The first advice is make sure the AC has been sized properly. The contractor needs to measure the area of floors, walls, windows, and determine the insulation values of the exterior walls and attic. This information will determine the heat gain of the house. A size of 3 to 3.5 tons sounds about right for your house, but you want to make sure since you have never had AC. A unit that is too big is as bad as a unit which is too small. You also need to find a contractor who will do a good installation. This is the most difficult part for the homeowner. I usually recommend looking for companies which are factory authorized dealers which are small enough for the owner to be personally involved in the installation. The contractor also needs to verify the existing duct work is properly sized for the equipment. The AC will never work properly if the duct work is too small or poorly installed. Trane and Carrier are considered two of the best brands. Lennox and York are a notch lower, but still very good. These companies offer several models from low end equipment to top of the line. When shopping prices you need to do an apples to apples comparison of the models between brands. The quotes should list the model numbers of all equipment and all work which will be done. You will get comments if you post the details of your quotes.

If you root around on line you will find the manufacturer's tables listing SEER/EER for various combinations, sometimes segregated into lists that meet the government rebate requirement. For a given condensing unit there'll be lists with air handlers and coils and the BTU and SEER ratings for that combination. You'll see what's possible, become a well informed buyer, especially with your background. That will put you in a great position to pay a fair price for what you need. ARI has even more extensive tables that include some cross-manufacturer combinations. One could guess that Ruud/Rheem is a good choice. They're Japanese owned these days, assuming that says something about quality, don't have anyone bad-mouthing them like the Goodman nay-sayers, and probably are halfway between Goodman and the hyped brands in price. Much of what I said above is from casual reading, so apply 'wtfdik' and 'fwiw'.

The independent HVAC company that deals mainly with American Standard equipment is telling me this (will send quote via e-mail later this week): 1. Need 3.5 ton unit because new refrigerant 410A is not as cold as R-22. Also, insulation in older homes in Southern California is not good, so need stronger ac unit. 2. He says that he doesn't need to do a Manual J. His 25 years of experience says to stay with 3.5 ton unit. Also, recommends replacing evap coils and furnace. 3. Noticed that existing furnace is upright/standing rather than laying flat. He's the 2nd guy to shake his head at the way it's installed. He says it's not efficient to put a furnace upright and the evap coils on the side of the upgright furnace. 4. He doesn't work with rebates, so he doesn't want to bring outside company to test energy efficiency prior and after install. He says the extra money you spend on trying to qualify for a rebate is a waste and not worth in the long run. I told him that the Costco affiliated company will do rebates and will test. He says California is going broke and probably no money for rebates. He also said that I need a 90% efficient furnace to qualify for rebates. 5. Asked if I wanted to get the permits myself. Kept saying that city is likely to ask me to move outside condenser due to its closeness to new pool. I told him I got permits 4 years ago for pool and pool equipment and city approved the location of pool and pool equipment and a/c unit was there already. 6. Says to use existing ducts and vents/registers. Will probably use same lineset since it will outlast my lifetime. 7. This guy is the actual installer. Company is so busy, they couldn't send me the salesperson. He came from finishing an install at another house. ----------------------------------------- Costco affiliated HVAC company (www.airtro.com) will also send me quote via e-mail tonight or tomorrow. Sent the salesman who says he'll be the supervisor for the job at the start. 1. Says that I can go with 3 ton a/c unit with new evap coils. Keep lineset. Says that double-pane windows help. Says Fraser-Johnson was low end unit. Says Lennox is much better. 2. Says furnace should not be upright in attic and says it's a bad installation. Recommends new furnace. 3. Permits will cost about $200 to pull. 4. Will bring a company to test ducts/energy efficiency to qualify for best possible rebate amount(probably $1500). Can't promise, but says that's his company has not been denied a rebate yet. They will do all the paperwork. 5. Recommends new ducts and a new vent/register in kitchen. Recommends dampers in ducts to evenly distribute air. Says some existing ducts are the rigid ones and might have moved/shifted over time, so he's certain that I'm losing 30% of air. $2000 to do all new ducts. 6. Problem is he only offers Lennox Merit equipment for $7000, $2000 for ducts, $200 for permits. I'm expecting a detailed quote. He says equipment is the best in the industry. 1-year labor warranty and the standard 5-year equipment warranty on the a/c unit from Lennox. I can upgrade to Lennox Elite for $2000 more, but it's a 2-stage system that I don't want. Did not recommend anything outside of the Costco price list. 7. Showed me awards from Angie's list and local newspaper, BBB certificate, insurance coverage, etc. True salesperson. My overall impression is that the American Standard independent installer seemed to say that he's been doing this for xx years and he knows what's best for me. Don't need rebates and don't need permits. That's what it felt like, but I told him I want permits. I told him I want all American Standard equipment like the Gold SI compressor, matching coils to maximize SEER, and a compatible AS furnace at 80% efficiency. The Costco affiliated company wants to charge me for a full-system (cut-in) which includes new ducts, new registers, new equipment, etc. I think that he wants to put a new register in the kitchen to justify the $2000 duct charge on the price list. I felt that this salesperson was recommending the package rather than my needs. He did have a checklist of items to go over, so it felt like we had a more complete conversation minus a technical discussion on how to ensure that all the Lennox components fit my needs and achieve the best possible SEER. I think that after reading so many posts here and getting so much advice, I was expecting more. I suppose that I'll find out more when I get the quotes via e-mail and see how detailed they are. Also, I'll see how they respond once i start making changes to the equipment based on opinions from this board.

Yep, what Raven just said. I had to have one side and the front removed from mine about a month ago for repairs. When we had the unit installed at our last house, the installer looked around at all the flower beds, and then cautioned me, not to plant anything close to the unit because it would be destroyed the first time, they needed to get at the unit. I dont even think 3 ft is enough distance, in our case a month ago, there were 2 men, and one was laying on his back removing something and his whole body was spread out. He was an over 6 ft man.