Nailing It Down
By Dave Murnen and Pat Beaty
Is your heating system meeting your needs? Is it clean, inexpensive and effective?
In the Pacific Northwest, houses use a variety of heating systems including baseboard heaters, heat pump/air handler with ductwork, gas, pellet stove, wood stove or even old oil furnaces.
In addition to regular heat pumps with ductwork, the newer ductless heat pumps are gaining in popularity for many great reasons.
Not only are we going to sing the praises of ductless heat pumps today, we are going to tell you about a special program that we are involved with that provides free ductless heat pumps and installation to eligible families.
We really can’t say enough about this effective, inexpensive option to heat and cool your home.
They work cheaply
In this climate, a regular outside heat pump and inside air handler furnace with ducts is an efficient way to heat a house. The technology of any heat pump basically recovers heat from the outside air and transfers it via a closed-loop refrigerant gas to the inside air handler — furnace inside your house. The air handler blows circulating air through the air handler’s radiator coil that was heated by the gas and delivers warm air throughout the house in your ducts and floor vents.
In the summer, it will do the reverse — drying out the indoor air and pulling the heat out of the air from inside the house and blowing it off outside at the exterior heat pump. The returning air feels cool, providing you with a nice air-conditioned space.
Ductless heat pumps are just as they sound, not needing any ductwork to convey the heated or cooled air
Their benefits are many. Here are a few:
• They do not pollute.
• They provide filtered air — better for folks with allergies and health concerns.
• They are relatively easy and inexpensive to install and operate.
• They are easy to maintain.
We think the drawbacks are few, but we do need to mention them:
• The heating units are visible, so the location of both the exterior and interior units might initially be a practical or aesthetic concern.
• If the electrical power goes out, you lose your heat — unless you have a compatible generator or another backup source.
• They may not heat the whole house.
They heat what they can ‘see’
To be most efficient, you will want the inside unit located where it can “see” the most main living areas possible — living room, dining room and kitchen — where the space is more open and where you spend most of your time. If it can also “see” down a hallway, it may also heat the rooms connected to it when doors are left open.
A house that’s chopped up with lots of little rooms will not benefit as much as one with a more open concept. Either way, you may want to have some kind of backup heat in the bedrooms.
Figuring ways to recirculate the air back to the unit is worth it. One little trick to help heated air get to a specific area is to open a window a crack in that room, which relieves pressure and draws in heated air. Some homes benefit from multiple indoor units or more than one setup. Your contractor will know which is best for what you want to achieve.
Ductless air heating units are about 3 feet wide and a foot tall, and they protrude about a foot from the wall. They have control features so the airflow can be pointed just the way it is needed in your house.
The thought of having a heating unit on your wall may not appeal to you. But after about a week of clean, consistent, cheap heat, trust us: You won’t even notice it’s there.
To maintain a ductless heat pump, you just need to open the unit and rinse the reusable filters in the sink, dry them and put them back in the unit. If treated correctly, the filters shouldn’t wear out.
Keep in mind
Maybe your oil or gas furnace, cadet wall heaters, electric baseboard system, pellet stove or ducted heat pump is nearing retirement age. If that’s the case, consider replacing them with a ductless heat pump.
In our experience, most homes need just one unit. The cost runs about $4,000 for a 1-ton unit installed, and goes higher for bigger units or complicated installations.
Most heating contractors on the Harbor can install a ductless heat pump. We suggest that you get three bids before choosing which contractor to go with — as you would on any major home improvement project.
Backups suggested
A ductless heat pump will provide most of what you need to keep your home a comfortable temperature 90% of the time.
However, if we get a long-lasting, deep cold snap, there simply won’t be enough heat in the air for it to extract, so some sort of backup heat is suggested. Keeping your old system in place as backup could make up the difference for short-term needs.
You may want to have something like a furnace-rated propane or gas fireplace or a pellet stove for those very, very cold days. Regular fireplaces are the last resort — and never heat with a barbecue grill or other non-vented appliance.
Are you eligible for a free one?
After you read this column, consider whether you might be interested in installing a ductless heat pump. It’s a good choice for many different living situations. And it might be a terrific choice for you, especially if you happen to be eligible for a program that installs them at no cost in the homes of people who qualify.
We will give income qualifications in next week’s column. In the meantime, if you have questions don’t hesitate to call or email us.
Dave Murnen and Pat Beaty are construction specialists at NeighborWorks of Grays Harbor County, where Murnen is executive director. This is a nonprofit organization committed to creating safe and affordable housing opportunities for all residents of Grays Harbor County. For questions about the ductless heat pump program or home repair, housing counseling for renters and landlords, home-buyer education and buying, call 360-533-7828, listen to the extension picks that will best help you and leave a callback name and number. Due to Covid-19, our office is not currently open for a visit, but we will call you back.
