There are many reasons we see as to why someone wants a heat pump. It can be anything from wanting to be more energy efficient, save money on energy bills, or better air quality.
But one of the most common reasons we see customers eager to get a heat pump in their home is because of comfort. And we don’t blame them.
Take Bart B. for example. He’s someone who has a pretty mean truck collection and loves to spend his days working on it in his garage. His other favorite spot was his basement, but both of these had the same issue.
They weren’t conditioned to his liking.And who wants to spend time in their favorite places in their home either way too hot or way too cold? No one of course.
His home’s main HVAC handled the living spaces well, but couldn’t reach the garage or keep the basement comfortable, and that’s where we came in.
Bart said:
“I sensed a high degree of professionalism from the start.”
And that is something we hope every customer sees. We care, so we want to do things right. Making sure that Bart’s projects in the garage and downtime in the basement were as comfortable as possible was a top priority.
The Solution
This single family home was around 3600sq and built in the early 2000’s, but with the lay of the land and our effort to understand the building science of the home, it made it easy for us to set up a system that was on opposite ends of the home to make it work and to save money on the equipment.
Garages don’t have the ability to add duct work because of coding issues, so a multizone ductless mini-split solves that problem. And that’s because it can reach spaces that ductwork can’t.
This was perfect for Bart’s home because he can now have zone-by-zone control in these new areas. This means that each area (zone) of the house can be set to its own temperature, independently of the others.
With a traditional central system, you have one thermostat controlling the whole house. Everything runs off that single setting, so if the main floor hits the target temp, the system shuts off. The exact issue we wanted to solve for Bart.
Bart’s Home (Before) Photos
During our design walkthrough, we love to gather all the information we can about the home:
The LG RED Cold Climate Heat Pump Equipment
In working with Bart, we arrived at the LG RED (Cold Climate) KUMX 2 ton outdoor heat pump paired with a ¾ ton 9,000 BTU unit for the basement area and a 1.5 ton 18,000 BTU unit based on our design and heat pump modeling for his particular home.
This achieved many goals:
- Units sized perfectly for his spaces, which incorporates building science and dynamics of heat loss and gain, shared walls, windows, heat loss through the floor, and countless other variables that we model for.
- Plenty of heating or cooling throughout the Colorado temperature swings year round.
- Maximizing the Xcel heat pump bonus rebates (Bart got near $5,000 back from Xcel – which we discount up front) due to this being one of the cold-climate and highest efficiency ductless / mini split heat pumps on the market.
With a multi-zone mini-split, each indoor unit is its own zone with its own control. Bart’s garage can be set to one temperature while he’s working on his trucks and his basement can be set to another, and they run independently. Problem solved.
Lastly, we put the basement unit, an LG Art Cool Mirror, mounted on the interior wall, which left no downhill path to drain water on its own, so we installed a condensation pump to pump the water out, an easy fix. In his basement we were able to route the condensation to his existing drain as well.
At the end of the day, we truly feel that the rapport we built with Bart was one of the reasons he decided to work with us.
As Bart said,
“All the people we had contact with were outstanding and all were willing to go out of their way for the customer.“
What Was The Install Like?
Bart’s project was a simple one, but he mentioned a few things that really stood out to him about that day.
We poured in a concrete pad for Bart’s new heat pump to sit on top of, that way in the winter, the Colorado snow that finds its way into the backyard can’t block the heat pump from doing its job. He called this “impressive”, but we just call it the bare minimum.
As we finished up this project, we made sure to help Bart get set up with his new thermostats and remote and wifi, which he was grateful we didn’t just up and leave for him to figure it out on his own.
Now whether Bart is staying cool in the summer while tinkering on his trucks in the garage, or basking in the warmth of the basement, every space is dialed in.
The Payoff
Bart’s (After) Install Photos
Complete with two new heating and cooling zones in the garage and basement with the heat pump sitting on our custom concrete outdoor pad:
Bart was able to take advantage of the Xcel Energy Cold Climate Rebate and saved a whopping $4,875 which is something that always brings us the most joy – when our customers save a good chunk of cash and makes the entire process feel more manageable. And whatever home value increase may be added.
We understand installing a heat pump in your home can be costly, but the major increase in energy efficiency, air quality, and comfort truly outweighs it all.
We loved working with Bart, as did he with us, and if you’d like to create more comfort in your home while being more energy efficient, book a discovery call with us (or you can always text if you prefer.) And if you want to see how ready you are for a heat pump, take our Heat Pump Home Readiness Quiz or contact us here to see if it might be a next step for you.
Thanks for reading!
