The name of the program is Centerpoint. It is made by Pearson Publishing Company that publishes Prentice Hall books. We go to them. I put nothing on my computer. We can log on at school or from home - generally. I think it is on our school server, because it used to crash all the time, and they found out that most of the elementary schools started at about the same time, and all the teachers would take attendance at the beginning of the hour. As they all logged on, it crashed. It really grates me. It is no secret that we have about 15 elementary schools, and all four secondary sites. Our building has 9th and 10th grades with 2400 students. Why would it be a surprise that the system couldn't take all the activity? Isn't that why they are techs? You would think that would be the first thing they would look at when they bid on using it in our school. Anyway, I don't understand why I can shop in so many places, I can go to the College Board and read about AP Standards. I can go into all kinds of places, but this is blocked, and nobody can unblock it. They can just say it isn't compatible with Vista. It doesn't make sense to me. Frankly if we wouldn't purchase anymore of their books if they couldn't fix it, it would be fixed. Oh, well. I just don't understand. Sammy

This morning I caught the system just as it turned on (my ears are now trained to listen for the click of the tstat and the fan coming on.) This time, when the tstat started heat all by itself, the Aux Heat call did not come on. I have a feeling that anytime I try to force the heat on myself, the tstat is seeing a large enough delta between set and actual temp that it is kicking AH on. I will have to watch the operations over the next few days to see if it consistently works without AH. In the mean time, the breaker to the heater pack is off to avoid the toaster. I have decided to send an email to Honeywell tech support on the CPH setting for my tstat. Now that I understand what the CPH setting does, I need to know how the logic is implemented. For example, my tstat setting for Compressor Cycle Rate is set to 3. Does the tstat bleed these 3 cycles per hour (max) uniformly over an hour of time - or does it simply allow 3 on/off cycles in rapid succession, and then no more for the rest of the hour. If the allocation is uniform across an hour, then the Aux heat setting (which is currently 9 CPH) could be adjusted lower to keep Aux Heat from popping on so quickly - like when I increase the tstat setting by 2 degrees. Again - if it is a uniform distrubution of on/off cycles the tstat would permit Aux Heat to come on every 3 minutes with a 9 CPH setting and that is too frequent. So the CPH adjustment may in fact be part of the solution. I have also discovered a nagging issue with my second story heat pump. That unit is actually zoned - where 3 bedrooms each have their own tstat. My guess is that the CPH setting for each tstat is set to the recommended default (3 CPH) which means that there are actually a total of 9 CPH allowed (3 for each tstat). That explains why that unit kept cycling so frequnectly on me last winter. I believe that a CPH reduction is probably warranted in each of those tstats and that would reduce the number of total HVAC cycles upstairs. The downside is that some rooms way have a wider tempertaure swing and then a longer run to get up to the set temp. But I would rather have a reduction in cycles as long as the swings are not too big (which could cause Aux Heat to pop on). Imagine Room 1 calling for heat and getting serviced - then shutting off. Then a few minutes later, Room 2 does the same thing, then Room 3. If I stretch out the ON/OFF times in all rooms, I will increase the probability that heat calls will overlap. I will check on the L line. I believe that my tstat does not use L becasue I get no alarm lights when the compressor locks out - and I would like to have that. There have been cases where the compressor has locked out and the only way I knew it is when it got very cold in the room and I opened up the heat pump cover to see the red light on the contoller.

Cece, the Dark Shadows series that I read in high school and college (1966-1970 or '71) was written by one 'Marilyn Ross', the pseudonym of Dan Ross (aka W.E. Daniel, W.E.D. Ross, and Clarissa Ross). I read up a bit on the history of the series, and found that the books were based on the television show and not the other way around. I remember the books best because I only watched the show a few times -- it was an afternoon program and I was usually busy elsewhere. The few times I did watch it, I recall rolling my eyes -- you're right, it was awful, but fun in a campy sort of way. The books were faithful to the campiness. 'Marilyn Ross' is another of the men who wrote Gothics and romantic suspense. I always looked for her books, because they seemed to me, at the time, to be well written and not insulting to my intelligence. One I particularly liked was Fog Island; I reread it several times. There were at least thirty books in the original Dark Shadows series (there was a later series, written by someone else, that I never bothered with). Thinking about it, the young women today who adore vampire romances probably come by it honestly: it was a legacy to them from older female readers/watchers. Yes, Alexandra Moltke (later Isles) who starred as Victoria was Klaus von Bulow's other woman (one of them, anyway, and certainly the one he was carrying on with when Sunny went into her comas).

Whatever system you go with, it's best sized and designed by a third party (usually not HVAC sub) for optimum performance and comfort. Normally it's mechanical engineers or others associated with achieving EnergyStar certification or performance based code modeling services. Manual J is the most used load calculation for sizing systems and it's based entirely on the home's design. Your experiences with uncomfortable forced-air systems are probably based on inefficient homes that did not benefit from this type of service. Most older systems have only one or two fan speeds blowing into poorly designed ductwork. The systems are also usually serving older, building envelopes with crappy windows, pathetic insulation and horrendous air leakage. Newer, code built homes on variable speed systems with appropriate ductwork will have such small airflows, they are barely noticeable to the occupants. Many feel that properly designed and sized forced-air systems are the most comfortable because they have the fastest response to thermostat settings. In addition to the AC considerations, most outdoor air ventilation systems (international code requirement for health) rely on a certain amount of ductwork and blowing air for better distribution. Again, good designs have such low flows, you shouldn't even notice when they are running.