On 14 Feb 2005 10:41:53 -0800, "Mark" wrote:

Those are all good points....

Another factor to throw in is the wear and tear on the compressor.
How often does the compressor need to be replaced and how much does
that cost. You'd have to save a lot of oil to cover the $250 inital
cost plus wear and tear on your A/C system.

There used to be a funny ad in Phoenix regarding heat pumps (yep we
needed heat in Phoenix in the winter)

it's a pumpin in the sumer and it's a pumpin in the winter until it
pumps its little guts out.

The Trane dual-fuel heat pump we are buying has a 20-year warranty on
the heat exchanger, and 10-years on everything else, including the
compressor. Hopefully, it won't break right at 10-years. We do live
in Arizona, but at 5,000 feet.

Dick