Man, you guys are awesome. I expected to wait at least a day for someone to respond. Let me try to answer the questions: 1. Where do I live? In Maryland, between DC and Baltimore. You guys know better, but I feel like this climate is split evenly between running AC and heater 2. Dealer reputation? One is very very large regional with a good reputation, but like all Companies that scale, you can find unhappy customers if you look. Other is a state company referred to us directly. Small sample size, but two references were solid 3. On thermostats, both two stage proposals come with new thermostats...the 1 stage uses existing. so hopefully ok there 4. Existing furnace is 120K BTU 5. The Carrier quote commented on the ductwork, but really didnt dig in. The other guy noted it. When, and how, should I press on what needs to be done. Are they inferring nothing needs to be done? Hard to imagine they would miss a chance to charge for more services 6. Load calc...do they do this? how much do they charge? 7. Carrier 1a - 100K, 1b 80K. Lennox 2 - didnt write, but i think he said 100K (second speed at 60K 8. Did i misquote the model #s for all the coils? 9. They both mentioned the filter cabinets, vaguely, and said they were ~$50 and would be replaced annually. Hopefully I gave the answers to get more responses. Thanks again in advance. I truly appreciate the help

Finally got the quote from the 2nd Trane dealer: Furnace: XV95 + Honeywell VisionPro IAQ, new air supply ducting to upstairs bedroom, new cold air return on main - $5865. Furnace Model No. TDH2B080A9V3VA This has an output of 49,400/76,000 BTUH for stage 1 and 2. My current 80% AFUE Heil is rated 75,000 BTUH input, so this XV95 has at least 25% more heating capacity. Heat Pump Option: XL15i - $5905 complete. Model No. 4TWX5036B1000A (3 ton capacity, house is 2300 sq ft, 2-story) Installed with Trane Coil, Model No. 4TXXCB036BC3HCA (other dealer quoted a 4TXCB036BC3HCA, so maybe the above is a typo?) ARI Ref# 1384223 Cooling Capacity, 34800 EER (cooling), 11.40 SEER (cooling), 13.5 Heating Capacity @ 47F, 37200 Region IV HSPF (heating), 8.3 Heating Capacity @17F, 24200 This doesn't exactly look like a very stellar system combination for the price as none of the specs on the HP/coil combo would qualify it for the $1500 tax credit. I do believe the XV95 would qualify however. The other problem is I don't think the furnace or the HP would qualify for our local utility rebate of $350 since you can't get the rebate on a 90%+ furnace if installed as a backup system with a HP, and I don't think the HP listed here would qualify on it's own. Guess I would have to install the furnace and coil 1st, claim the rebate, then install the HP or AC if I felt like it. It's all too damn confusing. Pricing from all the dealers is pretty close, but the quotes are not exactly apples to apples so it is a bit hard to judge. I thought the XL15i had much better efficiency ratings that listed above. Think I need a quote on an AC unit instead of the HP as I still don't like the idea of the 95% AFUE furnace just sitting there most of the time. Would love any input or suggestions.

Ryan, Thanks for your response. I have not had a load determination performed and am using the"same as before" approach and relying on the Lennox proposal for sizing. The evaporator coil is a Lennox 3 ton CH33-36B-2F. The Lennox proposal was originally for a 2.5 ton AC unit but they upgraded to a 3 ton when I upgraded the furnace to the variable speed G61V. I was told the AC upgrade was necessary. The proposal did not address the thermostat, preumably they were considering using the existing thermostat. I will take a look at the Honeywell unit. The installation is all in the crawslspace and is pretty straightforward. They did commit to "sealing all connections 100%, and there are a lot of leaks as it is cooler in the crawspace than in the house! They are having to vent the furnace gases through the crawlspace wall with PVC pipe as the flue liner in the chimney has cracks. They are removing all of the old AC and furnace equipment. The ductwork change is at my request as an existing return is directly behind all of my stereo and TV components and the return pulls dog hair and dust all over the components. I am hoping the change to a supply will keep the area cleaner and the components cooler. I have a Carrier delaer coming out tommorrow to assess the situation and issue a proposal. Thanks again

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.