Heat Pump Dealer in Maine

With thousands of installations, we have the experience and know-how. We look at the heat pump installation as part of a “system” in your home, not just a stand-alone unit.

Many people ask us “Do I need back-up heat?” The answer is “Yes”! There may be times during very cold weather that a heat pump can’t keep up. We can design a system that works for your home.

We proudly sell and install the quality line of Mitsubishi products.

Answers To Common Heat Pump Questions

How Much Is A Heat Pump Going To Change My Electricity Bill?

Well it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly how much a heat pump is going to cost in electricity to operate. There are a lot of variables involved.

• How warm do you like your home?
• How cool do you like your home?
• How many times a day does the door open and close to let people or pets in and out?
• How cold a winter is it going to be?
• What are you paying for electricity?
• Who are you buying your power from?

These are all factors that determine how much it’s going to cost to operate. Typically rule of thumb is a heat pump is going to operate on about the equivalent of $1.25 a gallon for oil. Which if any of us could buy oil for $1.25 a gallon, we’d be buying extra tanks and filling them up because that’s a pretty good price.

(Note From Gina) I have found with my own personal heat pump, which is not as efficient as the ones that are available today, that I’m going to spend $40 to $45 a month on a cold month, above and beyond what my normal electricity bill would be.

How Does A Heat Pump Water Heater Work?

A heat pump water heater is no different than an electric water heater. As a matter of fact, it is an electric water heater. It’s got the same type of tank. It’s got two 4,500 water electric elements in it, but on the top of it, it has an integral heat pump. Like any heat pump, what that does is it moves heat from one place to another. So, what that heat pump at the top of the tank does is it takes heat from the ambient air, from the air in your basement, puts it in the water. And as long as the heat pump functionality can provide enough hot water for your requirements, the electric elements will never come on.

During times of high usage or during the winter time when your basement may be colder, those electric elements may come on. There are different modes that you can set it in. You can set it in electric only, if you know you’re going to be needing that extra recovery. You can set it in vacation mode. You can set it in heat pump only. So, we normally recommend you run it in heat pump only at first, see how it performs and then you can make adjustments from there.

Can I run my heat pumps on my generator?

Yes, you can assuming your generator is adequately-sized. Most residential generators are 10 or 12-kW, probably not adequate to run a heat pump.  To run heat pump or multiple heat pumps, you’re going to want to look at minimum 14-kW, probably 20 to 22-kW generator. The amount of electricity required at startup, because the heat pumps are a refrigeration load, the inrush current to start those compressors is pretty significant. Once they’re running, they don’t draw a lot of power, but they could trip out a small generator if not adequately-sized for a refrigeration load.

Can heat pumps be be my home’s only heat system?

Again, a difficult question to answer, and the answer is both yes and no. It depends upon how well your house performs and what temperature you’re looking to keep your home at.

A home that is contemporary construction with high tech insulation, super insulated, lead certified homes, you’ll find that you’ll be able to depend more on a heat pump for the entire winter than, say, a house that was built in the ’70s, or ’80s, or even before, even if they’ve been weatherized. Mitsubishi heat pumps will put out 100% of their rated capacity at zero degrees, and then begin to lose capacity and have reduced efficiency at temperatures below five degrees. They will still put out about 80% of their capacity at minus 13, so it depends really on how well your house is going to hold the heat that the unit produces.