Okay, I had two diff. companies come out and give me an estimate for replacing my 20 year old furnace with a new one.

I specified that I would like a two-stage Energy Star furnace.

The first guy quoted me a Lennox G26 I believe, and pretty much there were no “issues” with what he had to do to put it in.

The second guy had all sorts of problems with where he was going to put the PVC intake/exhaust lines, said they couldn’t drop the new chimney flue liner for the hot water heater because the pitch on the roof was too steep and then said I couldn’t use a “true” two-stage because there’s only 4 wires from the thermostat to the current furnace.  He said a “true” two stage needs “lots of wires” (whatever that means) and that with only 4 wires, you end up with a timed two stage (apparently there’s a timer in the furnace that can be coded to when the second stage kicks in?)

Am I being fed some BS?  I know little to nothing about these things.  I checked Lennox’ website but their owners manual was sparse to say the least (ie, it doesn’t tell you how many wires or how to connect them to the furance, etc.)

I’m not sure if the first guy didn’t know what he was doing or if the second guy was incorrect.

Unfortunately there are only two places where I live that are Energy Start BPHI (?) certified so I can only buy the furnace from them.  (to be eligible for a state rebate)

–Kevin