What do I need to know about heat pumps?

[Snipe Hunter]

I thought I should do a quick follow up on my post.

So I had three different companies come out to give me a quote. Even though 70% of my ground floor is underground (walk out basement), every one of the job estimators just want to know the square footage and number of registers in the rooms. NONE of them would do a manual J.  I got the impression that none of them even knew how. They all wanted to quote me an exact replacement for the failed unit I have, even though I told them that, from living with it for 16 years, it was way oversized.

I eventually went online and found two websites that I could do my own manual J’s. I did both and they matched. (well, close enough) When the fourth HVAC company showed up, I sat down with the guy, gave him the manual J and TOLD him what size I wanted installed.  He had never seen anyone do their own calculations before. 

They gave me a fair price and I signed them up. The install was quick, clean and professional.  Thanks for all the advice. I’m happy I took the time to get the right size installed by the right company.

So what did you buy?

I'm also shopping for a new HP... at least budgeting for one. Our Ruud HP is 25 years old Works like a champ but it's still 25 years old.

[MstrCarpenter]

I thought I should do a quick follow up on my post.

So I had three different companies come out to give me a quote. Even though 70% of my ground floor is underground (walk out basement), every one of the job estimators just want to know the square footage and number of registers in the rooms. NONE of them would do a manual J.  I got the impression that none of them even knew how. They all wanted to quote me an exact replacement for the failed unit I have, even though I told them that, from living with it for 16 years, it was way oversized.

I eventually went online and found two websites that I could do my own manual J’s. I did both and they matched. (well, close enough) When the fourth HVAC company showed up, I sat down with the guy, gave him the manual J and TOLD him what size I wanted installed.  He had never seen anyone do their own calculations before. 

They gave me a fair price and I signed them up. The install was quick, clean and professional.  Thanks for all the advice. I’m happy I took the time to get the right size installed by the right company.

No, they probably didn't. Determining system requirements based on Sq. footage just won't work. I.E.  Let's say my house is identical to the one across the street except I had some insulation blown in the attic. We both have 16' of patio doors leading to our back yards. My doors face north..... (Uhoh!) Who needs more cooling? How much more? "What's that Manual J do again?"

[Terry W]

So what did you buy?

I'm also shopping for a new HP... at least budgeting for one. Our Ruud HP is 25 years old Works like a champ but it's still 25 years old.

I got quotes from several dealers (Trane, American Standard, Mitsubishi, etc) but ended up with a 1.5 ton Lennox heat pump.