High velocity heat pumps info

In_New_England

Being forced to abaondon my oil to gas conversion may not have been the worst thing (For those of you who have read me ranting about this, yes, I am in the acceptance stage of grief).

The plan hatching in my head is as follows: Before my existing heating system completely goes, I will

1. Upgrade my electrical (currently 100A fuses)
2. Install high velocity air
3. Test it out in winter to check if I can get by without baseboards
4. Discard the oil heating when it breaks after having worked out the weaknesses of the heat pump system

I am thinking about high-velocity because
1. Our home has no room for ducts
2. We'd need a bunch of heads for mini-splits and we'd have cold spots (bathroom etc.)
3. I rather fancy having just one unit in the attic, draining condensate down via gravity, with one filter I can replace myself rather than a condensate pump that can break and many filters to manage

What do you experts think of my plan and what should I know about high-velocity systems?

I'm near Boston, 1400 sq ft 2 story home + basement we never heat/cool. Basement is 1/2 unfinished and pretty exposed in case we need to run high-vel ducts, attic is accessible but with some gymnastics.

Thanks!

Hot_water_fan

What about two ducted systems? One located in attic, one located in basement. Might be an easier approach. 

In_New_England

Hot_water_fan said:

What about two ducted systems? One located in attic, one located in basement. Might be an easier approach. 

Ok, two independent heat pumps? The attic one would travel in uninsulated space, unless I added more blown in, over the ducts, which would work.

I worry about the basement - it's not that high - we'd bang our heads against the ducts, but an idea, thank you.

In_New_England

Also, would we need a 200A service or could we get by with the 100A one for heat pumps? Would likely add a heat pump water heater too, in the basement, unless folks have a better idea for hot water. Electric, on demand? But that would likely need an insane electric capacity.

Hot_water_fan

Also, would we need a 200A service or could we get by with the 100A one for heat pumps? Would likely add a heat pump water heater too, in the basement, unless folks have a better idea for hot water. Electric, on demand? But that would likely need an insane electric capacity.

Depends. Two would be around 40 amps total if they’re cold climate 2 ton models. Maybe a bit less. If you don’t need resistance backup, it’s easier. Or a furnace backup can save you some amps. It all depends. Electric on demand water heaters are the worst of all worlds! Inefficient and need huge amperage, so either a heat pump tank or resistance tank would be better if you have space. 

pecmsg

2 stories 2 systems. 

With 1 system even zoned there will be differences heating / cooling.