Heat pumps are more complicated than furnaces. They refrigerate either the outside air (in heating mode) or the inside mode (in cooling mode) via phase change (that is, making liquid refrigerant into a vapor by blowing air across a coil that contains the refrigerant) and then compressing the vapor (thereby making it hot) and using a second fan to push this heat into the house or into the outside world. As long as they gather enough heat in either mode to serve the house well by using an affordable amount of electricity, things are good. They can do a good job heating a house, and they provide cooling. But they are harder to get right than furnaces.

Box spec ratings (like SEER and HSPF) are part of it but even the best system on the showroom floor won’t do well if it’s the wrong system for a house or if it’s installed badly.

If you’re considering a heat pump, go in ready.

Direct your HVAC installer to provide heating/cooling load calcs and assess the ducts (size, leakage, insulation). All of that matters way more for a heat pump vs a gas furnace. Many houses were never built with a heat pump in mind and so ducts need upgrades for the system to perform.

That’s where I come in.

I speak the language of installers. I know how to do the load calcs, which heat pumps work better than others, how to assess ducts, how to set up controls, how much it will cost to operate a heat pump vs gas.

If you have a system now that isn’t working the way you think it should, I might be able to help there, too. it might be the system size, or the ducts, or the controls. You might have a noise problem that has defied a solution.

I have had two different central heat pumps over the last 15+ years (one a dual fuel and one a variable capacity system) and I also have a 3 head ductless system. I’ve monitored my systems and this has helped me understand how to optimize their peformance.

Maybe you need just a few questions answered. I can help with that, too.

Let’s talk. See the Services tab.