I know the heat pump vs. standard a/c replacment debate has been fairly
worked over in this newsgroup, but the proof in the pudding should always be
happy users. In Dallas, Texas where I live I am having trouble finding
them. You would think any dealer selling an upgrade from standard to a heat
pump (my pertinent specs below) would be walking in the door with ten
customers to call who had been on heat pumps at least one season. No so
with the five estimates I got (3 Trane, 1 Lennox, 1 American Standard
dealer). None offered references, only one of those eventually coughing up
three in the "eleventh hour." Worse, in checking *his* references, only one
was a heat pump user, but useless as reference since the installation was
only two weeks old. Sorry, but this should not be that difficult an
exercise! It's easy to conclude from this reluctance that heat pumps are
not a good return on investment for this region of Texas, maybe even
inappropriate since cooling is the more the problem, not heating. The only
people I have talked to so far 100% in support of the are the people who
sell them! Something is not right. If you are a sold-on-heat pump *user*
(dealers excluded) in my area, I would like to hear from you. If you're
not, or have had a bad experience, I would like to hear from you even more.

Mike in Dallas

my existing setup:
all-electric home (no gas)
1600 square feet including a loft
day-nite (step child of carrier) 4 ton standard ac unit
18 years old
using existing ducts
return air surface only 638 square inches (i understand this may be
inadequate to get full efficiency from a heat pump)
prefer a cool house in the winter (hardly ever over 65)
prefer a cool house mostly at night in summer (our Dallas summer nights are
75+ and humid)
inside vents are noisy (& concerned they may be even more so with a heat
pump.)

system I am considering:
Trane 12 Seer Heat Pump 4 ton
Variable Speed Air Handler
Standard Filter (existing closet height won't accomodate 4-inch perfect fit
filter)
$5800 installed