As a math guy I'd advise that no matter how technical someone sounds (including myself) if they can't disclose how they got their data (the numbers they are using), bounding cases (what makes this a maximum or minimum value) or their methodology (how they got to the answer they gave) . Then what you are reading is opinion. Now certainly not all opinions are equal and in many cases we can't collect or evaluate all the data required and so we rely on people with expertise. Often the way we judge this is by assuming that 'expert' is synonymous with 'professional'. That is, when I don't have any information about differentiating between plumbers I still generally call a plumber instead of a non-plumber (we are essentially assuming that market forces are at work here that keep the worst plumbers from working). The problem with the internet, is that all bets are often off. Posts are made without attributing to research on the subject. People can claim to be experts but in a public forum there's no way to be sure and there's little in the way of economic incentive or accountability to help ensure give good advice. You might argue there's a 'social' payback but it's hard to say that such a system is 'as good' as a monetary one. Even websites we would assume to be reputable (like the Department of Energy) don't say how they got to their conclusions (incidentally they believe you can save up to 10% by shading your external A/C unit). So without any kind of assurance of expertise you are really left with applying critical reasoning skills to the information you see. Let's take the alleged experts bounding case that shade can never make more than a 10 degree difference. A simple unshaded thermometer can show a differential of 30 degrees on a sunny day. This is why we go to great lengths to control the impact of sunlight on weather stations. This is on an object that is very small so is not going to be absorbing much radiant energy. From that we're to believe that an object orders of magnitude larger, during the largest period of sunny days (summer is when we run these things), in direct sunlight (otherwise why would we be shading it?) can't ever rise more than 10 degrees above the ambient temp? So it would appear that their estimate is wrong by up to a factor of three. On top of that I'd say that it's worth looking at what experts "don't say". For example wouldn't the amount of savings be influenced by the number of hours in the sun? So you would expect that any useful advice should be expressible as "You would need X hours of operation in direct sunlight to achieve Y watts of savings". Without that, then how do we know that the savings would be small? Not to mention the area we are trying to cool. A 1900sqft house and a 2900sqft house are, all other things being equal going to use different amounts of power. So what might be a negligible savings in one environment could be a useful savings in another. Anyway, it's conceivable that the gains from shade are small but until someone expresses it either as a function of environmental variables or provides a proper bounding case then one persons opinion isn't demonstrably better than another.

Quote 1 (local guy): -Luxaire TCJF 24 15 SEER $2985 (2 ton) adding a 96%, 2 stage, multispeed Amana furnace would bring the total to $5285 -talked about improving my ductwork to make it more efficient Quote 2 (Home Depot): -Rheem, didn't leave model number, size, etc. $5995 plus a 2 stage furnace adds an additional $5995 -no clue about ductwork Quote 2 guy went on and on. Where did you meet? We have financing, blah blah. He kept trying to play us against each other.

I have 2 4 ton units. The math says just 1 is enough. 1 is upstairs, the other downstairs. Instead of doubling the units they should've been divided. I think 1 3 ton downstairs and 1 2.5 upstairs is plenty. We never set the thermostats higher than 65° in the winter and 68 in the summer. We like it a bit cool. We also use the fireplace when it's really cold. We have these little space heaters too. In an emergency we have a kerosene heater. We have a maintenance plan with them so they come out every 6 months or more if we want. But the techs never once said anything about rust forming on the coils. On top of that they're supposed to clean the units. The unit in the attic had nearly an inch of mold on the coils. The last guy that came out was honest and he took pictures and showed me. I believe if they would've done their job, my attic system wouldn't be filled with mold and rusted to the point that it could blow out. I'm handicap. I've had 12 surgeries on my back. Every single tech that came out was told. Because of their laziness and not doing their job properly the coils are going to go out. I found out from another service that there was steps they could've taken to prevent the rust and the mold isn't that difficult to clean. At the very least they should've told me about it before it became an issue. But now they want to replace them with the same size system and the other service said I didn't need 2 4 ton sytems. He said 2 2 tons or 2.5 tons was plenty. I asked about the 3 ton and a 2 or 2.5 upstairs, he said that would be more than sufficient. My house is 1700 sq.ft. the back porch adds the 100 sq.ft for 1800 sq.ft. when we asked them why they gave us 2 4 tons they have no answer. When we asked to go to smaller units to save money they said I should replace what I have with the same system. I explained the math and 1 4 ton was plenty for the whole house and they gave me bs about how old it is and they didn't even offer to come out to check to see what I actually needed. The other guy offered. So I guess were just going to have the test done and then get estimates. Before we went to 2 heat pumps, we had 1 oil furnace that heated the entire house. We only had to fill the 375 gal. Tank once a winter then another 100 gal. Most the time we didn't use it all. The oil furnace was ancient so it died. We had 3 10,000 btu window air conditioners and 1 5500 in our bedroom window. So we figured we'd get a heat pump. We thought we needed what they said. But we didn't. I only have about 900 sq ft down stairs and 900 upstairs. Actually it's closer to 1000sq.ft. downstairs and 800sq.ft upstairs. We keep the house a littler cooler year round. So we're always comfortable. Only time the emergency heat came on is when the system downstairs broke down. Now because of its age and inefficiency, it costs more to heat and cool the house. Like I said, we think we're just going to get the test done to see what size system we need and use a different company because we don't trust this one any more.

Laughable! I'm so glad to hear your thoughts:) . Especially about the fridge drop zone since I've never had a french door unit. Regarding your concerns which are the exact same as mine! 1. I don't know, which is one reason why we put the two 18" W x 15" D pantry cabs next to the fridge and another 18" w x 24" D by the wall ovens. Even with those I think I will need more for bulk things and less frequently used items but I'm still keen on your idea about two closets that I could build on the back Morning Room wall. It would require a hike around the peninsula, but hopefully that would be not often and still much closer than the trip I make to the basement now. Plus - it's pretty! 2. I pushed my current island to where the peninsula would be last week. I actually did it out of frustration of not being able to find a good layout! DH and I were shocked that we really like how it opens up the area in front of the basement door. It also had the unexpected benefit of making the kitchen feel bigger. Those two things coupled with the fact that I get better storage, better appliances, better prep space and better light in the kitchen are helping me to deal with the fact that I don't like how far the table is around the horn. But, I have figured out that it's actually easy to push food and dishes across the counter towards the table. Then you don't actually have to walk around carrying things. And vice versa for clean-up. Most meals it's just me and the 3 kids so we can do those on the peninsula. For dinner, we may keep the kids at the peninsula while we eat at the table so we can actually finish a conversation....ha!