"Cross-Slide" wrote in message
...

static pressure on the refrigerant is 110 psi on both sides at 70
degrees F ambient.


At 70F, your pressure should be a tad more than 10 lbs higher than
that...and so either you have a bad thermometer or else the refrigerant is
contaminated.

It sounds like the Compressor needs a capacitor also.

Thats a very real possibility.

The house is all-electric and very well insulated, my largest
electric bills are $200/mo for everything so I don't expect to see
huge savings with a new heat pump.

If using a heat pump in a relatively mild climate, your winter heating bill
will be about 1/3 as high as it was with forced air electric strip furnace.