We have decided to go with either a 16 or 20 seer American Standard unit with two stage, variable speed, etc. 4 tons on main side of house 2500 square feet according to load calculation. The only difference in the two in price is $1100; however, on the 20 seer they give you a free 10 year warranty. That brings the difference in price to $550. It seems to me that we should go with the 20 seer since it is such a small amount more. For the other side of the house, (1000 square feet) which that area is the guest side & will not be occupied all the time, the load calculation called for a 1 1/2 ton. We are going to use the 14 seer unit with no additional parts & labor agreement. I have been told that American Standard no longer makes the 1 1/2 ton; therefore, we will have to get a two ton. They tell me they can slow the fan speed down to be like a 1 1/2 ton. Is that correct and is there any problems with doing that? Is the 14 seer unit a good unit that normally holds up well since we will not be buying the 10 year parts and labor policy for $550. They tell me that the $550 is their cost for the agreement for 10 years. These units will be placed on a new home that will be built shortly. Does any one know if there are any type of energy tax credits available for new homes (not first time home buyers)? So far, all I see are credits if they are for home improvements and there is some type of $2,000 credit for the builder that I didn't quite understand. If you have any information on the tax credits, please let me know. Do you feel I am making the right decision on the selection of the units. How about the slowing of the fan speed? All other suggestions or comments are greatly appreciated.

No, none of the contractors made any mention of it, but I did bring it up to a few of them. They all sort of acted like I was from Mars or something. One guy did say they could do one but it would come up the same as what we've got now (5 ton). That seems to be the standard for similar sized homes in my area from what my neighbors have told me. I'm leaning toward one of the contractors, because he seems to have the best value, and he was the most thorough by far. He actually took digital pictures of my duct work and showed them to me, and after fiddling with his ductwork calculator thing made some recommendations for improvements there. He's pretty insistent on replacing the line set though for an additional $800. That's more than 10% of the whole system quote including the duct work ($7400)! Is that a reasonable price for the line set, and is it really necessary? My current line set has a 7/8" suction line, and he says it should be 1&1/8". I don't plan to be in this house for more than another 7 or 8 years probably, but you never know. Thanks.

what size unit? for what size home? what is design layout of home? sgl level, two story? ... nat gas not available?

Hi, I'm in the midwest and have a 5100 sq ft home. I'm looking at replacing my 17 yo furnaces, 2 Carrier Weathermaker high efficiency , with electronic filtering system , (eletroair SST), two air conditioning units, one blown and one 4 years old (got 10 years out of the blown one) with a similar set up to above. Recommended by the dealer is 1 American standard 16, 2ton communicating heat pump with a Am ST. Freedom 95 60K btu, 3 stage furnace and Acculink 900 comfort controller... AND 1 Heritage 16, 3 ton communicating heat pump with Freedom 95, 80K btu, 3 stage furnace, both with the AccuClear air cleaner system. We could keep the 4 yo air conditioner for a while, and put in the extra heat pump later. We could keep the current air cleaner (the kids, who sleep near it downstairs say it cracks and pops a bit). I'm looking at getting another quote, and from the looks of it above Carrier would be the place to get another quote and opinion. The American standard dealer made a big deal about the communication between the furnace and heat pump, calling this "geothermal above ground, at 1/3 of the price". We probably could get a couple more years out of our furnace, but has needed repair a couple of times, and were told it could become a problem, which we'd like to avoid in the middle of winter. We did consider geothermal and priced that out last year, and just felt the retrofit wasn't worth the bother. A contractor friend recommended that future high efficiency furnaces would make the geothermal unnecessary, at least for retrofitting. Any opinions out there?