I'm across the Delaware in Camden County (NJ)and love my (Rheem) modulating furnace. While I have realized savings in gas usage of about 20 - 25% (average)as compared to my former (20 year old beast), the fact is that a mod furnace is for COMFORT, not Efficiency. As I am very sensitive to temperature swings, I wanted a furnace that would give (very)long heating cycles and maintain a tight (0.5 degree) temperature range. FYI, a 2 stage furnace is also for comfort, not efficiency. The bigger saving is realized mainly from downsizing the furnace. I was able to replace a 125,000 BTU beast with a 90,000 BTU unit. This was also oversized, due to needing a blower with greater capacity for a/c. My 2500 SF home has a heat loss of less than 60,000 BTU. The first order of business is to determine your homes heat loss. Insist that any contractor you contact performs a heat calc (manual j). Just curious, what is your square footage, and how far are you from Philly? I also replaced my a/c at the same time (also a Rheem w/matched coil). The combo delivers 14.5 SEER. It is a 2 stage and does a fine job. Just go my electric bill for period ending Aug 3. Was $212. We expected a larger bill considering that my son is always dropping the thermostat. An interesting note: with regard to the tax credit, many a/c combos will not deliver the required SEER without the benefit of a variable speed blower, i.e., if your furnace doesn't have one, you won't achieve it. Your duct system should be evaluated also. Many systems are poorly designed and don't deliver the full capacity. BTW, I purchased my system before the tax credit was in effect. It has an AFUE of 94+%. Rheem is coming out with a 95% this year. Good luck. V

Hi Vith-- Thanks so much for your input. The owner of the contracting company just came over and we did a little walk around. He agreed to remove the vented vinyl soffit on the second floor, put up wood where the old rotted soffit was removed, cut ventilation strips over the course of the wood on the second floor --old and new--(he was upset that they hadn't cut ventilation into the old wood soffit wood, as instructed), cover the ventilation openings with screening to prevent access by animals and put the new vinyl soffits back up. He also agreed to replace any shingles that were chipped or cut when the flashing was put up and power wash any soiled areas of the house. This seems pretty fair to me. He was extremely apologetic about the confusion about the garage being included in the initial contract and about the fact that proper ventilation was not done on the old second floor soffits.I told him I just wanted to be sure that the amount of ventilation met the specs for the roofing material to avoid premature aging, roof failure, etc. What do you think?

I can't believe anyone could be comfortable cooking under that MW! If you are willing to sacrifice the upper cabinet, you can install an in-cabinet fan, with a liner. Broan sells a reasonably efficient (390cfms*), reasonably priced ducted model--I'll link the Amazon listing: PM390 Power Pack cabinet insert It won't come out over the range as far as most hoods (since it's installed in the upper cabinet), but if you get in the habit of starting the blower before the steam and grease start to rise, you'll get the air moving in the right direction. *No make-up air needed for that size, IIRC, but check with your local safety code, especially if you have any gas appliances, furnace, etc. ETA: Scroll down in the following thread for a DIY conversion of an upper cabinet to range hood--they used a recirculating blower, but I'd definitely recommend vented: Remodelaholic custom range hood

Well there is a whole list of modern conveniences we are used to that I "couldn't" do without but in truth I could probably survive better than many. Then are are the serious matters of heath and safety which we depend on. So I will answer as if the question was intended as a floof post. My new riding rain duster. I love that thing. After being soaked to the skin on the trail several times wearing regular rain jackets etc. and once this year having to stay soaked for several hours afterwards due to having to be somewhere else with no time to go home and change, I love that thing. It keeps me dry, my saddle dry and even a good part of my horse dry. So it get the honor of current best thing I can't get along without. :-)