Thanks guys for the comments. I just want some professional advice before I make my final decision on the furnace. I know the best choice is a variable speed, 2-stage but nobody makes them in a 45K 80%, period. They are all 65-70K or bigger. Bryant makes a 2-stage 45K (312AAV) but it only has a bad old PSC motor. I could ask the installer about replacing the PSC motor in the 312 with a 'green' variable speed motor (www.evergreenmotor.com) as he gave me a brochure on it, but replacing a brand new motor doesn't sound very wise. The Bryant 313AAV has an ECM (X-13) motor but only a 1-stage 45K burner. I looked at the spec sheet on the Trane XV80 (somewhere on the net) and the smallest size I saw was 60K, no 45K model in the XV80. Did I miss something? I know probably the low stage (32K) of a 45K 2-stage burner would likely be sufficient 90+% of the time. The furnace usually runs Nov-Feb and perhaps a bit in March depending how could it gets. This past March it never ran at all. During April, May, Sept and most of Oct. i rarely use any heat and not much AC in Sept. The condo mgmt. sent out a notice last year that if our condenser units needed replacing, that we would have to replace our evap. coils at the same time (the coil would be at our expense-$400-$800, the condenser at theirs). I figured it was because the new condensers would all be R410 and the old R22 coils in current use would have to be replaced. the installer said he would replace my coil with a R22/R410 compatible unit so I will already be taken care of when the condenser finally fails. Yes, I thought on my own that the new coil might be too much of a strain for the old condenser. However, if I want the condenser replaced now I have to pay for it. As long as it is working they will not pay for a new one, even if I am getting a new furnace and coil.

I just lit a garage space heater and had to hold the button down for like 2 min or more before it would take. The thing is that you are heating the thermocouple that sits in the pilot flame, usually behind it or if there are multiple flames coming out of the pilot hood, one will heat the tcouple, the others will light the incoming gas. So, sometimes rubbing the tcouple with some steel wool or a wire brush will help. Or, if the pilot flame is weak, you may need to remove the pilot tube and thermocouple and clean them. If you have it out, you may as well replace it, the thermocouple that is. Try holding the button down for 3 min and see if that helps. By heating the tcouple, you are creating a voltage that goes back to the gas valve. Weak pilot causes weak voltage which may not be enough to hold the pilot solenoid open so it shuts off the gas to the pilot. This clear?

My Contacts are divided into Business, Personal, and a very few Unfiled (the few services which don't neatly fall into either category, like Palm's tech-support contact info). I just haven't felt the need to subdivide more than that (nor, for that matter, have I felt the need to aggregate doctors or family or such). As for Memos, they're all over the map. Generally the rule is "stuff I want with me when I'm not near my computer." So, to that end, I have lists of books I want; videos I might like to rent sometime; albums I have (and their condition, so I can buy a better one if I see it at the used-record store); restaurants I want to try (with addresses and perhaps recommended dishes); etc. I have quotes; a note on what keys to press to switch on the lights at work; encrypted lists of accounts and IDs for places where I don't have 'em memorized yet (I use a separate software package for encryption). There also are a few bits of info I've encountered which I'll remove as soon as I sync to my computer and put them in a more appropriate place. Categories here are Business and Personal; just haven't needed to organize differently. Tasks is where I make the biggest differentiation. My categories there are Business, LTPM (my particular group at work), Personal, and a category for tasks for my food co-op (at which I am on a Board) and one for another social organization in which I'm an Officer. Tasks receive priorities based on when they need to be done. Priority 1 has to be done today or maybe tomorrow. Priority 2: do them soon. Priority 3: whenever. Priority 4: maybe someday, but some time element is associated with them (seasonal activity, etc.). Of course, priorities can change with time. "Buy snow shovel" can be a 3 until about October, when it needs to become a 2. While Tasks can have due dates, many times I will want to mark some time in my schedule to work on that task (calls, shopping, taxes, etc.), so I will put a Priority 1 or 2 Task on my calendar instead. I won't duplicate the entry. There are third-party programs you can buy for your Palm that work off the internal Calendar/Tasks/Contacts list but present the information differently and offer attractive features. For example, a program called Datebk5 offers a floating to-do that automatically assigns itself to the next day if you don't check it off today. Other programs are better at connecting Contacts with events or presenting your Calendar in more flexible formats. I use a program called Month.Planner, which I've liked very much. I'm currently trying a program called TMP to see if I like it better. There is quite a selection out there, at prices that range from free to around $60. Let me know if you'd like additional help in identifying worthwhile programs to try.

If the pilot tends to go out with the doors closed, it's because the flame is short on oxygen. Hard for me to imagine your doors are so tight to do that, but anyway, if that is the case, the thermocouple would prevent gas from continuing to flow if it went out. But to be extra safe you could either leave the doors open a crack to keep the pilot running, or get in the habit of turning off the gas to the pilot. As for CO2, I would think it's not a problem, since ventless fireplaces are used with the pilot running all the time. My folks have two and use them all winter long, leaving at least the pilot on, and that's in rooms without any vent or chimneys.