A heat pump is not going to give you any extra heat in the middle of a Calgary winter.  If you want air conditioning, think about a mini split only for the bedroom(s) or specifically where needed rather than trying to air condition the entire house.

Bruce

I have just finished building an ICF home for my parents in Michigan. The home is 2,850sq.ft. It has a 22' vaulted ceiling in the great room. Not the most efficient design but it looks good. We have the smallest geo system made by waterfurnace. Which is a 3ton Senergy 3D system.This is still overkill. The cycle time is not long enough to condition the air. Humidify or dehumidify. We have an ERV system also. I just wanted to throw that out there.

For future systems I am wondering if anyone knows if there is an ERV system that will humidify the home. We have just started getting the cold weather and the humidity level is at 37%. I have looked around and have not found any ERV systems that will humidify the air. My goal is to get away from geo and forced air on a well insulated home under 3,500 sq.ft. I would like to use a mini split system for air conditioning. This will take care of dehumidifying the home, but not the humidifying. Any ideas? Thank you for your time.

www.brianshier.com

Well I went for a long meeting today with my HVAC contractor and he had a lot of good information. Instead of an HRV he suggested a small furnace for air movement as well as supplimental heat if needed. He figured that way it would be easy to add an air filter and humidifier and then the ducting is already in place for the AC. He doesn't think an HRV will be powerful enough for the 4000 sq feet of total living space and in his experience HRV's don't work so well here in Calgary.

 

 I'm waiting to hear back on pricing of this plan, I might have to look at alternatives possibly minisplits like so many have suggested. I was wondering if I could mount them inside the walls behind some sort of vented door for access.

 

 I'll post the plan to get some more input after he stops by on Wednesday.

 

Thanks for all the help,

Sean