Our second annual Green Homes Tour brought out even more property owners than last year, and heat pump questions were top of mind for many Tour guests. Heat pumps are an excellent choice for slashing heating and cooling utility bills because they simply extract heat from the atmosphere rather than create new heat. But there are a number of things to consider before installing one. This blog supplements the one posted about two years ago on heat pumps and answers many of the questions that we’ve been getting.
What types of heat pumps are available?
The most common types of heat pumps are called air-to-air and use an outdoor compressor to collect heat from the atmosphere which is moved inside to one or more minisplit units. These are called “duct-less” systems because refrigerant lines, rather than air ducts, are used to move the heat. Minisplits come in several designs, which can be wall mounted, floor standing, or ceiling flush-mounted (provided there is an unfinished attic above).
Homes with existing ductwork can be retrofitted with a ducted air-to-air heat pump system, which, with the addition of an air handler unit, converts the extracted heat to warm air that is pumped through the ductwork and out the home’s existing registers.
Similarly, homes with boilers have the option of replacing them with an air-to-water heat pump that will bring hot water to the radiators. Be aware, though, that far fewer companies are capable of installing air-to-water heat pumps than air-to-air heat pumps. Their installation costs can also be quite a bit higher, as much as double the cost for similarly sized houses.
The final type of heat pump is geothermal which use the earth’s heat to warm a building. This is how Marblehead’s Abbot Hall is heated and cooled. These systems require sufficient yard space to drill wells to install the heating tubes deep underground. Geothermal heat pumps are the most expensive to install but are twice as efficient to run. As a result, a homeowner will only have to pay 50% of the monthly electric bill for the same amount of heating as compared to a home using an air-to-air or air-to-water heat pump. Geothermal systems also have lifespans of nearly 50 years and come with the highest rebates and incentives.
Note that all of the systems described here will provide cooling in the summer months by “running in reverse” to remove heat from the house. This is a significant advantage over traditional boiler and furnace heating systems which sit idle all summer.
Will a supplemental heating system be needed?
If your home is properly insulated, a secondary heating system to supplement a heat pump is not required as long as the heat pump is designed for cold weather. Unfortunately, some local plumbers are telling their customers that they will need a secondary furnace or boiler for temperatures below 30F degrees. This simply isn’t true. In Norway, which has much colder winter weather than Massachusetts, 60% of the homes are heated solely with heat pumps. In my own home here in Marblehead, I only have a heat pump, and it worked perfectly that day in January 2023 with a morning temperature of negative 10F degrees.
It's important to ask your installer for the low temperature heat pump specification. If the spec isn’t as low as negative 15F degrees, then look for another option because there are many. In my home, we have a Mitsubishi Hyper Heat system which can heat a house to 68F degrees or higher even when the outdoor temperature is negative 20F. There are many other heat pump modelss that work very well in ultra-low temperatures.
There are heat pump models that won’t work well in freezing temperatures beause they are perfectly fine for warmer climates such as California. But any plumber who wants to install one here in Massachusetts isn’t looking out for the best interest of their customers.
If you’re still not convinced, keep your old heating system in place until you’re sure that you won’t need it again.
Does the entire house need to be converted?
No. Particularly if you have a larger home with rooms that are only used infrequently, you can continue to heat them, as needed, with your existing furnace or boiler system while a heat pump heats (and cools) the rooms where you spend most of your time.
How much do heat pumps cost?
Cost depends on the size of your house and the number of rooms that need to be heated. The cost for installing an air-to-air heat pump system (ductless or ducted) in a 2,000 square foot house should be between $25,000 and $40,000 before incentives. This is comparable to the costs of installing a new furnace or boiler and central air conditioning. More about the available incentives later in this blog.
The costs can vary substantially between installers, so it pays to get multiple bids.
Of course, the costs of a heat pump system are offset by the savings in your monthly utility bills. For an estimate of how much you can save, check out this heating comparison calculator tool here.
Are there additional costs beyond the heat pumps?
Yes, there could be. If your existing electrical panel doesn’t have enough open circuits for a new heat pump system, then it may need to be upgraded. And if the heat from your boiler is also heating your home’s hot water, then that will need to be replaced. In that situation, a heat pump hot water heater is an excellent choice. Both the electrical panel upgrade and the heat pump hot water heater come with incentives to offset the costs. Other costs can come from the removal of your old heating system, oil tank, and in-room registers or radiators if desired.
How do I find an installer?
Heat pumps are designed with very advanced technologies and require a good deal of expertise to be properly installed. While most HVAC plumbers can read the writing on the wall and see that more and more of their customers want heat pumps, not all of them have the necessary skills to properly install a heat pump system. I’d be very leery of using an installer who did not install heat pumps in the majority of their heating projects and have extensive experience with them. Insufficiently experienced installers can end up giving you bad advice (such as heat pumps won’t work in cold weather), an improperly sized system, or a poorly installed system. For a list of questions to ask installers before signing a contract, go to this webpage.
Several Sustainable Marblehead members have installed heat pumps in our own homes and can provide the following list of recommended installers based on our experiences with them.
Installer Name | Heat Pump Specialist or HVAC Generalist | Heat Pump Types Installed |
Heat Pump Specialist | Air-to-Air | |
Heat Pump Specialist | Air-to-Water | |
Heat Pump Specialist | Air-to-Air | |
Heat Pump Specialist | Geothermal, Air-to-Air | |
Heat Pump Specialist | Air-to-Air | |
HVAC Generalist | Air-to-Air | |
HVAC Generalist | Air-to-Air | |
HVAC Generalist | Air-to-Air | |
HVAC Generalist | Air-to-Air | |
HVAC Generalist | Air-to-Air |
An easy way to get multiple bids from qualified installers who work in Marblehead is to use the free and no obligation services of Energy Sage. Click here for a link to their website.
How long will it take to get a heat pump installed?
Once you’ve selected a contractor and sized your heat pump system, it takes generally two to four months to schedule an installation. The global demand for heat pumps is rapidly rising because they’re internationally recognized as the best and lowest cost way to heat and cool buildings without burning fossil fuels. As a result, supply chains for the equipment delivery can be lengthy. If your current HVAC system is reaching the end of its life, don’t delay in exploring heat pump options.
What incentives are available?
There are a number of incentives available to offset the cost of a heat pump installation. Incentives from the federal government come in the form of tax credits. Air source heat pumps (air to air and air to water) generate tax credits equal to 30% of the system costs (materials and installation) up to a maximum of $2,000. Ground source, or geothermal, heat pumps also get the tax credit of 30% of the costs but without any limit. For tax exempt organizations such as churches, the federal government will issue them a check in the amount of the tax credit they would have received had they been a taxable organization.
All Marblehead Light Department customers will get up to $1,500 in rebates when converting from oil, propane or electric resistance heating to air source heat pumps. The rebates go up to $2,250 when installing geothermal heat pumps.
If you currently use natural gas to heat your home or building, then you will qualify for the Mass Save program benefits. This will provide you with a rebate of up to $10,000 to replace your gas furnace or boiler with an air source heat pump and $15,000 to replace it with a geothermal heat pump. Note that the Mass Save program requires the use of a participating contractor or the rebate check won’t be issued. Check here for a list of Mass Save eligible heat pump installation contractors.
The remaining balance can often be paid for with a zero-interest loan that makes for low monthly payments. Mass Save has a seven-year zero-interest loan program for heat pump installations. If you aren’t eligible for Mass Save, then check with your installer, as many manufacturers have a zero-interest loan program as well.
Lower income residents may qualify for a heat pump installation at no cost at all through the Mass Lean Program. Check their website for income eligibility requirements and application instructions. This program is also available to renters who meet the income requirements. Landlords can get this property upgrade done for no cost, if they rent to lower income tenants.
Lastly, should you need to upgrade your electrical panel to install the circuits needed for a heat pump system, the federal government offers $600 in tax credits to offset the costs. And the tax credit for a heat pump hot water heater is $1,750 with additional rebates of $500 for Marblehead Light customers or $750 for Mass Save participants.
If you want to learn more about heat pumps, come to Sustainable Marblehead’s Sustainability Fair on September 28th from 10am to 2pm at Marblehead High School. Our experts will be there to help you. Or send us an email to greenhomes@sustainablemarblehead.org.
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