In my three years there we never once felt the need for A/C. It will take a long, long time to recoup the $9200 difference in equipment costs - particularly with low cost electricity. If you are currently not using any A/C, there will be no savings cost on A/C - and indeed if you do start to cool there will be an INCREASE. If you are paying peanuts for electricity to heat, then reducing peanuts to smaller peanuts by spending and extra $9200 will take a long time. Unless global warming has taken a toll, I'd stick with what the majority does in your area. I can't believe that a mainstream approach will hurt property values. Take the money saved and go to Alaska each summer - lol. :-) This post was edited by saltidawg on Sun, Jan 20, 13 at 17:39

Heres a Link: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/saving-energy-manual-j-and-manual-d Even when they do the calculations, the results are usually wrong In his posted comment, Bailes raised an interesting point: the problem of “garbage in, garbage out” (GIGO) Manual J calculations. Several energy experts have commented on the GIGO problem, including John Proctor, Hank Rutkowski, and Allison Bailes. Hank Rutkowski, the mechanical engineer who wrote the original Manual J document, was recently interviewed for a profile posted on the Green Building Talk Web site. The piece notes, “Rutkowski estimates that only 10% of heating and cooling equipment sizing decisions are based on some type of Manual J calculation and that less than 1% of the jobs are based on an aggressive implementation of the recommended design procedures.” Rutkowski explains the GIGO problem this way: “Manual J is a good tool if you use it aggressively. Follow the rules and it will give you a reasonable margin of safety. But the average contractor says, ‘Better safe than sorry,’ so he fudges here and there. He adds 5 to 10 degrees to the summer and winter design temperatures, calls the building ‘average’ instead of ‘tight’ and doesn't take credit for shading by interior blinds and drapes. Then when he finally comes up with a load number for sizing, he throws in an extra half-ton of AC just for the heck of it.” For a high-performance home, sizing by Manual J may still result in oversizing Several years ago, I had a conversation with building scientist Joe Lstiburek about air conditioners installed in Building America homes in Las Vegas. “HVAC designers are committed to the institutional oversizing of air conditioning equipment,” Lstiburek told me. “The average system is sized at 150% to 200% of the requirements of Manual J. They oversize because they don’t know what they will get for a building envelope, and to compensate for duct leakage and inappropriate refrigerant charge. If you size according to Manual J, there is already a fudge factor built in. But most designers then add another fudge factor.” According to Lstiburek, their experience proved the high-performance Building America homes in Las Vegas could have had HVAC systems sized at about 60% of Manual J. To be conservative, his team recommended installing systems sized at 80% of Manual J. Does oversizing matter? There are strong arguments against routine oversizing of HVAC equipment. The best argument is simple: oversized equipment usually costs more than right-sized equipment. Oversized equipment suffers from short cycling. For example, an oversized furnace brings a home up to temperature quickly, and then shuts off. A few minutes later, it comes on again, only to shut off quickly. Many homeowners find the see-saw sound of a short-cycling furnace to be annoying. When air conditioners short cycle, the units don't run long enough to achieve much dehumidification ��" at least in theory. (During the first few minutes of operation, an air conditioner cools a house. But not enough moisture has collected on the cold coil or on the pan below for any water to have actually gone down the drain. When the air conditioner turns off, all of the moisture in the pan and on the coil just re-evaporates.) The conventional wisdom may be wrong, however Increasing evidence shows that energy experts have exaggerated the negative effects of equipment oversizing, however. Studies have confirmed that oversized furnaces don't use any more energy than right-sized furnaces. Moreover, newer modulating or two-speed furnaces operate efficiently under part-load conditions, solving any possible problems from furnace oversizing. Although there are ample reasons to believe that oversized air conditioners are less effective than right-sized equipment at dehumidification, at least one field study was unable to measure any performance improvements or energy savings after replacing an existing oversized air conditioner with a new right-sized unit. The bottom line The main reason to choose right-sized equipment is to avoid paying too much money for equipment you don't need. A Manual J calculation will ensure you don't spend more than necessary for your furnace, boiler, or air conditioner. Moreover, a Manual J calculation will provide room-by-room heat loss and heat-gain information that is essential to good duct design. Without good duct design, you're running the risk of comfort complaints.

1. The best air handler would be the TAM7 variable speed model. Another choice would be the GAM5 model. It s high efficient as well but not var speed. Major difference is better dehumidification with var speed model. AHRI ratings below. Neither reach the qualifying standard for the Fed Tax Credit. 4563201 Active Systems XR13 WEATHERTRON TRANE 4TWR3036B1 *AM7A0C36H31 1225 36000 12.00 14.50 35200 9.00 22200 1 HRCU-A-CB 300 754 4563323 Active Systems XR13 WEATHERTRON TRANE 4TWR3036B1 GAM5A0C42M31 1175 35400 12.00 14.50 34400 9.00 21800 1 HRCU-A-CB 295 754 2. $500 not more than $750 upgrade charge for XR15 3. I would not recommend any air handler other than TAM7 or GAM5 unless it was for rental property. 4. A good price for XR13 3 ton would be around 6 K in my market. Yours may be similar. 5. Obviously the efficiency of your other system is poor by today's standards. But if you are happy with comfort and operating costs are satisfactory for your budget, then I would not replace it. Those models were real dependable workhorses. Of course, I would not spend any serious money on a repair. I assume you are having a PM performed on it once a year. If not, you should with a system this age. 6. I would get a price on Trane's XB14. Not as quiet as the XR13 but with correct air handler does qualify for Fed Tax Credit. I still like Trane/ AmStd HPs and they have demand defrost which eliminates/reduces nuisance and unnecessary defrost calls. I would assume a 10 KW heat strip. I would want HW Mdl 8321 thermostat. If you don't have a media filter cabinet, I would consider one. If keeping old refrigerant lineset, it must be the correct size and flushed properly. IMO

The reason you were quoted a larger size indoor coil (4 ton) is likely for efficiency reasons. A larger indoor coil will produce better SEER/EER ratings. There is no problem with this as a general rule -- and it is standard practice to upsize the coil somewhat. If you are looking for a tax credit, there are specific ratings that must be met in order to get this credit. My educated guess is the contractor upsized the evaporator coil to get you in range for the credit. You WILL get less de-humidification with a larger coil, however, this may not be as noticeable with a variable speed unit. Anyone who is in the business can tell you: installation quality matters much more than brand. Any brand of equipment poorly installed is likely going to yield poor results. Therefore, choose someone that knows what they are doing and has a good reputation. Typically, a company that installs a major brand such as Carrier or Trane gets more training resources to their employees (somewhat better than, say, Goodman). More often than not, you get what you pay for with equipment and service. For comfort and efficiency reasons, insist that your dealer runs a heat load (manual) on your home. Ask for it to be included. If he/she says no and he/she wants you to pay for it, fine. Pay for it. You don't want something installed in your home permanently which doesn't do the job correctly. The reason we have homes is to protect us from the elements. There is almost nothing worse than a system that does a bad job. Similarly, with a heat pump, you want to make sure you have the right combination of aux electric heat and heat pump. For ideal comfort, you want to choose a heat pump/indoor unit that eliminates or minimizes "cold blow". This can happen better with a properly sized unit and staged electric heat. Neither Trane nor Goodman are famous for having great heat pumps, in my experience. I am partial to Carrier because I have two Infinity heat pumps and I love them. Carrier has comfort heat technology which minimizes the cold blow common to heat pumps (particularly when outdoor temps are lower). Too, they also have specific models of air handlers that can phase in electric heat in stages rather than full blast. Trane has a similar technology, but, in my opinion, they don't work as well. Others may differ with me on this opinion. Given a choice, I would certainly choose the Trane unit over the Goodman. There is no comparison there. If you want a mac daddy, get a two stage heat pump which will more precisely match the load on your house. The two stage units typically dehumidify better too. But, you are going to pay about a $2k premium. If I were you, I would steer clear of Goodman. They are noisy as hell and their heat pumps, in general, suck. Good luck !