Bought house last year - need a new heating/cooling system

tmoney468

Hi everyone, we bought our first house last year, and long story short we need a new heating/cooling system for our house. Our house was built in 1998, and the furnace and central AC are original to the hosue. Currently we have: oil furnace, forced air, oil direct fired water heater, and central AC.

The bad - whoever installed our current ductwork didn't do a good job. A lot of flex duct runs, a lot of gaps in the rigid ducts etc.

So what we're looking at is the possibility of getting a new oil furnace, central AC or central heat pump, and new ductwork. We had a couple companies come out and I brought up the suggestion of a hydro-air solution, but neither of them were really supportive of the idea. Both suggested keeping the furnace, running new ductwork, and getting a central AC or heat pump.

Basically, I'm looking to see what you guys would recommend since we're going to be putting a pretty big investment into the HVAC. Is it best to stick with the furnace and direct water heater? From what I've read, hydro-air might be a better option since we'd be able to have an indirect water heater, and wouldn't need 2 separate oil burners, one for air and other for water. I'm also interested in the possibility of a central heat pump since it would be nice to have the flexibility in the future to use that for heating if the price of oil spikes etc. Thanks!