Yes, the Heritage 15 costs more money for the dealer to purchase than the Allegiance 15 because of the extra controls/components associated with a heat pump system. Since you have a gas line run upstairs already, I would stick with gas heat and air conditioning upstairs, and put the 80% furnace as tiger mentioned with the heat pump downstairs. I agree that a top-efficiency furnace in your mild climate, when paired with a heat pump, isn't worth the added cost. The 95% furnace requires PVC venting out the side of your house as well, another cost factored into the total. If you don't get a humidifier, the 803s are fine and probably thermostats the company is more familiar with. You can still get a humidifier even with the 803 thermostats, however. I don't think having a heat pump makes a humidifier any less necessary, in my opinion. Many homes have humidifiers and heat pumps. You can try without first, and if the air is really dry, one can always be added later. I agree, the upfront cost is a lot, but they are quoting you one of the most expensive models. Ask for what is called a bypass or flow-through humidifier. Aprilaire model 600 or American Standard part number AHUMD300 (same thing different look from what I gather).

Sorry, I thought by matching we were talking about the refrigerate R-22 verses R-410a in the coils The coils will be First Co. Evaporation coils matching the existing air handlers I have. Apparently there is no AHRI reference number because First Co has not done any of the necessary testing. The dealer had told me this and that the system would not qualify for the tax credit. The third floor does not heat well with the present arrangement. All of the dealers have told me not to expected much cooling on the third floor. I did not question him as to what the "better options" might be.

The panel I found was the Siemens� 200 Amp 8-Space 16-Circuit Outdoor Main Breaker Trailer Panel Model PW0816B1200TC. Do you happen to know the model of the Square-D one? My current panel is a QO, and I have some HomeLine breakers left over from my last house. Seems simpler to keep everythig the same. I might put a 220V outlet in my garage if I have the panel to do it, better to run my dust collector, and hopefully my new jointer. I was avoiding a small panel cause the largest breakers I could find to power the sub were 125A or so, but if they have feed through lugs, that is no longer a concern.

bocephus2112; You do not need to be concerned. Code allows "service disconnecting means" to consist of six or less individual handles Main 1, Main 2, A/C, Dryer. That's four. Four is less than six. There's nothing wrong, scientifically, with a split-bus panel. It's not going to burn your house down. IF it's illegal (petey_racer's post creates some doubt in my mind), it's simply because it is incredibly easy for them to be misconfigured to violate the six-throw rule (don't worry - yours is done right), or for people to become confused in the case of an emergency requiring complete disconnection. Frankly, I love the idea, and have often considered trying to install the interiors from two different panels in one box to achieve the same effect (of course, you can't really just "roll your own" breaker box, legally) petey_racer; I sincerely hope you are correct, as I simply love the idea of split-bus panels. I don't have my copy of the NEC available (my so-called "friend" threw my computer out the second-story window, and while the hard drives survived, the rest of the system did not, so the data is inaccessible), so I can't look it up personally, but others in various online forums have implied that split-bus panels were specifically forbidden, often citing the possibility of confusing people.