My wife and I recently moved into a new (36 year old) house which was
very well kept my its previous owners. The only downfall to this house
is that it has electric baseboard heating distributed with control
modules for each room.
When we were originally looking at the house before purchasing it, the
owners at the time left out a years worth of Electric bill statements.
And in the coldest parts of the year (Jan, Feb, etc) the bills hovered
around 480 to 500 monthly.

Not being a fan of electric heating, I'm currently entertaining
heating installers to provide alternate heating methods. Back in '84
the owner installed central A/C with ductwork extending to both floors
from the Attic. I'm interested in reutilizing this. And I understand
that the drawbacks might be that there will be some cools spots with
the fact that the vents are in the ceilings.

So far, I've met with 2 heating suppliers/installers. The first guy
gave me quotes for Lennox products in both heat pumps and Propane
burning furnaces. I am not a big fan of Heat Pumps, and feel that they
are not made to be installed anywhere north of North Carolina, but to
each his own I guess.

Anyhow, the prices for instillation of the Propane Furnace (minus
Tank, etc) ran from about 4100 to 4600 depending on model. Heat Pump
range was from 4000.00 to 11,000.00 depending on model as well. I feel
this is pretty high for a basic 1 day install...

Just yesterday, I met with the 2nd installer, and we talked about
propane, but in the course of our conversation, I felt that I really
don't want to have a tank either buried or sitting on the ground
anywhere on our property. He suggested and Oil furnace. At first I
hesitated as I have reservations about anything Oil in my house for
some reason. But when he described that we could easily fit the tank
in my unfinished portion of the basement, I warmed up to the idea. So
this is what he's creating a quote for me on installing.

I must say that initially he was interested in installing one of those
"Hydro-Air" systems which I'm not opposed to, but because of oil heat
venting issues from a basement install, this system basically wont
work for me.

I'd be curious of any thoughts and or comments regarding to this. And
perhaps any other suggestions you might offer.

Oh, the specs for the house:

Well insulated custom build 2 story Colonial home with "slabbed"
kitchen/garage.
About 26 double-pane wood frame Pella windows
Lennox 4 Ton A/C system installed w/ductwork extending down from
ceiling.

Thanks, Brian