After too many hours to count spent researching and ending up on this site so many times, I decided to register and post my situation and see what others thought. Here is my situation:

House is about 1800 square feet, located outside of Philadelphia, PA, with many windows and doors facing west. The back of our house heats up significantly in the summer time, as there is not a significant amount of shade to hide under. I am replacing a 2.5 ton York compressor with a 3 ton air handler, electric heat pump. We have no other heat source in the house, so we are all electric. We are changing systems as the old unit has a leak and the compressor is burned out.

Received several quotes from reputable installers in our area that we have experience with or that were referred to us from friends/family. I have posted the components of one of the quotes and would like anyone�s thoughts on these components, and whether you think they are what we need:

Quote for 2-stage system:
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Trane Xl18i � 3 ton 4TW8036A1
Air Handler TAM7AOC42H31
10kw Heater � TBAYEVAC10BK1AA (learned from here that this should likely be 2 5kw units staged, and will request it as such unless advised otherwise)
Thermostat � TCONT802A
Aprilaire 5" media filter #2410

I am not sure that the thermostat is correct in that it looks like it is for single stage units, but I am unclear of that. I would be interested in hearing anyone�s thoughts on the above components, staging the heat strips rather than using on 10kw strip, and whether these components make sense together.

I also in the process of gathering more quotes. One of the other installers indicated that the two-stage system, may not circulate enough air to adequately cool the upstairs of our house. While I know that we can zone the house, etc, our old single stage unit was satisfactory to us in cooling the upstairs. The other companies did not believe this would be a problem.

While price is a factor, we are looking to be a little more efficient than our old 12-15 year old York unit, but maintain our comfort.

Thanks in advance to anyone that takes the time to comment.