Hey mr.hvac! It wasn't the beers at the girlie-bar that got me worried. It was the empty (plastic) bottle of Douglas vodka I found in the burner compartment :-D Here's what I got for numbers... Flue Temp = 355° F O² = 9.1% CO² = 8.9% CO = 0 ppm Excess Air = 70.5% Efficiency = 84.4% Draft = 0.03 in H²O Smoke Spot = 0 Ambient Temp = 47.0° F CO at Furnace = 0 ppm Oil pressure = 140 psi The flue temperature is low because I use the third fan speed (out of four) to eek a little more efficiency out of the system. The nice 4x14 registers disperse this much airflow without feeling drafty. I thought the oil pressure was a bit high, as the manual recommends 130 psi. When I called the tech about it, he told me that 10 pounds will make little difference. I took him at his word (he does do this for a living, I don't). My Spidey Sense now doubts that the oil pressure was verified. It wasn't written down anywhere. He sounded surprised when I asked, and rattled off the 140 psi figure from "memory". According to him, there was no need to adjust it because that's a normal pressure for Beckett burners. The burner has a sticker that says "factory set at 130 psi". I'm gonna' guess that it is indeed set to that pressure (from the factory). The tech probably didn't check it, even after I had told him it was a DIY install. I wasn't home when he did the tune up. He did say that the install looked good, and that very little adjustment was needed (cynical translation: butter me up for return business). Please help me exorcise these demons of paranoia. Are the numbers - and the tech's explanations - good ones ? Thanks, Marco

Pricing these days is a mess. We have quite a few contractors who start out obscene. If the sucker homeowner buys, they make a killing and of course the homeowner paid way too much. Usually it's the elderly that get had, most homeowners shop and then these dealers come down to a more fair price. Pretty sad way to do biz. We have customer who bought from us even though she could have saved $400 with a dealer who priced like this. They started at $5000, when she balked came down to $4000, and finally $3000. We came in at what we felt was a fair price of $3400. So did she and we did the work. She told the other dealer "you tried to screw me at $5000, I don't want to do business with you even though you came down $2000". I guess part of this strategy is the same as car buying. You go away thinking you saved $2000 and got a steal and they sold it for what they should have all along.

Thanks all -- Here's a long message--basically asking about the best placement for the air filter and thermostat selection--sorry for the length! Didn't know quite how to shorten this one up. I am considering the 66,000 btu in/54,000 btu out Bryant model in either one or two stage (thanks for the info, Tigerdunes). Funnycide--I also am considering the 310AAV042090 model since it is closer to the btu range I want: 88,000 btu in and 71,000 btu out. However, the 3.5 ton probably is too big?? Talked to a Bryant rep. today and he said it could work but might be more noisy. The American Standard Comfort R 80 series matches the btu range I'd like...just not sure I want to go with that brand (more expensive, etc.). Does anyone know if it matters whether the filter is housed on the side or under the furnace? The contractor who bid today is the first one to tell me that the furnace will run more efficiently if the filter box placed under the furnace and then mounted onto a 18" metal box with a 16" opening on the side where the air intake is located (wall opening with a vented cover at base of the lower stairwell). My old furnace has the air intake on the side and the furnace sits on the floor (cement slab). The only air return is at the basement level of my split level house. There's a vent cover on the wallboard and I've been taking off the vent cover to change the filter. The actual side opening to the furnace is set back from this wall opening (across the wall studs) so I've reached across the wall opening to put a filter onto the furnace opening using electrical tape to hold it in place(!). The furnace itself is accessible via the laundryroom. It's housed behind louvered doors. The filter was supposed to be changed by taking off the front furnace cover but the side holder never worked well. The contractor bidding today said it's better to have the air enter beneath the furnace and go up through the filter rather than enter directly into the side of the furnace. He'd build the 18" metal box to get the filter box and furnace raised off of the cement slab and allow the air to enter the side of this box and then go up thru the filter to furnace. He's the first one to tell me about this information. Any feedback? 2. Any opinions on getting a Bryant programmable thermostat vs. a Honeywell 7 day touchscreen VisionPro 8000 thermostat? I am hoping to decide soon before analysis paralysis sets in... seems to be a lot of choices with this purchase. If I knew I was going to stay in this house a long time then I'd choose the more efficiency options (90%, heat pump, etc)but my future commitment to living here is undecided. Thanks for all the input.

This thread is exactly how people make poor decisions, basing things on cost. Certainly for the most part it doesn't always matter how much or even how little you spend on an install. But to play the role of Monday morning quarterback and question every play doesn't mean a whole lot. So you and all your knowledgeable accountant ways like to look at what the company is making for 'labor'. Yeah, your belief is that 'labor' is the only cost a company faces to win your job, they have no other bills. The company just buys the equipment, pays labor to put it in and then pocket the rest. I think because you all know so much, you should inspire yourselves to learn the trade spend 4 years gaining the experience required to take the HVAC license exam and then go out and take it and try to pass it, plunk down some money for general liability insurance, by a truck or van then fill it with tools and equipment to do the job. Certainly the tools or equipment never break so you buy them once and you can use them for 20, 30 - 50 years even. Heck the truck never needs gas, no maintenance, tires last forever, the stickers that you plaster over it are free too. In fact I was surprised that after driving the van for a few years the dealership called me and said they have some new ones they were giving away for free, they said they loved the fact that I drove all over town advertising their brand of truck / van. Those that 'pretend' to know a lot about a subject, actually know very little. Why would I be listed on this board as the 'pro' while they are not? In the HVAC business world there is a 50% chance that business has failed within 5 years. By year 10 it's close to 100%. I realize nothing I say here will sink in, this mentality has existed in some form over the previous 21 years I've been in the HVAC business.