Guys, I have gotten stuck in between two systems for my final decision. Please help me out to pick the right one. I am trying to decide in between these two ; #1 - Bryant 6129135 Active Systems BRYANT HEATING AND COOLING SYSTEMS PERFORMANCE 13 PURON HP BRYANT HEATING AND COOLING SYSTEMS 286BNA048****B CNPV*4821AL*+UI 1300 1040 315(A,J)AV048090 45500 11.50 15.50 46000 8.20 29600 1 HRCU-A-CB 355 1140 also includes - Evolution touchscreen thermostat and comes with free Bryant Air purifier - one year test drive - I don't know how it works but they say they will provide 100% refund if I am not satisfied with the system within a year from the installation date #2 - Trane 5768796 Active Systems XR17 TRANE 4TWR7048A1 4TXCD063BC3 1370 1090 *UD2C080B9V4 48000 12.50 17.00 45500 9.00 30400 1 HRCU-A-CB 342 1077 Yes Not include thermostat. will use exiting HW VP IAQ includes GPS-2400 plasma air cleaner price wise the Trane is roughly $200 more expensive than the Bryant after the tax credit is deducted Both contractor will add two returns and one supply and will fix the distribution issues in my current duct work. Based on the notion I got; both contractors are very capable and have very good reputation I am more inclined to Bryant due to evolution controls. I do know Trane is very reliable and efficiency wise it is a little more efficient compared to the Bryant system. to me $200 difference in price is very negligible. I just want to make right decision. I got stuck! PLEASE HELP...

I'd invest in the duct sealing (including returns) of both systems. see what that does as for comfort & air flow. this is one investment that quickly pays for itself. paint on mastics or true mastic tapes are the only sealants I'd allow. there is nothing wrong with ductboard & it is not an inferior product. a well installed, correctly designed & sized duct board plenum will perform just as well as a sheet metal plenum. I have to admit...statements like 'inferior product' send up a red flag for me. IMO it is a short way to say.."I'll charge/make more to tear it out & replace it" that he wants to increase size of the upstairs system is the second red flag. bigger isn't better. take a look at it yourself. is the ductboard plenum larger in size at the equipment & reduced down towards the end of the plenum? is it in good shape? are the flex runs straight? are the ducts well sealed at the plenum? take a couple of pics & post. we can't see as well as you can...but we will look. now if there are comfort issues & obvious problems with the supply plenum & ducts...then you'd have reason to think about re-design. but often comfort issues are solved by installing manual dampers so that you can adjust air flow and by increasing size of a duct or two. crimped or compressed ducts reduce air flow.. but are usually easily fixed or replaced. 30% duct leakage isn't uncommon at all. it is more the norm than the exception. so if you invest 2K in duct sealing & then still feel the need to replace equipment.. but I'd like to see pics before going further. before adding insulation, complete all work in attic including duct change outs. sealing or modifications. any equipement change outs should be completed. then..and only then..does insulation install need to be consitered. adding insulation prior to any work will make it more difficult to work, insulation will be compressed as work is done, and any insulation moved to access work may not be properly replaced. before insulation though...air seal. supply grills inside the house and bath vent fans cover oversized cuts in ceilings. recessed lights that aren't air tight allow leakage from attic into house. accesses into attic will also leak, and should be built up around access to hold insulation in place as access is opened. blower door test should have provided list of areas of infiltration. what were the blower door numbers (example 5000 cfm @ 50 pa)?? was duct leakage test done at same time? what plan of action/information/advice did auditor give you @ time of audit? I'd suspect that load calc wasn't done and equipment is oversized. in my area we ususally put gas heat on first floor and heat pump on second floor. heat will rise in winter to suppliment heat pump heat on second floor. do you have a prefrence as to gas or heat pump? is one cheaper/higher than the other to make choice for you? I'm glad to see that you are willing to invest some time in determining what is best for your house. rather than just throwing $$ at newer bigger equipment it makes sense to evaluate what you have. take time to make decisions that will provide comfort and savings. best of luck.

Tigerdunes brought up demand defrost versus timed defrost. For the past 18 years, I have dealt with my Lennox defrost scheme. The only times I heard it go into defrost mode were when the unit was first running in heat mode. The unit would switch over from heat to defrost, the defrost cycle would complete and everything would turn off. I never heard it run a defrost cycle when it was not first heating. I rarely heard it go into defrost. I never heard it defrost on a fixed cycle such as every 90 minutes. Am I to understand that a Carrier will just go into defrost mode every X minutes whether it needs it or not and is not in a heating cycle; just turn on and defrost itself? I found this information in the Carrier 25HNB6 heat pump installation instructions: AUTO defrost adjusts the defrost interval time based on the last defrost time as follows: When defrost time When defrost time 3-5 minutes, the next defrost interval=90 minutes. When defrost time 5-7 minutes, the next defrost interval=60 minutes. When defrost time >7 minutes, the next defrost interval=30 minutes. The control board accumulates compressor run time. As the accumulated run time approaches the selected defrost interval time, the control board monitors the coil temperature sensor for a defrost demand. If a defrost demand exists, a defrost cycle will be initiated at the end of the selected time interval. A defrost demand exists when the coil temperature is at or below 32_F (0_C) for 4 minutes during the interval. From that description, if the time interval elapses and the coil is not at 32 degress, then no defrost will take place. That, to me, sounds like a form of demand defrost. Is Baldloonie saying that the coil could be at 32 degrees or less without frost and, therefore, a defrost cycle would be unnecessary? What kind of ambient sensor detects presence or absence of frost? Neohioheatpump asked, "When your old A/C would run, was it producing water?" It was producing water and I saw it dripping from the condensate drain. One weekend I went out of town and came back to find water on the floor around the return box that the fan coil sits on. I opened up the access and found the interior insulation of that box soaked. Turns out the condensate line was plugged. Took awhile for that to dry out. On the other hand, this past summer I did not see water dripping from the condensate drain. The drain line was not plugged and the drip pan seemed dry. I thought it was because I had dried out the air so much with the two dehumidifiers that there wasn't enough remaining for the A/C to remove. Cooling was normal. Running the fan on manual started with the installation of the Lennox and an associated Honeywell Electronic Air Cleaner. The house suddenly became dusty and I blamed the EAC for not doing its job. The Honeywell zone representative came to my house, sized up the situation, and told me to run the fan on manual so that the dust would remain suspended in the air and available to be captured by the EAC. I did that and it was of no help for the dust situation but it did help reduce the temperature differential between the first and second floors during cooling so I kept doing it as a matter of routine. Thus, I cannot say that not running the fan reduced the humidity. Though I complained about humidity, the heat pump contractor never told me that I was humidifying the house by running the fan (on orders from the Honeywell rep). I will continue to run at least one dehumidifier in the completely below grade basement during the summer because I want that area to be warm and dry to avoid mold and mildew. I've been in the basements of other houses in the area that don't use dehumidifiers and they stink. Mike Home said, "You stated in an earlier post that you run the fan in the summer because the upper floor is 2-3 degrees hotter than the lower floor. I think adding the attic insulation will help this." I agree that adding attic insulation could help. But, having a Dutch Colonial house with a barn-like roof that is covered in dark shingles on the east and west sides causes a lot of heat gain through the second floor walls. I'm not keen on opening the walls to determine the amount of insulation or add to it. Changing to a light-colored roof would make the house look out of character with the neighborhood. There are newer shingles that reject heat gain that I will investigate. Mike Home also said, "You could also zone the first and second floors, but this is expensive and probably not feasible with your current duct work." There is but one main feed duct and it runs through the basement. There is no way to segregate the room feeds in this scheme without doing each one individually. I'll leave that expense to the next owner.

Considering your requirements and the condition of your building you should opt for ductless mini split system with both cooling and heating system. This will solve your problem and you will be comfortable in both weathers.