TURTLE wrote:
This is Turtle.

I think you have spending some money on something no matter what it is.
It would be nice if you told what part of the country you lived in but
if not i will tell it both ways.

In the DC area, so both heat and AC are a requirement.

You taking out a $3,000.00 to $5,000.00 system to replace it with
another $5,000.00 to $8,000.00 system put you in the hole by $8,000.00
to $12,000.00 and your hoping to get this money back in Utility
savings. How long would you need to wait till you could get this
$8,000.00 to $12,000.00 back in a 20% saving in your utility bill as
they are right now and figuring in your money your hoping to get back
will double every 10 years. So in 10 years from now this $8K to $12K
will be $16K to $24K . these figure maybe high or low but the thought
is still there as to tring to get great sumes of money by way of
utility savings.

Yeah, I know - it won't be cheap (even then, if you figure a 20 year
lifespan for these things, the current one is 25% of the way through).

For just a 20% savings, it probably doesn't make sense. I was hoping
that I could do quite a bit better than that - right now I have natural
gas at $1.37/therm, and electricity at $0.059/KWh, and there are
indications that natural gas may go quite a bit higher, and right now I
am tied to a single fuel - natural gas.

I'm not saying not to do it or to change it but the ideal is your
changing a system out JUST for utility savings. That has never been a
good ideal for that reason alone. If your having system trouble or it
is old , Yes change it.

The current system may have been low-end, but it still works.

Also to get this money back you would have to cut your utility bill by
$133.00 a month every month for the next 5 years to get your money
back. Then your going to have to figure in Interest on your money too.

People still earn interest on their money :-)???