New Hampshire system - propane-vs-oil / air vs forced hw

new nh owner

I am building in NH 2500sf 2.5 bath and wondering about heating systems...Oil or propane as well as FHW or FHA.... I am wondering how good are the tankless hot water systems and efficiency combined with FHW or do I need a regular furnace...? What are you suggestions for the most efficient and economical....we are running about 2.05/gal for oil and 1.80 for propane... any insight or suggestions would be greatly appreciated....

jeff_51

I think most of us here

would go with hot water boiler, with hot water maker added as an extra zone and you should really look into going radiant floor or wall heat if you havent't gotten to far in you construction. Total comfort and no noise or dust. Some of the posted pics here are real cadillac systems, but they can be kept real simple and still be efficient. You can easily zone every room if you like and balancing the system is very easy. Each loop, even in the same zone can be adjusted. Oil vs propane, now that one will get you some real differances here. When I was doing oil (which was ten yrs ago now) the efficency of oil couldn't match that of propane. No good 90 plus boilers at the time in oil. I imagine that has prolly changed now. Propane is usually more volatile in the winter than oil, more btu's in oil than gas, but you need to figure in the yearly cost of having that oil boiler serviced. If you get a big enough propane tank, you can get it filled in the summer and go all winter without a refill. Then propane would be cheaper. All of that has a lot to do with your location and what equipment you put in. My personal preferance would be the propane but that could easily change depending. I know that may not have helped alot, but is really does depend an alot of variables. Do go with the hot water radiant though and yes there are other good systems out there other than what I recommend. There again, it all depends what you are trying to accomplish. A really good mechanical contractor that does hot water and forced air and oil and propane will give you the best options, You need to sit down and talk to a couple of good pros to really look at you options. I am doing a job right now with copper fin tube in the lower level garden apt, hot water radiators on the first and second floor and hydro air on the third floor and of course an indirect hot water maker off the boiler. It all depends.