Tigerdunes, I received a reply to my heat strip question from the Lennox dealer. He states: "I would have no idea how to size them for your home without knowing the size breaker and wire you have running to the unit. Most 2 ton units have 7,t kw. What size do you currently have? It should really make no difference since you will not use the heat except for defrost and then you would want at least 7.5 kw for the defrost cycle. Auxiliary heat almost never get used in a condo unless you are foolishly setting back. Available in 3,5, 7.5 and 10kw for 2.0 ton air handlers. The small 3.0 heaters are not staged, normally 50% stage one and 50% stage 2 until you get to 10KW. After that they have 3 stages. You should not even care about staging electric with a heat pump since that if what you heat with not electric. Do you use emergency heat? Why do you if you do?" This dealer seems willing/eager to make a deal, but I am still concerned about the pricing. As a general question...I have to date received 4-5 quotes, and they are all very high, for seemingly entry level systems. For example, I received a quote on a Goodman SSZ140241A with AEPF313716A for $7,200 from one dealer. I dont understand why this is. Is there something about me that says "rip me off" or is it that its slow this time of year and they are trying to boost margins to make up for the slowness. Or is it that its 15deg. outside and they are charging a premium for working in the cold? -a

just update on this effort the electrician came out yesterday and added a pair of 220v outlets. This will enable me to run 2 dryers at once, if necessary. for the washers, i have purchased a spliter (Y) to feed the 2 washers, however, the problem is the draining of the waste water. i have a 2" outlet pipe but only 1 washer can connect to it at a time. so, to run 2 washers at once, i need a Y also. however, there isn't one like that in the market place. instead, i will create a simple Y using PVC pipes (stuff used for sprinklers). each outlet hose has an internal diameter of 3/4". I will put a 1/2" pvc pipe, which has an outer diameter of 3/4". Then this will feed into a 1" main pipe which will run into the waste drain. i will post a picture if anyone is interested....

The word Prewash says it all. Prewash ÃÂ is pretty self explanatory versus Heavy Soil. In this case I think Miele (in their efforts to make their product easy to use/understand) meant to sub-label the Prewash button with Heavy Soil to make sense out of this wash option and the Heavy Soil detergent compartment (which is still labeled Heavy Soil), and someone in their development team accidentally sub-labeled the Extended button instead. ÃÂ I was playing around with my friends' W4842 and tested the Prewash button and it does exactly that - a prewash that takes the detergent from the Heavy Soil detergent compartment.ÃÂ Not a major issue but I will probably wait until Miele prints their control panels correctly before I hunker down the big bucks. Suppose it is my retentiveness. Now if only Miele would relabel "Sensitive" to "Extra Rinse."

@rococo....Wrinkle Free on the washer spins slower than using Normal. The Normal wash cycle is Max spin, unless you change it. @suburbanmd....That makes sense about the sensing strips thinking the items are still damp, as this NEVER happens with Cotton clothing, towels and sheets. @livebetter.....My smaller Miele dryer tackles CA King sheet sets with 4 pillowcases, and it dries thick Queen blankets and thin/med. thick CA King blankets. I have not found the size to be too small at all, but it is not as fast as my 8 cu ft. Electrolux dryer was. A big load in the Electrolux would take about 40 mins, +/- 5 mins. The Miele takes about an hour. @ Whirlpool....I have many times thought about adding a cotton towel or two to the wash load with my Athletic clothing, and see if that helps with the drying. Thanks for all the help!!! :)