I'll look into that, tiger. I'm definitely not sold on the electronic air filters as I had a Honeywell with the former hot air/ gas heat system in PA. I really didn't notice any benefit. It was expensive ( about $ 500) and stopped working a while after the warranty expired. That one had two metal sections that had to be washed every couple of months. I would place them in the dishwasher. In order to do that I had to remove the racks in the dishwasher. I then ordered a permanent washable filter from AllergyRelief products which I cleaned every couple of months with a hose. The real nuisance here with the filter is having to go into the crawl space to change it. Ok, tiger, here's the friend's heat pump which has ceased to work. My husband went into the crawl space but couldn't locate a filter. He saw " electric heater" and said this system is much different than our 1986 special. I guess she will have to ask a different Trane serviceman to see. Perhaps she can phone the same people that were here this week for us to give her an estimate on a new system. How old is this one? The fan ceased to run. Ours will still run but gets frosty. We were at the friend's crawl space for about 45 minutes.

Update: Before the install, I did wind up modifying the track in the air handler for the 1-inch air filter. I used 2 pieces of steel banding, 2 inches wide, cut to length, and placed them over the manufacturer's track using a few dabs of automobile body putty (Bondo) to keep it secure. It is now a smooth track for the filter to slide on. Goodman used the track as part of the frame of the air handler so it had some crimpings in it and the filter would not easily slide in. I also trimmed away some foil faced insulation that prevented the filter from seating properly. A 20"x24" filter now fits perfectly. I am glad that I did these minor mods as I would have been fighting this monthly when I change filters. The unit was installed Friday, 6/22, after I had it for about 5 weeks waiting on the installers. It took two guys 8 hours. I fed them both breakfast and lunch (I treat my installers well). The old supply air plenum and the plenum after the air handler had to be replaced to match the new unit. The old 5/16" liquid line had to be replaced with a new 3/8" line. 3 holes were cut into the finished ceiling and 1 in the wall so that the new line could be run. I'll repair the holes when I get a chance - no big deal. The TXV sticks out about 8 inches from the air handler. Looks funky and I have to be careful not to hit it while moving things around in that area. The old outside unit had sunk about 4 inches into the ground. I filled the hole with soil that I was saving, packed it down, put a plastic condensor mounting pad on the dirt, and used 3" thick brick to elevate the outside unit (which is huge in size compared to the old 7 SEER unit; 14 SEER = more coils = larger unit). The outside unit is much more quiet as expected but the new mult-speed air handler is also a little more quiet than the old one. The fan is set on low speed and I'm not sure of the setting of the old unit as the lables on the motor had worn away after 21 years. The sheet metal in the new air handler is flimsy and the track for the air filter can be improved by Mr Goodman. The outside unit looks decent. These comments were also noted by the installers. I plan on taking the outside and inside coils to a local scrap facility and sell the copper. Maybe I can get a few $$ for a couple cases cases of my favorite beer. I can now start saving 40% on the cooling and heating part of my energy bill and use this to combat the 65% increase in electric rates in the State of Maryland. All in all, I thought that I got a good value for the money spent (only time will tell if I made the right choice with Goodman). I got a 14 SEER system with Copeland scroll compressor, thermo-expansion valve on the air handler, hard start capacitor, 15 kw heat strip kit, bypass humidifier, and 10 year parts warranty for $2477 from a local HVAC supply shop. I paid $1200 for a pro install (needed the pro install for the warranty). Total cost was $2k less than...

Can't really give you an informed opinion without complete mdl numbers for both systems. This price difference is from a dealer or GC? GCs are notorious for taking advantage of homeowners in HVAC area for new construction. IMO

The heat pump is useless right now. It doesn't generate heat at all, so that all the air that goes through it into the house is a draft of air from outside.Unless your HVAC system has a provision to bring in outside air for ventilation, there shouldn't be any way for a "draft of air from outside" to get inside the house through it. That's like my grandmother believing that her window unit sucks hot air (and dust) from outside, cools it, then blows it into the house. Heat_Pump, is this your first experience with your name-sake system? It's normal for the outside condenser unit to get icy during some weather conditions. When running in heating mode, the outside part functions as a cooling coil to pick up heat from outside and "pump" it inside (there's heat in air technically down to absolute zero, 0°K or -273°C or -459°F). In the same way that a food freezer gets frosty, so does the heat pump. And same as a refrigerator or freezer needs periodic defrosting, so does the heat pump .. which it will do automatically (unless there's something wrong with it). Typically every 60 to 90 minutes a circuit board checks temperature sensors on the coil to determine if defrosting is needed. Defrosting is performed by switching the system back to air conditioning mode for about 10 mins so the outside coil heats up and the frost melts off. During defrost the auxiliary electric heat strips activate to counteract the cold (air conditioned) air that would otherwise be blowing inside the house. If your heat strips are not working, then it will blow cold air during defrost. In some cases such as water dripping from the roof onto the unit, a layer of ice, icicles, etc., can develop on the fan blade. The unit should be protected by a gutter to help prevent that from happening, but sometimes it's unavoidable such as during freezing rain. If the compressor fails completely or the unit isn't defrosting properly then you can manually switch the thermostat to "Emergency Heat" which shuts off the compressor and runs only the electric heat strips. If your unit looks like these pictures, then you need to run in Emergency mode. On the other hand, if it just looks like this, then it's probably OK.