I have revisited this posting several times because I have been going back and forth trying to determine the pros and cons of a 15 versus 16 seer American Standard heat pump. We moved to Greenville, SC about two years ago knowing that we would be replacing our hvac system and duct work within a few years. We have a gas furnace and outdoor a/c that is about 22 years old. We have a reputable contractor and we have had the appropriate load calculation done. This thread has me stumped on which direction to go. We have a ranch style 2600 square foot home and we have no complaints about our humidity control in our home. With the current AS rebates the 16 seer 4-ton heat pump will be about the same cost as the 15 but I wondering if we want it. People prefer the latent humidity control of the 15 but why and what does that mean? I understand that the efficiency difference between the two is small. My main concern is the humidity control between the two systems. What is the difference between on demand humidity control on the thermostat versus the humidity control on the 16 seer AS model? Would having the first stage setting running more often than a 15 create more condensation on the coil and make us more susceptible to moisture/mold issues? If so, how do you know this? I spoke to someone today who had the 15 seer furnace and outdoor a/c and within two weeks asked for the contractor to upgrade them to the 16 seer because they said their home was too humid. He said he is in love with his system now. Can this experience be applied to the heatpumps? Thanks so much!!

In regards to quality, American Standard is riddled with quality issues. It does not matter if a handful of well wishers praise their use and have had good luck with them, I'm speaking from a service plumber's weekly agenda in dealing with these faucets either from the get go as in initial install or down the road service. These faucets are usually assembled in Hecho Mexico. Constantly having to go get parts or return brand new faucets that were bought by the customer because they bought on the cheap. Aside from that, installing the new faucets and not operating correctly. They used to not be that bad but lately they are getting progessively worse. I removed a Circa 1922 two handle kitchen sink faucet that was installed only two years ago. Brand new faucet and you couldn't even turn the handles on and off. Single handle shower faucet that twice needed PB cartridges because the slightest amount of debri would lock the balancing spool in and not protect the consumer from hot/cold shock. Two handle AS lav faucet with cracked ceramic discs that reared its ugly head a month after install. I had to come back to confirm, then charged the customer which made them quite upset. I didn't supply the faucet, not my fault you bought junk. Don't get me started on those Champion toilets either. The AS Cadet 3's flush like I would be dumping a bucket down the toilet; sloppy indeed and don't get close to it when you flush; it sprays back. Had nothing to do with the ceramic disk assembly, had to do with the close tolerance of the trim machined to the stem of the faucet. The slightest amount of the corrosion/calcium buildup would cause the operation of the handle to turn so tightly you couldn't....would actually turn the whole assembly underneath. The customer got smart and replaced it with a Delta and a year later, no problems. Sounds like a rant and it is; just hoping people realize that AS is having numerous problems with their product and hopefully my words will prevent someone from the fate of a poor choice. It's gotten so bad that I refuse to install their product because their reliability. Puts me in the same situation as their product with the customer wanting to know why it is failing so quickly. Then they want me to come fix it at no charge? No way. You bought it you own the responsibility of providing me with a good product. I have to charge to fix it. This sours the grapes of the relationship of contractor to customer and all because of the product choice by the homeowner.

Your shower valve setback is likely not accurate and set to far out. What you have is an attempt to disguise it. As well the valve seems a little out of plumb, or the shower walls are not plumb. The fix is to reset the valve, sometimes we can open the wall behind the valve and adjust it w/o removing it and thats on the plumber. Or negotiate a discount and get a written wrrty that the trim wont leak into wall cavity, as that could soon create wet lumber that dries out between showers and causes movement and cracked tile walls in a worst case scenario. - best

Is it from about the mid 1980's? I did a ton of research when we remodeled ours a couple of years ago. The thing is that you need an adaptor to get the new one to work (so that the holes line up correctly). These are just my notes that I kept-- Adaptor 145058; changes from 2&7 to 5&7 so moentrol valve will work. I called Moen--they have great customer service. I bought the adaptor on Amazon for about $10 and the new one worked with no problems.