I live on the West Coast of Canada...I'll do my best to get everything in both Celsius and Fahrenheit. This is our program for the thermostat: Night time (9:45pm - 5am): 18 C = 64.5 F Awake (5am - 8:30am): 19.5 C = 66.5 F "Away" (8:30am - 3pm): 17.5 C = 63.5 F Evening (3pm - 9:45pm): 19.5 C = 66.5 F I've been working with this schedule for 3 weeks (rental) and it appears that the 17.5 C drop needed an extra 30 minutes to get it up to a "comfortable" temperature when my family gets home at 3:45pm. I know from experience living in very cold climates (-40 C = -40 F in the winter) that a programmable thermostat ALWAYS saves money! The colder the climate, the more it saves. Any time you reduce the temp by 1 C (1.8 F) you save money. The extra 30 minutes to get it up to "comfortable" is more than paid for by the 6 hours at a very low temperature. I know that without even checking my old heating bills. The "keeping it even" is for a vehicle motor at cruising speed. This is no longer applicable to todays modern heating systems - nor the modern vehicle engine.

The one I am living in now. It's only the second I've lived in, and I expect to die still living here. (I am 57, but have a lot of people on both my mom's side and my dad's side who lived past 95) When my husband and I agreed to get married in 2 years (34 yrs ago), we walked a half mile down the road from my mom and dad's, saw a house for sale. I remember when we were little we were never allowed to trick or treat there, it was too 'dark.' We drove around that summer looking at several other houses and in the fall, put in an offer. We looked through it again, found out NO ONE had even gone through it, and it was accepted. Our offer was for the house and all its contents. I spent my youth days going to farm auctions with my dad, this house was all set up like it was still 1940, so it was like an auction on speed to me. Found out an invalid woman lived there, whose minister husband had died, and as was the rule to go into a home, the house had to be sold. My sister is an RN and that woman was one of her patients once. She explained who she was, and the first thing Pressie asked was "Are they taking care of my house?" My husband lived here a year before we got married, working on things that needed done first. There were push button light switches, and one outlet in the whole upstairs. So, he redid the electric in the whole house, new heating system, new septic system (the inspector said it was very rare for him to inspect a system that followed the rules so exactly), we had 3 kids, added on to the 1200 sf house to 3600 and lots and lots of other improvements. We are in the same school system I went to, and my dad, in his one room schoolhouse. When we bought it, the interest rate was 12%!!!!!! It took it awhile to go down, and when it did, we decided to just pay the thing off. My husband had a few rules - he preferred no yellow rooms, no trees over the septic system, and don't drop the level. Rules not that hard to live with. Of course he was consulted, and sometimes his opinions were the ones we used, but he basically gave me free reign over the decorating and cosmetic remodeling Our house is very welcoming at Halloween now. There is so much of my husband and I here, and lots of stories that need to be written down for out kids We have always said "A house is not something we have, it's something we do!" I love this house photo is how it was when we walked down the sidewalk so many years ago

I appreciate your advise. You gave me a different and very useful perspective on things. Luckily, we don't have any flexible ducts; its all metal. There is some ductwork in the attic and the local electric utility sealed this about 21 years ago. I don't know what it was sealed with but I vaguely remember the person used a backpack-like machine with a hose and the word mastic was used. That ductwork is now covered with a couple of feet of insulation so I'd rather not disturb it. There is some exposed ductwork in the basement and the joints were sealed with mastic metal tape five years ago. Its not insulated, yet it could be. But that still leaves the majority of ductwork that's in the walls that wouldn't be sealed or insulated to today's standards.

The difference between 1 and 2 stage is : 1 stage furnace has one stage output which is always High no matter what the temp is outside or inside. 2 stage operate much more efficiently, most of the time in most climates it runs at around 65% of its full capacity. When the temperature outside changes and the first stage cannot provide enough heat for your home, the second stage kicks in to provide additional heat, so the 2 stage furnace will provide the right amount of heat as needed to efficiently satisfy your and your home needs. Both furnaces can have a split system... What that basically is, your duct work is split between floors, additional thermostat is installed and electronic damper installed to control the airflow. So you have a 2 zone heating with one furnace as I explained before. Your furnace is 11 years old, and they say that the average life expectancy of furnaces today is anywhere between 16 and 20 years. Since you be adding additional living space 750SF would be a good idea to upgrade the existing furnace and they can position it to make it a split system. As one stage or two stage goes, that is up to your budget, if you can spring for a better system that will definitely benefit you in the long run, if you cannot, single stage will do what its suppose to do. Good luck I hope it helps