Eric, I ripped out the electric forced air furnace in the house I bought in 2006 and installed a 55,000 BTU (5 ton) heat pump (air conditioner) myself. Brand new, $2,500 for the outside pump and indoor ECM air handler. I paid $8,000 for a new A/C in my house about 6 years ago. Of course, I had professionals install it for me.
It would have cost somewhere near $10-$12K had I gone with a heat pump, but at least I would then be able to get rid of the gas furnace.
Sounds like you have never worked in HVAC. Obviously not. Neither has most people.
So yeah, heat pumps are indeed expensive to buy and install. Few people have the experience to install these things themselves. Even the "professionals" who are hired by the heat pump vendors sometimes don't have enough expertise themselves.
My A/C installers, for example, made a mistake that caused the A/C to not work properly. Turns out, one of the insulation sheets got sucked into the main vent and blocked the cooling coils. It was easy enough for an A/C repair guy to fix, but it got me thinking about what other "small mistakes" the original installers made. (So far, none have been found, lucky for me.)
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