Welcome Slinkey, You couldn't have come to a better place to hang out. It would be hard to find a more caring and dish crazy bunch than everyone here. We love to see pictures of your great finds or tablesettings. Thanks everyone for your welcome home greetings. Cat scan today showed the pockets of infection have shrunk so we know the antibiotics are working. Now I will say goodby so I can catch up with everyone else's posts. Betty

Great question. I think you may be confused on some things, so I am going to lay out some detailed info. First some background. Adding a gas furnace sounds like a given. Be sure to have your ductwork evaluated and make any changes to size or do any sealing of any leaky ducts. That is "step one" and with a minimal investment will get you heat in colder months, and also the possibility of "fan only" mode in warmer months to at least assist in circulating the air. This would be your most affordable option right now. The furnace would be in the basement. With your preferences for having the system on/off per your schedule, please add a programable thermostat. If you are into tech, look at the ecobee wi fi stat that you can operate from your phone or any web connection. This gives not only the ability to use your phone as a remote control for your system (why get out of bed if you get chilly in the middle of the night...just grab your phone and adjust), you can also be on your way home and adjust the temperature to be as you want it when you arrive home. If you would never use these features, then a standard programmable stat would allow a 7 day schedule to have the pre-set temperatures you wish to be programmed to occur automatically. Now, to add cooling to the home is a second step. You very well could do step one first, and do step 2 later if budget dictates this. To add cooling to an older home such as yours, a couple of things will need to be addressed. First, is your ductwork set up for enough return air for cooling? If not, then things like undercutting the bottom of the doors by 1/2 to and inch can be done to increase air circulation. If your current heat system is forced air then your home is most likely already configured properly for adding air conditioning. The second and more expensive question is do you have enough electrical power available for running AC? Depending on your electrical system, and how much renovations have been done on your home, you may need to upgrade your panel. You should have this evaluated if you are doing renovations, even if you decide to add the AC later, or want to be able to add it later. This would be a good selling feature even if you yourself don't ever add the AC. Then the third consideration on adding cooling is should you do straight AC for the outdoor unit, or an outdoor unit that is a heat pump. A standard direct expansion air to air heat pump is no different than straight AC in how it cools. (I am not discussing ground source heat pump systems, only basic DX, or direct expansion systems that use refrigerant. A ground source system would cost 3-4 times as much as a DX system, and is very extensive requiring wells or a water loop in a pond or well.) Based on cost of the equipment alone, a heat pump will be only slightly more costly than AC-- likely around $800 more would be a good estimate. What is the difference? An AC only condensing unit with the compressor is the outdoor part of the system. It will be hooked up via pressurized"freon" lines (although it is now called R410A refrigerant, not technically freon which is also known as R-22) to a evaporator coil that sits on top of the furnace in your basement. The fan from your furnace blows air from your home across the evaporator coil with the cold freon circulating in its tubes, and the heat from your home warms the freon, the freon circulates back outside in its piping system (the line set), and the fan out side blow the heat into the outside atmosphere. Then the compressor starts the process over. This is basically how AC works. So to add in AC you will need to add a coil on the furnace, the line sets between the indoor furnace and coil and the outdoor unit, and add the outdoor condensing unit. A heat pump is basically a AC condensing unit that has a reversing valve to switch the direction of the refrigerant flow. In cooling mode, it cools exactly the same way as the AC system. When the system is operating in HP mode, that is for heating the home. It is actually warming the refrigerant from the heat in the outside air and then the refrigerant flows to your home, and the coil and fan on the furnace are transferring the heat into your home's inside atmosphere. Remember the refrigerant is compressed, so it is pressurized and really cold, so 45 degree outside air really offers a good amount of heat to be transferred to the system. The advantage of a HP is that the amount of heat you get out for the amount of KW used is efficient. So that is the "big deal" But this is only important if your electric rates are very low compared to your natural gas rates, OR if you cannot do a gas furnace and your only other heat option would be electric heat. If you compare HP energy use to other all electric heat -either electric baseboard heat, or a heat strip in an air handler (sometimes called an electric furnace), then the HP may be the better buy. If you will primarily heat with natural gas, and have a mild climate (as you do), then it will most likely not be the best use of your money. Additionally, a mechanically simper AC only system would be preferred over the more complex piping and valves on a HP would require. So, I suggest checking out the duct work and adding in gas furnace. Get a good programmable stat. At the time of your remodel add in the electric to add in AC. Put in the AC if you would use it. Probably not worth the extra money to get the heat pump. Hope this has helped you with this. Here is a link that might be useful: Ecobee Home Model Smart SI

Glad you had a wonderful time! Welcome back... although I don't think it is as relaxing and fun here as it sounds like it is in Homosassa. :)

Thanks, everyone, for the welcome home. It's good to be back, but I'm itching already to go back, I was just going thru some of the pics. I'll make a separate post of those, just a few so I don't bore you. Yes, we're quite tan, not burned because we pre-tanned here to avoid that. We laid out on our deck in the sissy AR sun to gear up for the FL heat. Good thing, too, because the FL sun has a lot more bite in it, especially when you add sand and water. I even went swimming 2 days in a row, even after they caught a huge bull shark not too far away, how's that for brave? lol OK, I didn't stay in long, and the water was really clear, but still! Jodi, your name kept coming up in our conversations- I made your artichoke pasta for dinner (first time, I might add) and it was a huge hit. We added sauteed shrimp to it and had it for 2 nights, making more sauce, hearts and shrimp the next day, and you're right, it's the best, easiest dinner I've ever taken bows over. Man, we'll be making that again and again. I can't wait to see your photos and if you posted about your trip, what page is it on now? I hope you had a great time! Kath, I'll go read about your trip right now. I'm glad I'm back, I missed all you nuts!