You should post your question in the fireplace forum to get lots of opinions. There is such a forum on gardenweb. My neighbor had some sort of deluxe fireplace installed. Not sure if it was an upgrade or if he never had one. He goes through mountains of wood but says it heats his whole house. He has a family room with a cathedral ceiling that has an opening to the second floor hallway and since heat rises...I think he said he used 5 cords of wood. I'm not sure, but I do recall thinking it was a lot of wood and it wasn't free (maybe one batch was free). I don't know how healthy that is to heat your house all the time with wood. Maybe it has doors and a filter...I don't know. He just got his gas bill and it was $50. Mine was $115, but I did have my mother-in-law here for a week with her "thin" FL blood so we had to keep the heat at 70-72 rather than 66-68. Neighbor and I both have tankless water heater. You might consider wood as a cheaper back up option and also ask on the other forum about a unit that can use gas and/or wood. That's what I would do if I had the $. On another note...MY gas usage on the current bill was higher than last year. Last year we used 65 ccf for a 28 day bill period with avg temp on bill listed as 49.6 This year we used 82 Ccf on a 33 day cycle with a temp of 45.5. The longer bill cycle, lower temp and mother-in-law makes it hard for me to see if my 97% heater,air sealing and tankless SAVED me anything over my old 91% furnace without air seal and my 57% water heater. I have to wait for a bill cycle that more closely matches the temp etc to tell if it helped or not.

What a bummer, I'm so sorry! Call or email Grohe and complain. They have a lifetime warrant on their faucets as long as you are in the home and have the receipt. I've had Grohe faucets for years in my baths and never a problem, but I've heard they are very responsive on these issues. At the very least they should reimburse you for the parts you had to replace. ********** Grohe Warranty Limited Lifetime Warranty (U.S.A. Only) Residential Products: Grohe provides the following warranties on its products to the original purchaser, installed in a residential application. This warranty is effective for all faucets sold after January 1, 1997. Mechanical Warranty: A Limited Lifetime Warranty is provided on all mechanical parts to be free from manufacturing defects in materials and workmanship under normal use for as long as the original purchaser owns their home. Finish Warranty General Finish Warranty: A 5-Year Warranty is provided on all GROHE product finishes (except the InfinityFinishTM) to the original purchaser against manufacturing defects in materials and workmanship. InfinityFinishTM: A Lifetime Warranty is provided on all GROHE products with the InfinityFinish to the original purchaser against manufacturing defects in materials and workmanship. At its option, GROHE will repair or replace any part or finish that proves to be defective in material and/or workmanship under normal installation, use and service. To obtain warranty repair or replacement the faulty part or product is to be sent along with proof-of-purchase (original sales receipt) from the original consumer purchaser to: GROHE America, Inc. 241 Covington Drive Bloomingdale, IL 60108 Telephone inquiries can be directed to: (630) 582-7711 This warranty is extended to the original consumer owner, but does not cover installation or any other labor charges and shall not apply to any products or parts of products which have been: a) Repaired by unqualified persons or not using original GROHE spare parts or altered in any manner unless previously authorized in writing by GROHE; or b) Damaged as a result of misuse, negligence, accident or faulty installation or maintenance; or c) Installed or used in a manner contrary to GROHE's printed instructions; or d) Damaged by the effects of dirt, limescale or aggressive cleaners. This is the exclusive warranty by GROHE, which does not make any other warranty of any kind, including the implied warranty of merchantability. This warranty excludes all industrial, commercial, and business usage whose purchasers are extended a one (1) year limited warranty from the date of purchase, with all other terms of this warranty. (See following for commercial products.) Commercial Products: Grohe warrants its products installed in a commercial application to be free from manufacturing defects for a period of one (1) year from the date of acquisition by original owner. Replaced products or parts are warranted only for the period remaining under the initial warranty. THIS WARRANTY IS LIMITED SOLELY TO THE ABOVE AND THIS WARRANTY AND ANY WARRANTIES IMPLIED BY STATE LAW WILL APPLY ONLY FOR THE APPLICABLE WARRANTY PERIOD SPECIFIED HEREIN. ALSO, GROHE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS, DAMAGE, EXPENSE OR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT OR NEGLIGENCE AND ARISING IN CONNECTION WITH THE SALE, USE OR REPAIR OF THE PRODUCT. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGE OR LIMITATIONS ON HOW LONG AN IMPLIED WARRANTY LASTS, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY. THIS WARRANTY GIVES YOU SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS, AND YOU MAY ALSO HAVE OTHER RIGHTS WHICH VARY FROM STATE TO STATE. UNLESS OTHERWISE CONTRARY TO STATE LAW GOVERNING THE PURCHASE, GROHE'S LIABILITY WILL NOT EXCEED THE CONTRACT PRICE FOR THE PRODUCT CLAIMED TO BE DEFECTIVE OR UNSUITABLE.

Your nearly correct on Sq footage, we are around 3000sqft but 1/3 of that is walkout basement. Only 7 ducts on the upstairs unit, 13 on basement/main floor. January 2012 which was mild we used $237.14=237.3 Therms in NG (also includes stove/oven, and water heater). June-July 2012 $294=2509kw The wife is stay at home mom so the house is always cooled or heated. The upstairs unit is a Frankenstein with a Goodman evap and the rest carrier. This summer I personally replaced both contactors (went out within 3 days of eachother). And the condenser fans are needing replacement, getting stuck every once in while. In summer during hot days the upstairs unit runs from 8am-midnight set at 75 nearing 80. Another project is the attic needs better ventilation, 130+ in the attic during those days. Currently soffit and ridgevent, but not enough airflow. I normally do everything myself, so their is a current benefit to the system being very simple. So your saying wait till the compressors give out or the downstairs evap springs a leak. Other quote Downstairs Carrier Infinity 17 24ANB736 Infinity 80 58cva090 Coil CNPVP3617ATA Thermostat SYSTXCCUID01 Upstairs Carrier Infinity 17 24ANB724 Infinity 80 58cva070 Coil CNPVP2414ATA Thermostat SYSTXCCUID01 Grand total $13590

Appliances nowadays can last as long as they did in the past ... except that people now are loath to repair them largely due to service costs. The 1962 Whirlpool washer that started my family needed *many* repairs in the 15 years we had it, including the bearings replaced. Bearings bad again is what led to a new machine ... which was another Whirlpool that had considerably fewer repairs (no bearings) in its 18 years of use ... which led to another Whirlpool (also 18 years) which also had considerably fewer repairs than the 1962. Newer machines, design improvements, longer service life. My GE refrigerator being 13 years old and still running in my kitchen doesn't mean there haven't been repairs. The typical consumer would have thrown it out 7 years ago when the motherboard went bad and complained "arggghhh, it only lasted 6 years" ... but I am not a typical consumer, and I can DIY almost any repair (got the board for $125 from an eBay seller). Assuming someone else would have opted to have the first repair done (probably ~$300+), then perhaps it would have been tossed 3 years later when the ice dispenser chute solenoid malfunctioned because "that's two problems in 3 years, it's no good." I got the part from an online vendor for $24. Then two months later the ice maker water inlet valve went bad ($22). So yeah, it's 13 years and still running. And I haven't spent $1500+ for a new SxS stainless steel finish refrigerator like most other people would have done. My EnergyStar dishwasher is 14 years old. I don't know what are the current requirements on power consumption for EnergyStar qualification on refrigerators. I have clocked the GE with a Kill-a-Watt meter as pulling only 100 watts with the compressor running (throttled down to low speed). A compressor properly sized to the load will run close to 100% of the time, maintain a more consistent temperature, and pull lower wattage when running than one that's oversized and runs for shorter periods with wider temperature swings. This also applies to home air conditioning, and is the premise of two-speed systems. Story: My parents 15-ish years ago had a Lennox two-speed heat pump installed to replace a 1972 York. Electric bill dropped enough that the electric provider came to check if there's a problem, LOL. One of their neighbors decided to have his system replaced with the same after talking to dad, then got upset because the new system ran for much longer periods of time (at low speed). He had the installer rewire it to run only on high speed, so it would "cool down and shut off like my old one did" which completely negates the benefits of the two-speed system.