levels) using a navien combi fired by LP for DHW and heat source. I have two 22 year old condensers for AC, one a 5ton and one a 2 ton, again upper and lower using mentioned air handlers. What I'm trying to accomplish is replacing the 5 and 2ton AC units with inverter heat pumps as solar is cheaper than LP. I have been told I can utilize the existing lines sets with proper cleaning and others have said no. The lineset runs are considerable but very intact. I've also resorted to the fact that I'll likely need to replace air handlers to match heat pumps. With inverter heat pumps couldn't I eliminate the hydronic heat and use the matched air handlers to heat and cool? Old air handlers are suntherms. As it is now, when there is a priority call for DHW on the combi boiler, the hydronic heat loop is secondary and this means no heating of the home while DHW call is happening. Not a huge issue, but is noticable at times. It very rarely gets below 30F where I am and summers can be hot enough so that without solar, cooling costs would be near 1k a month at times. So anyway, thats what I have. I'm not rich, but ill save for good quality. Any thoughts if it was your place? What would you do for the most long term savings, (retiring soon and dont plan on moving) I would add I have a 10kw solar setup with 26kw in backup battery. I pay about 3 bucks a gallon for LP and living in the overpriced screwed up state of California I'd rather utilize the solar if at all possible. Thanks in advance for any comments.