whna | Somerville HeatSmart CoolSmart program opportunity (Reply)

This energy efficiency program for this nifty space-age heating/cooling devices was extended through Feburary 15 2018. If your heating system is on the downslope, keep this program in mind. I had mine installed yesterday and I think it's amazing. And I can't wait until summer when I don't have to put in that awful window air conditioner again!

HeatSmart/CoolSmart Somerville: https://www.somervillema.gov/departments/programs/somerville-energy-efficiency-now-seen/heatsmart-coolsmart-somerville

Right now there are some serious rebates around, and the 0% interest heat loan program too.

But the most amazing thing is how quiet it is. Compared to my hissy old steam radiators and clanging pipes--wow.

Also, since I have solar and a bit of extra capacity, this will take a lot of the burden off my natural gas furnace and use my spare electrons. This will save me carbon and money.

Please join us for the final Heat Pumps 101 Workshop next Tuesday, February 6 at 9 New Washington Street, Somerville. Doors and refreshments at 6:30 pm, presentation at 7:00 pm. Limited on-site parking is available. Learn about heat pumps, check out a few of your neighbor’s installs, and have your questions answered by City-staff and installers.

Watch on YouTube

Below the jump I'll illustrate my installation with photos. Feel free to ask me questions and I'll tell you what I know. But dammit, Jim, I'm a biologist not a physicist. Some of the heavy technical details you should check with the companies that are part of the program.

So I have this charming house that's approaching 100 years old and it has some old equipment. The natural gas furnace came with the house a couple of decades ago when we bought it. And although it's still working, some day it won't. And it would be neat to move away to lower carbon footprint energy. Since we added solar a couple of years ago, I'm also making artisanal electrons on my roof that I'd like to use to reduce my burden on the natgas system. My solar was sized a little bit bigger than I needed at the time because I intended to switch more fuels out. With my electric car I'm done with gasoline. And with a new heat pump I'm cutting down on another one.

The process was this: I met with a sales technician who evaluted the size of the area to heat/cool (I got quotes from both participants in the program, you can do that). For my small needs and a well insulated house with replacement windows, one of the indoor units was all I have to have. The outdoor condenser part is sized to the needs as well.

So I got my energy audit (these are awesome, by the way--you should do this too even if you don't need the heat loan paperwork). We scheduled the installation, and by the afternoon I had this quiet equipment running to warm my house. If you can't get an audit before the HeatSmart program ends you have a few months afterwards.

First--we picked a place that would direct the air the right way. This would be different in different houses--but for me it's in a corner aimed out toward the open living/dining room area. I had to move a chair to get this installed, but I was even able to put the art back afterwards since the heat blows out not down on them. This image shows the wall mount up on the wall, and the size of the unit compared to my chair.

The tiny hole on the left is all they need to do in order to connect the unit to the outdoor condenser part. The electricity runs from that outdoors. And the hoses that take the fluid and the vapor to circulate run through that.

So the unit goes up on the wall, and the hole gets sealed up. Outside Jawon wrangled the hoses and cord, which they hid behind at cover that is mounted to the wall. That connects the condenser to the indoor piece.

The condenser is mounted to my outside wall. You can have them ground mounted, but for me this made sense. Might vary by your location and your space. Mine is around the size of a tall window air conditioner, I'd say. But that may also vary by the needs you have for coverage in your house. You can get multiple indoor units to heat and cool your home if you need them in other spaces as well.

Anyway, apparently the magic happens here, where the heat energy is pulled from the outside air or it's released, depending on what time of year it is. It's breezy near the unit, but it's quiet and I can't hear it at all from inside. I'm not sensing any vibrations from it.

Larger versions of the photos and some additional ones are available in this file: https://imgur.com/a/yu6di The folks from the company I selected (NETR) cleaned up everything, including the slush on their feet from this precarious winter wonderland they had to be in. And I put the chair back, re-hung the art, and we're all set. It was really painless.

I should add that I was told there is only the most minor maintenance. When you open the indoor piece, there is a filter. Periodically you should pop that out and vacuum or rinse it. I put in a reminder to myself on my calendar to check it in a month, but it might be less often than that. Looks really easy. The outdoor stuff I'm going to want to keep out the ivy, but otherwise there's no maintenance out there either.