ARLINGTON, Va. — Combined shipments of central air conditioners and air-source heat pumps jumped 7 percent in 2002 to a record 6,746,326 units, eclipsing the previous record of 6,685,481 units set in 2000 and last year's total of 6,281,443, according to Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI) statistics.
Heat pump shipments of 1,483,599 units were also a record, up 2 percent from 2001's 1,442,355 units.