Thank you for your replies. Yes Tiger it was authorized dealer. I know he wanted to put in 17" furnace cabinet & coil because my 24" closet(I know it would have to be dropped in from attic,not through closet door) and said it would be hard to repair and service if 21". However the Goodman guy didn't complain about the size of closet. Goodman guy, said the HP with dual fuel would be nice, but it would take getting use to a cooler heat with HP, until gas heat kicked on, since we are use to gas heat. I will call AS guy back and ask about the other sizes. I will also get another AS guy out here. I feel that I really need a load test, esp. since when I look @ AS stuff, alot of what you suggested is either 3 or 4 ton, not 3.5 ton which is what I have. Back in 1996, when my a/c went out, they put in carrier with a bigger coil, no test done then either. I think the orginial was a Rheem 2.5 or 3 ton. I want to get this right and hopefully have it last 25 yrs up. What is you opinion on the Goodman? Rheem? Carrier? Also which is cheaper, HP or AC, with gas heat? I might be willing to try HP, hubby NOT. Thanks guys.

I'm in the LA area too and I've been trying to replace my broken down 3.5 ton condenser. Unfortunately, I've been stuck doing too much research (analysis paralysis), but I've learned a lot. My house is 1430 sqft, long wall faces east and gets the hot afternoon sun, I'm on a raised foundation with crawl space, insulation R25 in attic, hardwood floors, no insulation in walls, double pane windows, built in 1952, 3 bd, 2 ba, etc. You need to get someone to do a load calculation (Manual J) which takes into account your insulation in the attic, insulation in the walls, insulation in the crawl space, sqft of windows facing east/west/south/north, sqft walls facing east/west, sqft of doors, type of floor, volume of your house, sqft of house, temperatures that you want to set inside the house in winter/summer, climate in your area, number of people in house, number of appliances, etc. All these factors determine your cooling needs in the summer and your heating needs in the winter. Or you can learn how to do this yourself at http://loadcalc.net I would guesstimate that no insulation in the attic, no insulation on the walls, no insulation under the floor, and drafty old windows probably raises your cooling needs to close to 5-tons. A 5-ton condenser and matching furnace are a lot more expensive to run/operate than a 3-ton system. I ran the numbers on my house and my cooling needs were a little over 4 tons without attic insulation and without wall insulation. I have R25 in the attic and I'm adding R15 wall insulation as I type this message and my cooling needs went down to a little under 3 tons (at 35.5k BTUs). So, my wall and attic insulation reduced my cooling needs by 1-ton (a little over 12k BTUs). I think the attic insulation makes more of a difference than the the wall insulation, so I recommend that you get that done asap. It really helps. Now, getting back to equipment. I've been following the advice on this forum not to get low end equipment. This advice has taken me in a two month quest for a reasonably priced mid-level equipment from a good company (Trane, American Standard, Rheem), but I'm having trouble finding it. The best quotes I've gotten are for Amana and Lennox. The most expensive are for Trane, AS, and Rheem. Goodman is very popular probably because of the price. They have good warranty, but the equipment is not well regarded in this forum. Almost everyone says it's better to get a great installer with low end equipment than high-end reliable equipment with a bad installer. I think I met two really bad installers and two good installers. It's a feeling, but it's hard to know for sure. Some dealers send their salesperson to talk to you, so you never meet the installer. One way to protect yourself is to get a permit. In my area, this ensures that the refrigerant level is checked to make sure it's appropriate for your system. That's all the permit does in my city. Another way to protect yourself is to qualify for rebates. The rebates from So Cal Edison require an outside inspector to inspect/test your ducts and install. The problem with rebates is that it costs more money to pay for these tests and the installers/dealers build in a markup when you try to get rebates. I got quotes with rebates from Lennox and Rheem and both were in the $9500 range with the possibility to get about $2700 in rebates. It's scary trying to qualify for the rebates because you might have to pay additional fees in repairs in order to meet the requirements of the rebates. Now that I've written a book on this topic, my advice to you is to get a load calculation done and see what your heating and cooling needs are. Figure out if it's worth getting the attic insulation to cut down on equipment size. Remember that it's more expensive to run a 5-ton system than a 3-ton system of equal SEER. Oversized equipment might cause your system to short-cycle which may be bad for the equipment. In So Cal, we really need the a/c and not the heater so much. So, matching a 5-ton a/c condenser with the right 5-ton 2000 CFM blower in a furnace will result in an oversized furnace. Your heating needs are probably 3-tons 36K BTUs without insulation, but you are putting a 100K BTU furnace in order to get the matching blower in the furnace to blow the cooling air at the right speed. Also, 3-ton equipment is cheaper than 5-ton equipment. So, the savings in equipment price and the operational savings can probably pay for your attic insulation. I'm paying $1600 to insulate all my outside walls. I insulated my attic myself using encapsulated batts from Home Depot. I might have to pay a little extra fill in some of the attic areas that I didn't do such a great job on. I'm talking to the wall insulators about doing this extra work for a small fee. I want them to blow some loose cellulose into those areas that need it. Okay, you might not have finished reading all this, but see my other posts on price and equipment. I researched 3-ton systems.

When I first purchased the system earlier this year, I new nothing except that the upstairs was 12 degrees hotter than the downstairs when the AC was running. I found some HVAC sites similar to this one and learned how to solve the problem. During that process it was suggested by some seasoned pro's that I have my static pressure checked since it impacts air flow. My first response was "what the hell is static pressure?".... I learned quickly that static pressure can be viewed as "back pressure" on the blower fan. The more "back pressure" the harder the fan has to work to move the air. It is easier to push air through a large pipe versus a small one. Imagine blowing air throug a typical soda pop straw....then imagine trying to blow the same amount of air through one of those small red coffee stirrer staws. It is much harder to get the same amount or air through. If the ducts are grossly too small then the fan can't work hard enough to move the required air. While the fan is trying, it is burning much more electricity than what the salesman sold us on when he said it uses the wattage of a 75 watt light bulb. Also it is hard or the fan motor which could shorten it's life. It is very easy to check static pressure. I own a Dwyer Magnehelic gauge which could be bought off the internet (amazon.com charges ~$100 but it can be had for as low as ~$60). It is a simple gauge that you connect a small rubber tube to....and take measurments while the unit is running. Knowing your static is very useful especially with new HVAC systems because they come with tables that relate airflow, wattage-used, and temp-rise, to static pressure. It helps trouble shoot problemms and pinpoint duct issues. Static pressure issues are independent of the manufacturer. If the system is to large for your ducts then the large blower is going to have to work hard to try and move the air through the too small ducts.... I can go on and on but this post is already to long :) Key1

I am still confused! But, asked another AC guy today and he thinks I could get away with just a new AC unit (new pipes etc) with the old furnace and when the furnace goes replace with compatible unit to the AC. Money is a big issue, while I would love to replace everything and not have anymore headaches for ten years or so--I can't afford it. I might just roll the dice on a new AC only. I live in Hillsborough, NJ and did have a fairly impressive Carrier guy here, but he wanted to change some of my duct work($1800 additional) to add more returns for maximum comfort but no one else seems to think that is an issue at all. Again, just feeling like everyone is trying to sell me all the extra stuff I don't need! What I need is an AC unit for next suumer at a great price with great company, warranty and reliability. Not sure that being impressed with the sales guy guarantees a great install. Not wowed with what I am finding these days!!! Latest quotes for a 5 ton AC unit are Lennox elite series 14 seer at $8211 full install(new pipes etc)with warranty of 5 yr parts, 1 yr labor, 10 yr compressor. Also Lennox Merit series 13 seer(13axc)for $5887 complete with same install and warranty. NEXT...Different company quotes with different warranty...10 yr parts, 5 yrs labor, 10 yrs compressor with following equipment: AC only Carrier 13 seer #24ABB360A003/ with coil CNPVP6024ATA new metal work complete is $6010 or AC only Carrier 16 seer #24ACC660A003 with coil CNPVP6024ATA new metal work complete is $6624. Both of these companies seems ok, still need references etc, also the price includes permit which our township requires. The prices are full install. Again, HELP is needed with all of this. Thanks!