First let me say thanks, I learned a lot from this forum and the guys at HVAC Talk. I hope IÂve made a good decision. We got several quotes. Some we dismissed out of hand, we just werenÂt comfortable with them; but we did look carefully at two well respected local contractors.

The first was a Trane dealer who had serviced a lot of our neighbors. The salesman took less than a half hour measuring the house from the outside, never looked at the ductwork, didnÂt do any calculations that IÂm aware of; and, based on a similar house nearby, recommended a 3 ton XL19i with a 2TEE3F40 air handler connected to the existing ducts and electrical, new lines, insulate the plenum, and include a 10 year warranty on compressor, coil, and parts a 2 year warranty on labor. Extended warranty and any electrical would be extra.

The Carrier dealer, also well respected, with all their techs NATE certified, spent over 2 hours, climbing in the attic, measuring, checking the ductwork, taking digital pictures, etc. He did a J calc. and some other mathematical mumbo jumbo. All which he submitted. He felt that our existing 25 year old ductwork would not handle one of the new high efficiency units, and the cost to replace was not economically viable. His plan was to replace some of the returns where the builder had used wall cavities, change a supply that was added to the end of a run, seal all leaks that a test finds, and clean all the ductwork after the install. Install new lines, do all the electrical work with their own in house licensed electrician, re - line the plenum, and build a stronger base for the air handler. He has recommended a Carrier Performance 24APA536 with a FV4BNF005 air handler and digital controls. Included is a 10 year transferable warranty on the compressor, all parts of the complete system, and labor. Free maintenance for one year. A 2 year performance guarantee that the system will work as designed or our money back. If the compressor fails once in five years they will install a completly new outside unit at no cost, and start the warranty over.

We started this project with the idea that we wanted a Trane. The prices for the two systems as described were within a few hundred dollars of each other. The Trane had a slightly higher SEER, 19 vs. 16, but the salesman felt that the EER only pertained to commercial units and didnÂt know what that number was for the one he proposed. The Carrier system has an EER of 13.

Which one do you think we went with?