[laryb]

We replaced our 12 yr old Carrier this March because our technician told us we had a refrigerant leak in the line set under the house. He told us that it would be between $1500-2000 to replace, so we decided to bite the bullet and replace the whole unit, assuming it probably had a couple of years left. We decided on a Mitsubishi ducted unit. It's an inverter type unit, and was substancially less expensive than the similar Carrier inverter (we qualified for a first responder rebate). It also has a 12 yr parts warranty. It's still a small sample size, but our electricity usage is down about 15-20% from the same period the last 2 years. Our house is a touch larger than yours, and it's a 27000-30000 BTU,18 SEER unit, and we got it from M+S Air