ARLINGTON, Va. - October 2005's combined U.S. factory shipments of 714,793 central air conditioners and air-source heat pumps were up 73 percent compared with shipments from the same month last year, according to ARI.

The Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute reports that heat pump shipments of 190,015 also rose 47 percent compared with October 2004. Total shipments of 7,387,173 units for the first 10 months of 2005 are up 12 percent from last year.

Factory stocks for October were up 213,486 units from September 2005 and up 7,239 units from October 2004. Distributor inventories for 2005 were up 36,961 units from September and up 75,399 units from October 2004.

October 2005 distributor shipments were up 64 percent from last year, with year-to-date shipments up 13 percent.