What heat pump system is best for my situation?
I'm in the process of making a decision on what heating system to use for better efficiency in my home. My current setup is approximately 8 years old and consists of the following:
-oil boiler
-american standard 4 ton single speed air handler
-american standard 4 ton a/c unit
My home was built in 1999. Located in Harrisburg Pa. is approximately 3,200 square feet, has a 3 zone system, one floor with 8' ceilings, one floor with 9' ceilings, one floor with catheidral (sp?) celiings and an open foyer that is 3 stories high. The house has a lot of big windows and doors that are all anderson and don't seem to leak any air.
The reason I am looking to change my system is that with the current price of oil my heating bill is getting out of hand even though I keep the house rather cool. My temp settings are:
-58 for the lower floor all winter
-65 for the middle foor (with 2 bedroom completely shut off)
-61 for the upper floor, turned up to 68 from 11pm to 7am
With these temp settings my oil bill runs about $400 for a cold month plus my $90 electric bill. With the research I have done it appears a good heat pump and variable speed air handler should put my electric bills around $200 even with the house temperatures set around 69 for the entire house.
My plan is to keep the oil for my back up heat and replace the a/c unit with a heat pump and change out the single speed air handler for the more efficient variable speed.
I have spoke to 3 contractors and the two that have gotten back to me already both have different suggestion.
Contractor one says that a Trane XL19I with supporting air handler and programmable t-stats would be the most cost effective and efficient for the price. His logic is with the dual compressors I will only run the smaller compressor most of the time which will be more efficient.
Contractor two says after research that the XL16I with supporting air handler is my better choice since the peak SEER is 17 vs the XL19I peek SEER of 17.9 and the peek heat rating of the XL16I is a 9.2 vs the XL19I with only an 8.9
Contractor 3 hasn't got back to me with the quote yet but he wants to put Goodman products in and has suggested their model? 16? (sorry I don't have the exact model number with me).
Keeping in mind my location (Harrisburg Pa), house size and reason for replacing the system (more energy efficient, no problems with current system). What kind of advice can you give me on:
-Most efficient system for my needs
-Best product for the money
-Should I consider any other brand and why
-ANYTHING else you feel I should need to know that would help me in making the right choices.
Sorry for the long post but I have bee trying to do as much research as possible to help me make the right choice. I have even looked at an in line pellet boiler but don't want to deal with the 7 tons of pellets per heating season they say I will use. Since I don't know that I will live in this house the rest of my life I can't really justify the investment of geo thermal. So it looks to me that a high efficiency heat pump with oil as back up is my best bet. Feel free to comment if you feel otherwise.
I look forward to hearing any and all comments regarding my thoughts. Thanks in advance for taking your time to try and help me make the best choice possible.