ARLINGTON, VA — According to the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI), combined U.S. factory shipments of 321,059 central air conditioners and air-source heat pumps in October were down 10% from October 2000.

Heat pump shipments of 94,248 units were down 5% from October 2000, while combined shipments for the first 10 months are 7% below those from last year.

October 2001 factory stocks are up 20,646 units from September 2001, and down 60,001 units from October 2000. Distributor inventories for October 2001 are down 70,845 units from September 2001 and down 151,616 units from October 2000. Finally, October 2001 distributor shipments are up 6% from October 2000 and year-to-date shipments are down 4%.

Publication date: 12/10/2001