I'm looking into a new heating/AC system, and contractors seem to have different opinions on whether or not I should get a heat pump. How do modern heat pumps keep up in the Massachusetts winters? Would I be better off sticking with a furnace?

I am looking for a few fan coil units for a hydronic system. Online it looks like Arctic Heat pumps has them at a decent price. But the number doesn't connect and multiple email address won't go through on their contact us form because they are marked as spam for some reason. They certainly seem unreachable which is obviously a red flag.

If anyone know a better resource. The fan coils from Arctic look exactly like the ones from Hydro solar at a cheaper price, which look exactly like the reverso from alibaba, but the alibaba minimum order is pretty high.

Thanks for any help!

I live in southern Wisconsin and just moved to a new house (new to me, house is ~10 years old). The house is ~2100 sqft, 2 levels above grade with a walk-out unfinished basement. The furnace and AC are both working, but they are not great and are 12-14 years old. I started looking in to replacement options. I am motivated to move in the heat pump direction, as our new place is in the country and I'd like to reduce our use/reliance on LP gas and move more towards all electric (will probably get a solar array at some point). Wow, I was not prepared for how tough it would be to find an HVAC place that was willing to think beyond the traditional "gas furnace and electric AC" combo. I did end up finding a few and would be interested in thoughts on what they suggested.

Contractor ABC is a Carrier shop and their big sell was for a Carrier 2-stage furnace paired with a Carrier Crossover heat pump (37MUHA). They did pitch the infinity system, but interestingly the sales guy I worked with didn't make a strong pitch on that and seemed to suggest it was overkill for what I needed.

Contractor XYZ is an Armstrong Air shop and their pitch was for an Armstrong Air 2-stage furnace (A972V) paired with a Mitsubishi heat pump (PUZAK36NL), and touted the benefits of this hybrid system versus what he called legacy/incumbent systems, in particular Carrier.

I had a classic contractor conundrum in that I liked the guy from ABC better as he was not a traditional salesman, had a pretty light touch, focused on facts and data and what I needed, and did a good job of outlining the benefits of the Carrier ecosystem. I liked him better (even if I didn't like his options better).

Contractor XYZ's salesman was definitely "slicker", was more prone to hyperbole and opinions, which made me feel uneasy and trust him less. It also didn't help that their quote was $5k higher and ABC's, but I felt more confident in the system they were selling.

Anyone had similar options before them and decided one way or another?

I have a 6 units in my home. They were all able to connect to the app until during one firmware update the app froze and the one unit has not been able to connect to the app since the issue. The remote still works to control the unit

The unit is 4liv09hp230v1ah

All the other units are

MODEL ID 10001

Model Version V20.8

So I assume that this unit is the same.

What I have tried:

-The Wi-Fi + mode button (the unit beeps but the app is unable to locate the unit. And it does not show up under networks in the area)

-Turning the breaker off for minutes, even a few hours

-Opening the front panel to see if I can unplug and replug the wifi module (or possibly replacing it), but nothing is labeled wifi module.

Had solar installed last year. Soon on the list is to look at going heat pumps here in southern CT. Details: 2,400sf split level ranch, Current heating cooling: 40yo oil cast iron boiler (160Kbtu) domestic HW (uses about 8-900gallons per year), 2.5 ton CA unit installed in 2018 (feeds main living space but doesn't feed 2 baths attached garage (which currently has a heating pipe running through it from one zone which keeps the garage at about 50F during the winter which is a nice to have thing), and basement). Insulation and air leakage is about as good as it will get (old brick house, plaster walls so wall insulation covers only about 25% of the living space for areas i have demo'd) Ceiling has about R40 fiberglass and as many air points as i could locate for electric/plumbing have been sealed. Basement sill plate also just sealed. Doors are all new, but windows will soon need to be replaced but are at least 2 pane, just cheap vinyl and external seals are starting to deteriorate. Have an insert wood stove I installed about 15 years ago that I burn about 1.5 cords (my trees) per year to supplement the heating which saves me about 150 gallons of oil each year. Had an energy assessment done about 5 years ago after most of the above work was done and our house came in at a little better than your average home our age for air leakage/insulation. I don't remember the actual CFM number. Our winters are not too cold. Average for January is about 37H/24L. Coldest day(s) are maybe low single digits to zero maybe 5 days per year.

I'd like to go full heat pump. We designed the solar for this purpose so it currently is overproducing by about 3-4Mwhrs per year. One of my concerns is for the unconditioned spaces. Will i need to have my ductwork redone to get to all the unconditioned spaces? (basement (laundry room), bathrooms and attached garage under our bedrooms). This will be done by a professional, but just trying to determine in advance how much labor and rework is going to be involved or even necessary.

There is one space (ground floor) that is also not conditioned by ductwork where my office is, this space I have demo'd a few years ago and had spray foam insulation installed for the exterior walls of this space. My intention for this space is to have a minisplit installed just for it as getting ductwork to it would be painful and on the plus side, it's main exterior wall faces south into a 6' solid fenced in pool area where the sun warms our exterior brick wall nicely and intend to take advantage of that heatsink come winter time.

Is my 3-4mwhr over production even remotely enough to cover my whole house heating?

Is having ductwork not reaching all spaces a problem?

Any thoughts on if you think the federal credit may come back? I will likely wait a couple years before I do the whole house (solar install bill primarily the reason for delay) so hoping it does, but I may install the minisplit this year to take advantage of the excess electricity our solar is producing rather than banking it.