Thanks Dana,
Actually, maybe I was really unfair to the contractor who visited me, since when he looked over my existing heating system, he threw in so many options at me, which I suspected was just suggestions, with ball park figures and with no mention of specific named products. The contractor probably correctly read exactly what I really wanted, rough estimates as to what options may exist for me. I never mentioned my budget (not sure why since in my field, SONAR, I would be at a lost to even provide rough estimates without specific funding availability).
Since, after having read and adsorbed all the informational threads provided on this post, I have to admit I probably should not have wasted the contractor's time until I had become more gelled in my mind as to what I wanted and what I could afford. Basically, I have become overwhelmed at the number of heating/cooling options possibilities, and I am still not completely firmed up yet as to which way to proceed.
There was even another option thrown out by the contractor that I dismissed because of its very high initial cost that I have never even mentioned on this post. Cannot recall the ball park estimate but it was somewhere around 28K, for a geothermal heat pump. I did ask "why so high" and he replied you would require a dedicated drilled well, and piping to and from such. Still remember going outside and pointing to a drilled well 75 feet from my home that came up with a recovery rate of around a gallon per HOUR, so it was capped off 35 years ago as a worthless 180 foot drilled hole. He seemed to think the well would be fine, but cannot recall how much that would reduce the estimate by or even if this type of installation is really practical in the northeast since I know of no one who has ever had one installed.
There is also a problem with acid water in CT as other than stainless fittings or plastic piping, metals simply do not seem to hold up very well. My home's water supply required a PH tank to reduced the acidic affects or my plumbing would have been in shambles by now. Even with the PH tank, any copper piping prior to the tank (high acid water), including some high Zinc content PEX fittings have had problems. Not sure even if my concerns are valid concerning a geothermal heat pump, as I have no idea of what goes down into the well or if water with a PH level of 6.2 would play havoc with such a system. I did wonder about if things could ever freeze up, having a failure in which such a system could flood out the house, and if I would need a plumber on call, in addition to HVAC guy to repair/maintain the system.
In any event, when the contractor departed, I was definitely confused and I am sure he knew it. Still we departed on good terms. I definitely could pay him a visit this time around as he knows about what I have, and with the heating/cooling workup sheet provided by the power company in hand, get some specific specs as to suitable systems, types, makes, models, ball park costs, and exactly what is to be done (i.e. removal of old units, as the Williamson is really one massive two part unit) etc. I am sure the costs have risen somewhat since the old estimates, and there would have to be some miner ductwork needed to tie it into the existing system. The low ball system he mentioned, a single mini split coupled with propane was actually a turn off for me since even then I knew a single mini split unit could have never fulfilled either the cooling or heating required. However, he did cover quite a large range of options of which now some of them seemed to have been more reasonable than originally thought.
Dana, I was surprised at your comment of the BTUs per hour rating of a small wood stove. I looked up the specs of an old Energy Harvester I purchased from a friend that was made the early eighties. It's rating is 4,000 to 50,000 BTUs! I only installed in a fireplace because I did not want to soot up the new fireplace that never been fired off. The stove came with a screen that would fit where the door was so we could look at the flames. Probably a horrible efficiency being operated that way but when ready for bed, the screen came off and the door was closed.
To install it, I just removed the legs, and set it inside of a fireplace on four bricks (it was too tall to fit otherwise), removed the damper, and shot a 6" metal flue right up through the existing masonry flue and out the very top of the outside chimney. The stove is sort of half in and half out of the fireplace but level with its front resting on the hearth. I insulated the damper area as best as I could, and again only used it as a functional decorative item.
One of my concerns in heating my home is what would happen during a power outage, say like the non blizzard we had a couple of days ago where the outside temperature dropped into the single digits. I was shying away from a heat pump because of the hefty emergency electric generator requirements operating under these conditions. As you pointed out, I already have a passive emergency heater in place that I never really considered viable. I also noted that directly above the wood stove at the highest point in the cathedral ceiling is a massive return vent which means that by just powering up the air handler some of the wood stove's heat could be ducted to the entire house. I never dreamed that the small Energy Harvester would have the same rating as my wood furnace. Even without any electrical backup power, I now think by using the downstairs furnace as a gravity unit, with upstairs harvester fired off, I am probably far better off in an emergency than I have ever imagined.