Thomas R Owens in Bowie was very good to us back when we lived in Davidsonville. We had a system installed by Bluedot and they could never get it working right. I knew the owners of Thomas R. Owens, Rod and Charlee, from Boy Scouts and they fixed us up and made the messed up Goodman system Blue Dot put in work as best as it could. Don't know what part of Balto you're in but call them to see if they'll come out your way. They're top notch people. Here is a link that might be useful: Thomas R. Owens

I think that I may take a slightly different approach. I have discovered that NJ has an Enegry Star program running. You pay a small fee and they have a BSI certified contractor come and inspect the home for air leaks, missing insulation, etc. They use IR camera's and do a blower door test. For one they will fix air leaks up to $1000 for free. The bigger thing is if your house is drafty, have an old furnace , AC etc and they can project that the improvements will result in a 25%+ reduction in heating costs, then there is a 50% rebate up to a total cost of $10,000. Thus $20,000 in improvements costs $10,000. On top of that you can do an interest free load for the $10,000 for up to 10 years. I have been researching contractors that are certified but aren't HVAC companies to try and elicit a more honest approach. Most also offr duct testing & sealing and are heating and cooling experts as well so they should be able to do manual J caculations based on the improvements and air seal they recommend. I think this is an important first step since this will affect the heating system I currently have.

That's the thing. We thought we'd go with the man who's been servicing our house since we moved in - he is such a nice guy, we love working with him. When our blower went out, his asst. told us it would be about $600 to repair it, but with a 25 yr. old furnace we should replace the furnace. When I spoke to the boss, he said it would probably be $500. Then it increased to $1000-$1400 - all without having brought the blowers into the shop to see what's wrong. I did our research and said yes, time for a new furnace. Our old one is 200,000 BTU. He said that was about 60% efficiency, so we needed 2 80% and he sent me a contract to install two Trane furnaces. When I did my research on the brand and models, I learned about 90% and above, and I asked for new prices on better models. That's when he came out to the house to measure. And during this trip, he mentioned that the 2 80's would require a new liner in the existing chimney and he wasn't sure he could do it. And that's when my concern increased. What would have happened if we signed the contract and he showed up with 2 80's that couldn't be installed? fyi, when our house was measured it turned out to be 2700 sq. ft. He said we could just get by with the Trane 95%, but to be on the safe side, he recommended 2 90's. (He said if our house was drafty - which it is - it will work overtime in a very cold winter - in central NJ - and it might not be warm enough and we'd lose our energy cost savings) I had someone else come out yesterday who measured us at 2500 sq. ft. and said the Trane 95% is plenty, or we could go with Carrier or Payne. We really want to go with the person we've been using, but I'm concerned that he's not as knowledgeable or careful as he should be. I have no concerns about his honesty. We certainly trust him, but have got to wonder that he didn't measure from the first, sent us a contract to sign for the 80% and then a couple weeks later said we would have had a chimney installation problem, etc. Thus, my comment on the guessing.

I suggest separate systems for the first and second floor. That is the best way to have even temperatures on each floor. It costs more up front, but you potentially have lower operating costs. You could zone the loft off the second floor system. However if you are going to be working 10 hours days with multiple pieces of equipment generating heat then spend the money on a mini split.