sandraDEE wrote:
....
We also think it should have raised some red flags for them. We weren't
sure about this as a stand-alone unit, but the sales person was certain
it would work well with just the two heat strips for heating as well as
our old oil furnace did. We had told him that we wanted to go with a
standard electric forced-air furnace, but he assured us that this air
handler, although usually coupled with a heat pump, should be able to
provide adequate heat to keep the home comfortable.

....
Today, the service manager asked why we thought a half-system solution
would work and said that it raised red flags for him and that he
discussed it with the sales rep before the install. We told him that we
trusted the salesperson...and asked why they advocated selling it to us
if they knew it wouldn't work. He didn't have any answer to that aside
from advocating that we spend another $5000 and get the heat pump.
....

It came to me last night--I'm thinking the guy ended up spec'ing the
unit based on the sizing calculation of the heat strips for the
installation including the heat pump --- _NOT_ on the basis of it being
the only heat. If, as you say, he was a less-experienced guy, he may
have thought he fooled their software to do the load calculation w/o
the heatpump input but didn't and now he's in a bind...really would
push hard to see how they did the element sizing for the bid 'cause
it's pretty clear you're way under what would be the results of a
correct calculation.