Well, money is a factor!! So I would just say if money were no object I would have a geothermal system with a heat pump that had a humidifier attached to the unit in the house, probably a climate controlled unit that would sense when it got too dry, etc. Then I guess I would also have gas fireplaces for back up and pleasing to the eye. What I do have is a heat pump, electric forced air with a/c. Also have a wood stove to offset the high electric bills in the winter.
Have been in the house now for 2 years and had planned radiant for bathrooms but cut it out to have other things to stay in the budget!

Thanks, twotogo! Yes, money is a factor, BUT, we're trying to figure out what the best system is. If you spend all of this time and money to build it would really stink to then be uncomfortable in it because of the HVAC system. Our architect cringed when I said forced hot air yesterday, as did our neighbors at a recent gathering, so that's why I'm still wondering why people around here don't like it or if they just haven't experienced the new systems, etc. Baseboard is still very common around here because of this. He did mention maybe you do radiant floor on the first floor and forced on the second floor. Another question I have about radiant is carpet. We have it in our finished basement and used the carpet and pad recommended for radiant and we needed to use a space heater down there this winter. The space is insulated so I can't figure out if it's a problem with the insulation (it's also an antique home so leaky) or the radiant just doesn't work well with carpet no matter what you do? Anyhow, keep the input coming. Would also love to hear from anyone who has a modulating furnace.
I hadn't read about geothermal heating systems before and am going to look at that now. I've been on this site for a couple of years and am still in awe at how much I learn from people :-)

chris,

I think the east coast and west coast(where I am) differ with common heat systems. Even though the west side of our state is fairly mild I live on the east side of the state where winters are very cold and summers are hot. But forced air is very common here and baseboard is thought of here as not efficient and old fashioned. Have been satisfied with the forced air and the outfit that installed it is nearby which is also something to think about. Good luck with your search; this is an awesome forum, I agree!

We are in a similar situation - trying to decide the best heat source for our new build.

However, we are on the west coast in a very mild marine coastal climate. Our coldest design day is probably your average winter day!

Originally we were planning for radiant hydronic in both our slab downstairs and in our upstairs which has our great room kitchen & living room areas - to do radiant for both areas is coming in at around $25K or so...

We are looking at alternatives to lower the cost. Since our home is fairly open we are toying with the idea of doing the radiant in the slab, as above, but then doing a different heat source just for the upstairs. We feel that the heat will tend to rise from downstairs regardless, and we might need very little heat upstairs. Some homes in the area never use the upstairs radiant.

So far we have looked into doing simple radiant water baseboards in 3 locations. We are also really interested in the idea of a ductless mini-split heat pump for the upstairs. An 18K btu unit could easily handle our heat load - plus even though we almost never need AC it could do that as well...

Decisions are still to be made - we signed our building contract yesterday with $20k budgeted for heat - if we can fit radiant in-floor (or staple up to the upstairs joists) we will probably do it.

Forced air is pretty common here; we have an Aprilaire whole house system for controlling humidity. Basically there's a switch that you turn on for the dry winter months and off for the humid summer months. Our HVAC guys installed it with the HVAC system. Might be worth checking into for you. (aprilaire.com)

HTH

We will be doing duct-less mini splits. Don't care for ducts and everything that can get trapped in them. We will probably have electric radiant floor heating in the bathrooms, if they are tiled.

We built in MN and moved in about 1 1/2 years ago. Two story plus full basement walkout.

We have 2 Econar geothermal units, one hydronic and one forced air with 8 - 1,000 ft horizonal loops. The hydronic pumps water for the radiant floors in the garage slab, basement slab, upstairs bath, master bath, 1/2 bath and mudroom. The forced air unit is for all other areas and provides A/C in summer.

Our insulation is closed cell spray foam and it's awesome.

I wanted to wait to see how the humidity was in winter and it was around 25%, which is too low. So I'm looking at adding a Honeywell Truesteam humidifier that will add water directly into the ducts and is controlled automatically by the thermostat with an outdoor sensor.

I did all the underside-of-the-floor mounted radiant pex tubing (and accompanying insulation) myself as well as the floor insulation under the slabs. It's critical that you have a thermal break between the concrete and the ground. I used 2" XPS (rigid pink foam board insulation) on the ground and taped all joints. I also used a reflective bubble-wrap type insulation around the perimeter walls and interior footings. No concrete touches the ground at all.

You mentioned carpet in the basement. As long as your installer knows what flooring you're installing, he can change how close together he puts the pex tubing loops. For carpet the loops will be closer together to create more heat.

Geothermal is very quiet. The fan is on all the time so it doesn't come on like a jet engine and shut off all the time like propane or natural gas. Quiet, steady heat. In the summer there is no condenser outside and thus it's silent. Love it.

People's stories of their experiences are helpful. But you have to be careful taking some of these things as fact.

Just a quick counterpoint to the above posting. Geothermal is quieter than other options only in that there is no outdoor unit. The indoor air handling is a function of the air handler and that is the interior noise. A furnace that comes on like a jet engine is not designed well. I personally can't tell when my furnace is running and I could leave the fan on all the time (and be even more stealth).

And on the outdoor units, I have 2. They are at the side of the house and don't make enough noise to make it into the back yard.

We've all lived with cheap or poorly designed HVAC at some point in our lives. We've all had noisy ones and overly dry forced air. That doesn't mean a new well designed system will have those problems.

I can't imagine there is anything "less efficient" about baseboard heat. It tends to be in houses that are old and inefficient. It won't be as even as radiant but efficiency should not be the problem. Forced air is usually the least efficient because of duct losses although keeping the ducts in the conditioned space fixes that.

We're in the quote stage for a small new home in NH. We went with a hybrid air sourced heat-pump/propane setup.

Ran into the same disdain for "scorched air" heat, but if you want AC it's really the way to go and what everyone remembers really doesn't take into consideration modulated gas furnaces and variable speed fans used today. Geothermal is great, but way expensive. In fact, in MA/NH everything is expensive compared to what I read on this forum.

The hybrid system uses a heatpump for AC and limited heating, say down to an outside temperature of 30F or so. At that temperature, operating the heat pump is less expensive than propane (we don't have NG available). Upgrading to a heat pump is only about $500-$1,000 more than an AC unit.

Below 30F, the system is programmed to switch to a conventional high efficiency gas furnace, since the heating capacity of heat pumps is limited especially for the smaller units you'd find in a well insulated house. We're using a Honeywell IAQ thermostat (with outdoor temp and humidity sensors) to control all this plus a Ventmar HRV ventilation system for under $20K installed in new construction.

Thanks for the additional input. David_cary - thank you, you also armed me with info from my other thread on the HVAC forum. CRDNH: It must be a New England thing. People from other regions don't even blink at forced hot air, here it's generates a look of question and concern from people. But I have baseboard and those drive me crazy too. I'm hoping I can find someone who will let me into their new build with a humidity system, etc., to really put my nerves at ease. I'm also very interested in learning more about heatpumps and modulating furnaces so I'll spend some time researching the forums and more. I also told my builder I want to do an energy test before they close the house up and he said he is fine with that and agrees it's a good step. Thanks again to everyone for their input and if anyone else wants to post with their info, keep it coming!

The HVAC guy's mistakes on our build turned to our benefit. He didn't plan adequate forced air heat for our north-facing rooms. So...we added a small boiler and pex tubing under those rooms. We already had Nu-Heat under the tile in our north-facing master bath.

I think we have the 'best of both worlds' as far as comfort. The ducting provides A/C in summer and delivers *humidified* warm air in winter. The furnace is two-stage, fitted with an Aprilaire flow-through humidifier and air cleaner. We have two sets of air returns: Lower registers are open in heating season; Upper registers are open in cooling season. Supply is in the floor.

Now, if I could start over...I'd have dual systems throughout the house! There's nothing nicer than radiant heat AND humidified air in winter. (I've been very happy with the mold resistant flow-through humidifier.)

We've been in the house 10 years.

The use of characterizations like forced "hot" air and "scorched" air suggests the use of direct fired furnaces favored by developers and contractors in the last century.

The most effective system I have seen used in MA is a "hydro-air" system which uses an exterior comp/cond unit and an interior high-efficiency boiler to serve an air-handler or two (usually in the basement and attic) with a variable speed fan, sophisticated computer controls, and an exterior temperature sensor that allows the lowest air temperature and air speed for the best comfort level. The use of a humidifier and outside air ventilation with a heat exchanger makes the system hard to beat.

However, this system is not the cheapest or easiest to install so it is not usually the first system recommended by a contractor.

Completed most of the house right at one year ago. We have a Climatemaster 4 ton geothermal unit, and couldn't be happier.

We also have a free standing wood stove, and limitless supply of firewood, which I have to cut.

The house is 2100 sf, and total electric, including well, in central Oklahoma. Our electric bill for the hottest part of summer was around $120. For the coldest part of winter, it was around $100, but we burn the stove almost daily. We also get lots of passive solar heat from south windows.

Our house is in a very very wet spot. Does that impact geothermal? I've already heard it's sky high here in Mass (why oh why is everything so much more expensive here in NE!??!!) but I'm curious if you're in an area where you have a high water table will it work? My understanding is everything is dug down? Or am I totallly wrong in that? I have to say that most of the google searches I do on almost all of these technologies do not yield great results for someone looking for layman terms. And I am a former programmer who knows how to work the search engine. Ugh!