Thank you for the feedback.. FYI - These are not heat Pumps - Strictly straight A/C units w heat strips. The old unit ran fine in its earlier years and in its later years was nursed along and did not cool as well. I believe 3 tons will work fine as the old unit did the job in the early years and had to work in the summer when the sun came in during the late PM in the later years. There is a lot of heat that scomes through those windows in the summer. The efficiencies in todays units probably deliver much better cooling than I was getting.. Especially if they are sealed. I do have a second unit taking care of the living quarters and the Den area which are alongside this main room - when I sealed the unit 2 yrs ago - what a difference.. Another proposal came in today with 2 different A/C units w strips and 2 different Heat Pump quotes from the current Lennox servce provider who services the equipment. 1. Lennox XC14-036 Condenser unit (14.20 SEER/12.00 EER) using the new 410A refrigerant · Lennox CBX26UH36 Fan Coil with Thermostatic Expansion Valve · Lennox ECB26-10CB Heat Strip with circuit breaker · Manufactures warranty Condenser 10 year compressor & 10 year parts, Fan Coil 10 year - $6986.00 Installed w existing Thermostat 2.· Amana ASX14-036 Condenser unit (13.50 SEER/11.80 EER) using the new 410A refrigerant · Amana ARPF363616 Fan Coil with Flow-rater Valve · Amana HKR-10C Heat Strip with circuit breaker · Manufactures warranty Condenser Life Time compressor & 10 year parts, Fan Coil 10 year $7080.00 Installed 3. · Amana ASZ14-036 Heat Pump unit (15.00 SEER/13.00 EER) using the new 410A refrigerant · Amana ASPF303616 Fan Coil with Flow-rater Valve · Amana HKR-10C Heat Strip with circuit breaker · Manufactures warranty Condenser Life Time compressor & 10 year parts, Fan Coil 10 year $8168 installed - and qualifies for Tax credit 4. · Amana ASZ16-036 2- Stage Heat Pump unit (16.00 SEER/12.50 EER) using the new 410A refrigerant · Amana AEPF30361A Fan Coil with Flow-rater Valve · Amana HKR-10C Heat Strip with circuit breaker · Manufactures warranty Condenser Life Time compressor & 10 year parts, Fan Coil 10 year $ 9,442.00 Installed SEERs look a little low compared to the earlier quotes.. I am not familiar w Heat pumps only straight A/c and Heat strip units.. I feel that running that compressor unit in the winter just creates wear..That is why I'm slanted toward heat strips. Can one get a manual J from an independent source or does it have to be a contractor? I hear they are some work to work up and obviously I will pay for it. How much are they. If you have suggestions on specific units / condensor / air handler combinations I'd be happy to check them out as well. This is a big expense and i want to do this right. Thanks

In Wisconsin you will run the system often enough to dry the air significantly in the winter, so a humidifier should increase your comfort. The humidifier will include a humidistat, so it will sense the moisture level in the air and should only run when you need it. However, my experience with whole-house humidifiers is that cheap models are not the most well-designed or trouble-free device in your HVAC. They have water pumps, water filters, water lines, and other parts that fail or need significantly more frequent maintenance once they are a few years old. They are also piped into the plumbing system, so there is always the possibility of a leak causing a significant mess. Bruce

I am not the Ruud expert, but it appears to be a basic single stage system. Here is your Proposal 6: 2-stage, variable speed Carrier Furnace 59TN6080-14 (same as 5) 2-stage Carrier AC 24ANB736 Carrier evaporator coil CNPV3717 Infinity thermostat Comparing Carrier Proposal 6 vs. the Rudd system 2-stage 60KBTU vs. single stage 75KBTU (75K may be oversized) 2-stage 3 ton condenser vs. single stage 2.5 condenser 17 SEER (need to check) vs. 14.5 SEER Infinity thermostat vs. unknown thermostat The Carrier system is superior. You can get an equivalent Rudd system but it will cost more. I would spend the extra money on a variable speed furnace and a 2-stage condenser.

Condensing hot water heater or furnace are probably not an option. Living in a condo, I can't add in a horizontal PVC exhaust since it would change the look of the condos. A vertical one would need to be at least 30 feet long and not sure if they'd ok a new roof vent considering we just had our roofs redone over the summer. The Flue pipe issue. The flue is shared with my downstairs neighbor. It of course runs through a chase through my 2 floors and out the attic. There was a very minor noise issue when they had a yapping dog when it was standing in a certain area, but not an issue any more. Problem is the original builders (Hovnanian) are incompetent at best. The chase also has my neighbors 2 MUA vents and my HVAC return ducts. They put the flue and MUA vents in the wrong place and left hardly any room for the return air. Long story short, space is limited, access to move stuff around is limited, if I don't have to share the flue pipe I can install a smaller size one when I attempt to move it over leaving more space for new return air ducting. This picture is the piece of duct between my return air plenum in the chase connecting to the filter box next to my HVAC unit. You can see the great job they did sealing it. Can't see it but the flue pipe is only an inch or 2 to the left of it. It's an 8 X 20 duct which is about half the size needed from my over 1400 CFM HVAC unit, If you don't over size it by 20 to 25% that people often do for the returns.. Side note, the chase is supposed to be fire rated and all penetrations are supposed to be fire sealed.