Combined U.S. factory shipments of central air conditioners and air-source heat pumps for November totaled 336,027, down 47 percent compared with shipments from the same month last year, according to ARI.

The Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute also reported that heat pump shipments for November totaled 114,342, down 32 percent compared with the same month last year.

Year-to-date U.S. factory shipments of unitary air conditioners and heat pumps totaled 6.6 million, down 17 percent from the January-November 2005 period.

Year-to-date heat pump shipments totaled 1.9 million, up 0.6 percent for the same period of January 2005 through November 2005.