How to add central air to house? A look into converting an oil furnace into heat pump.
If you’ve read my May 2022 post about removing the oil tank in our house, you’d know that my husband, Ralf, and I have a goal of achieving a net-zero home.
Our grand plan is to execute the following:
Remove oil tank
Install heat pump
Install solar panels
Thereafter pay no electrical bills, fight climate change, save the earth for future generations… you get the drift. 💡🌎🌱
Step 1 has already been written about; Step 2 you can keep reading, Step 3… well, we had made the order for a Tesla roof prior to Step 1, but like many other households that have had their Tesla roof orders cancelled, ours did too (twice!) so we’re currently looking into other options.
Why convert an oil furnace into a heat pump?
If your house is already with central heat but without AC, making use of the same ductwork and getting cool air out of them is a no-brainer.
It’s. Already. There.
Besides, converting your oil furnace into a heat pump is basically killing two birds with one stone- getting on a cleaner energy source and getting AC.
Should you happen to live in Boxborough or Littleton, you’re in luck! LELWD, the municipal company that provides electricity to these towns is one of the state’s lowest cost provider.
I love LELWD. I had already proclaimed my love for it back when I lived in Boxborough.
With the cost savings that I’m getting now that I’ve got an all-electric house, my love for this company has remain unchanged only exponentially grown.
Step 1: Remove existing oil tank
Out with the old and in with the new!
An oil tank removal is a half day’s work. It cost us $550.00 back in May 2022 and you can read about the super contractor that we found here.
Note that the oil tank removal guys will not disconnect and dispose your oil furnace for you. They’ll only take care of the oil tank and related components (see image below), including the tube that delivers the oil to the furnace.
Image source: Sid Harvey’s.
Your heat pump professional should be able to take care of the oil furnace disposal.
Step 2: Find a heat pump installer… and have them discuss plans with an electrician
You know what, Step 2 is actually more complicated than it sounds.
Why?
The Number 1 reason in my experience, is that most HVAC companies don’t do heat pump installations and so they’ll try to tell you that providing heat to a house via electricity is not a thing. 🤯
It’s either gas or oil, they said!
I didn’t believe it for one moment and knew that these companies were simply laggards. Like how you know mini-splits are a recent thing here in Boston?
News flash: Asia has had it for decades.
So that’s complication Number 1- finding a company that carries the product and does installations.
Complication Number 2 is that the people who came out to quote weren’t electricians - they couldn’t tell me if my 100 Amp electric panel could handle the demands of the heat pump.
So they spent time in my house taking measurements of room and duct sizes… only to return with a quote that stated that I may or may not require a panel upgrade. 😞
None of the ones I had engaged for quotes had an in-house electrician who could opine about the upgrade but oh, they could refer me to an electrician for that.
Greattttt.
Another quote to coordinate. Which, by the way, electricians are often booked out for weeks so this standing quote became a task undone which I hate!!
Complication Number 3 is downright infuriating. The company would come by and after all that song and dance, return with a proposal that I keep my oil furnace (that was before I had it removed) and add 3 mini-splits.
Negative 5 stars for bait and switch! 😤
At that point by some God-saving grace I’d hired my contractor, Adam, for a broader renovation and so I turned to him for advice. Adam immediately got in touch with his HVAC guy, Pablo, who came out to take a look… and I can’t remember if Adam got his electrician, Hunter, out the same day that Pablo did, but the bottomline is they communicated. Pablo was able to tell Hunter what amperage was required for the system and Hunter prescribed a panel upgrade.
Step 3: Figure out timelines for Appliance Delivery and installation
V important, coz Covid messed up manufacturing and logistics.
Also v v important: Gotta stay alive during the New England winter.
Pro tip: DO NOT remove your existing heat source until you’re v v v certain that you’ll have the next one ready before winter! 😫😫😫
After doing some research on heat pumps, I convinced Ralf that we should go for a system from Japan or Korea because I read that they are more reliable. No Asian biasness there.
Pablo had plans to install a Fujitsu heat pump for us, but shortly after we’d signed the contract in mid-June accepting his quote, he had reached out saying that the Fujitsu models were sold out and it would take 8-10 months for new deliveries.
I was determined to have my Asian heat pump so I looked up online for an alternative supplier:
I’m grateful for Pablo. Not only did he look it up, he even responded with the following:
Don’t judge the all caps reply. I promise you, Pablo is a polite and soft-spoken person.
I wanted to share the above with you because the world needs to appreciate Pablo. I’m thankful to have him. This simple email says volumes about how he is as a professional:
I accept the fact that in this business, installers charge a certain percentage price on top of retail price for product orders. Pablo does not- take away equipment purchase and his labor cost remained the same.
He took time to read about the product that I had wanted in detail, then further researched the extra items to purchase so that the system would be sufficient.
He added the model numbers for the extra items to purchase to prevent his clients from getting the order wrong.
I made the order with eComfort.com on 29 June and subsequently received an email stating that the estimated shipment date was to be 10 August. Of course, as Murphy's law would have it, on 11 August I received another email stating that the new shipment date was to be 16 September.
At which point, Ralf and I freaked out.
I called the customer service line at eComfort- too bad, no assurances there. These guys are but distributors in the supply chain; they can’t guarantee a delivery except tell me that “our system says 16 September”.
Not good enough.
I did not blame them, but I also 👆 did not wanna freeze to death.
I turned to the next thing I know - PABLO! Please save us Pablo! 🙏
Save us he did.
Pablo did us a solid. He called me the next morning and said that his friend has a Bosch heat pump in stock. He asked if we were ok with that.
My husband is German. I did not have to ask for approval for a Bosch.
Ralf said
And so on 16 August, we got our heat pump order placed and our armpits took a break from sweating.
Step 4: Heat Pump Professional to Install Heat Pump
There’s nothing that you need to do except get out of the way.
Here’s Pablo (left) and his friend in my basement, uninstalling the old furnace.
Next, they hauled it away.
Pablo made some calculations that I presume pertained to vent size vs room size vs air delivery, and as a result widened the return air vent.
Note how we had tiles in progress? No, we did not tell our tile guy, Angel, to stop tiling in anticipation that the vent would be widened. He was simply observant and preemptively stopped the tile work in that area.
If you’re looking for tile work to be done, please read about my raving experience with Erick and Angel in my bathroom renovation post here.
At the exterior, there was installation of the air condenser footing, connecting the air condenser, and some finish work to make sure that the siding is sealed.
Step 4 took 2 full days.
Step 5: Electrician to Connect Heat Pump to Electric Panel
Here’s Hunter, our electrician.
Where Pablo’s job was to install the heat pump, Hunter’s was to connect it to the panel and then there was that *cue heaven music* moment where Pablo turned the system on and everything worked.
Hunter then took time to explain the function of each breaker. We’re thankful to have him too. 🤗
Pablo subsequently helped set up our Google Nest thermostat for us.
FYI, if you’re a LWLED customer, there’s a Thermostat Rebate of $50.00 to be claimed. It took me 2 minutes to complete the form and the amount got credited in my next electric bill. 😎
Done!
Step 5 did not take long - took Hunter maybe an hour? I suppose it could be longer if your heat pump professional did things wrong and did not set it up for success, but Hunter commented that Pablo did everything right.
👍 Thank you, Pablo!