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All that crap started breaking a couple of years ago on the house we lived in in town, and we had to replace it (26 year old house). It is just the age of the house and equipment. I find it ironic that the house A/C fans are cheaper than the ones for a vehicle. The fan is always the first thing to quit on a central A/C. If your unit is still operating at peak performance, I wouldn't replace it yet. It is always wise to replace the furnace and A/C at the same time, so that you get a new warranty on both. I replaced the one at the old house with a Ruud 10 SEER 4.5 ton unit, and the two here are Ruud 12 SEER units, 4 and 5 tons, respectively. The proper tonnage ration is said to be 1 ton for every 400 sq. ft. but I like to go with about a wee bit more tonnage, say 1/2 ton or so. It really saves you money in the summer because the compressor doesn't have to run constantly to cool the house.

AC here would be a bit tricky, since we've got 1600 sq ft upstairs (exposed to sun only in the mid-afternoon (12:00 - 3:30) due the tall trees east, south and west of the house) but 1500 sq ftt downstairs with half of those walls below grade as a finished basement with bath, bedroom, TV room, washroom, walk-in closet and workroom.

So in winter the downstairs gets a little too cool (unless TV room door is closed) while the upstairs gets teh heat, then in summer the downstairs is comfortable while the upstairs (as before) gets too hot - particularly in the room where the PC's are.

So I'm figuring that (when the AC and furnace gets replaced) we'd need to spring for a new set of ducts leading into the upstairs (which is really ground level!) for a dual control/dual compressor unit.

Winter weather is so moderate here in the lower Appalachians that we rarely get below 20-25 degrees, most of the time staying well above 30 for all but 10 days a year. That might be good for a dual fuel heat pump, but then we'd still have to pay for the overhead charges of the gas company through the summer - 15.00 to 20.00 per month just for hot water!

Electric bills (since I've overinsualted the acttic) are remaining below 120.00 a month - even with Ronnie and Jean re-setting the Ac to 74!