Based on what I am reading, I would get just the barebones (but done well, of course) heating system, since your primary rational is for the insurance discount. I ran some numbers for the Mobile Habitat for Humanity and the cost to heat with gas vs. heat pump is nearly 2x as much. But since you are not going to be using it that much. I hope you have done some comparison shopping. For the size house you should be looking at 1.5 (to 2 ton max) even if it is generally poor construction - that hits the typical rule of thumb of 400sf/ton which is generally oversized anyway. My point is - for this equip your quotes seem high to me. Ans $1k for upgraded service seems high as well. Two items that may help - Verifying Manual J - http://www.acca.org/Files/?id=68 and the contractor scorecard below Here is a link that might be useful: Residential Quality HVAC Installation You Should Get What You Paid For

Hi Mike, No neither contractor did a load calculation. They both live close to me and claimed that for my house the 5 ton condenser I had was barely adequate. For that reason they recommended two 3 ton. It was also claimed to me that for a 3 ton condenser paired with a 80% AFUE furnace, the furnace size must be either 90,000 or 70,000btu. ??? Also in my house, I find in the summer frequently my upstairs gets hot enough that I would like to run the AC, but the downstairs is still quite comfortable. The reverse is true in the winter. Since I have a 2 story entryway smack in the middle of the house, I think the theory is that at those times I could run the system on the floor that needs it, and just run the fan to circulate the air on the other. The rise of hot and fall of cold air will benefit the other floor. Of course there will be times when both systems will have to run. We do go below freezing at times, and hit some 100 degree days. Does this sound like good reasoning to you? Concerning the Carrier rebates. The Totaline thermostat is apparently made by Carrier. I looked it up on the web and on the bottom of the page it has: copyright Carrier Corporation 2008, so I am hoping that is OK. I will email Carrier directly. Also according to the chart given me by one of the contractors, for the Infinity Systems both the Infinity or EDGE Control thermostats qualify for their $1,000 per system rebate, hence $2,000 for 2. Both contractors have said their combo of Boost 80 furnace and Performance 17 series condenser will qualify for the Fed Rebate of $1,500. Thanks for the tip on the additional 10 year warranty from Carrier. I will look into that. Any thoughts on whose price for the Performance system is more reasonable? Thanks for your help!

Scott, The reason I'm no fan of these filters is that they are expensive and don't backwash as effectively as the 60's. They, even the 80 and the 100, must be broken down and cleaned more often than even a FNS 48. I'd rather have a smaller filter which will take more backwashes in between bust down and cleans. I've found the Quad's would rather be broken down and cleaned than being backwashed. At 120,000 gallons I've probably got the largest capacity pool on the forum. I run 3 60 sq/ft DE's as my filtration. I can go 12 months between breakdown and cleaning grids. There's NO WAY I could do that with either of these much larger filters. You are correct, the manifolds and grids are a pain to reassemble. But, I do it much less than a homeowner with one of the Quads will. It's just my .02 Jay, If you want an AWESOME filter purchase the Nautilus 72 with the stainless tank. If I'd of been able to get mine for free I'd of taken 3 of them instead of the FNS 60's. See ya, Kelly

I like the vase/etc. collection and would do a less brown color just because of that. Also, with the floors and counters, you'll have enough brown. Of course if you're not really into the vases and just have it there to fill in a decorating need, disregard. But still, don't go too brown. If the island overhang isn't used, perhaps a bookcase could be built in? If not, I'd either do it in beadboard as LWO suggested or at least paint the back the same as the cabinet color. Some knobs would be nice. And go ahead and reuse your disposal and faucet and all that stuff if they match and work well. Those plumbing items reinstall well if they're removed carefully. (Yeah, I'm cheap and recoil at the idea of replacing a 10 year old GD without cause. :) ) Are you sure you like the layout enough to spend money making it pretty? And are the cabinets good enough quality to save? I do think it looks pretty good in the photo and if the bones are good, a little upgrade is totally the way to go. But not too much brown please!