I live in SLC, Utah and my home is 5400 sq ft. I purchased it 3 years ago. My central air/heating is 22 years old. It is still 100% functional but very expensive. Heating for cold months is $200-$300/mo. A/C for warm months is $300-$400/mo and I can't get it below 79 degrees without running it 24/7. I think it is time to upgrade. I had 6 or 7 HVAC vendors bid on replacement of the upstairs (2200 sq ft) system which is a 4 ton A/C and 125k BTU furnace (half of the entire system). I can only afford to replace incrementally. The other half will come later. Anyway, it appears that I am in the wrong business. Some of the quotes are just ridiculous. They are between $4500- $5500 for average equipment (10 Seer A/C and 80% 110k BTU furnace). It would cost even more if I wanted better equipment. I searched the web for the actual equipment and it looks like they are charging roughly half of the overall cost in labor. I found a matched-pair 90% 125k BTU Lennox and a 5 ton 12 Seer Lennox A/C with coil for $2500 including shipping from California. This same equipment from any of these vendors would easily drive their cost to me up significantly. Although I would rather not, it seems that I should probably install this equipment myself. I have never replaced a central A/C or furnace, but it is certainly something I could do with direction. I just finished my 1500 sq ft basement and did everything myself except I had a licensed electrician install the sub-panel. I have spent quite a bit of time looking for any kind of direction in replacing A/C and furnace with out any success. Are you aware of any publications or other resource that could help me. I have every intention of hiring a licensed HVAC contractor to perform the final hookups and reviewing my installation. Thanks in advance.

I need to reconnect my a/c compressor after a construction project is complete. My question is, is there a minimum distance needed between the compressor and evaporator located in the furnace? I would basically like to relocate the compressor closer to the furnace (it used to be about 17 feet away and the new location would be 8 feet.