Nope, it had a heat strip, it just never worked! The problem with heaters here is that you can buy a new one, then never use it for the next 5-6 years! My old unit was great, but it was hit by lightning and fried to a crisp. The insurance company replaced it and it's been a total POS! In the summer it barely cooled the house and I mean BARELY! On hot days it would run non-stop and it would sometimes get up to 80-82 degrees INSIDE the house! I constantly had the installer out here, but nothing really changed. 5-6 years later we had a 3-day cold snap and it got into the low 30's - high 20's. That's the first time I tried the heat strip ... NADA! Of course, now the warranty was history. Every time I had it serviced, it was ALWAYS low on Freon. I never had any leakage with my old unit. I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

Now for the update ... when it froze up, my a/c guy (NOT from the company who installed it) came out and it was super low on Freon. He serviced the system, topped off the Freon (5 POUNDS!), cleaned the drain, serviced the air-handler in the attic, etc. He said if that doesn't fix it, it's probably the circuit board and it would not be worth replacing as the cost is really high and the pos unit wouldn't be worth it since it's now 17 years old. Everything seemed to be working ok, I paid the $275 tab and all was fine. That night, after 3-4 hours of operation, it froze up again! I called my guy and he said a replacement was about my only option. Granted, the unit was 17 years old (but never really worked since new) and not worth sinking anymore money into. My only option was a new unit for $5050.

So, he and a helper showed up Saturday morning and were here all day replacing the heat pump, thermostat and air handler, plus ran heavier wiring for the bigger unit (Went from 3-1/2 ton to a 4-ton unit). When they unloaded the new unit, he transferred the numbers to the warranty card (10-year warranty) and said, WTF? I asked what the problem was and he said there was no problem, but apparently this was my lucky day. (By this time, I could sure use some luck!) He had ordered 15 SEER unit with a fixed speed motor. What they delivered was a 16 SEER unit with a variable speed motor. A bit more pricey, but I only paid for what I was SUPPOSED to get. He said he needs to check his invoice at the office and if they charged HIM for the 16 SEER, he'll make the distributor eat the difference.

Now that the new unit is in, it works like a charm and heats the house up in minutes! The cold snap is over with now. It's 75 degrees here today and will be warming up to 76-77 over the next couple of days. It shouldn't be very long before I can see how well the A/C works!