Heat Pump Coaches at the “General”

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Saturday June 15, 2024

The General Store, Harvard, MA 01451 - 2nd floor
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Are you interested in installing a heat pump for your heating and cooling but don’t know where to start? The Harvard Climate Initiative wants to help. We host meet-ups with volunteer coaches a few times a year. Subscribe to our newsletter for updates.

The coaches are residents of Harvard and have the knowledge and personal experience with air source (mini-split or ducted) systems and ground source (aka geothermal) systems. You will be able to meet with heat pump coaches to:

  • Learn how cost-effective and efficient they are for cooling and heating

  • Determine how they should be sized to meet your needs

  • Learn what financial incentives are currently available

  • Find sellers/installers (list of those used by residents)

  • Evaluate multiple seller/installer quotes

When:  Sat. June 15 @ 1 pm – No registration necessary  

Where:  The General Store, Harvard – 2nd floor

Contact: Ellen Sachs Leicher, esachsleicher@gmail.com 

Quotes from interactions with the heat pump coaches:

“Earlier this year our heating system failed on one of the coldest days!  We met with an amazing heat pump coach who jumped into action, helping us evaluate and understand our situation by analyzing our consumption and energy use and then evaluating our proposals. We were able to get the Mass Save Rebate to cover one third of the cost!”  S 

“We would not be on the cusp of installing the heat pump if it weren’t for the work the Climate Committee is doing. It seemed like a very daunting project. Having a coach gave us the confidence to go ahead with the project. He provided us with some charts that helped us understand how the heat pump would work at various temperatures – this was really helpful. Our coach was very responsive to our emails and we met with him twice via Zoom as we got towards the end of the process.”  K & B 

Quotes about heat pumps from town residents: 

“We replaced our aging oil furnace with a geothermal heat pump system last summer, and it’s kept our 18th century house perfectly comfortable through extraordinarily cold and hot days these last twelve months (even during the -14F, -46F wind chill weekend this past February). The system is extremely quiet and requires little maintenance other than changing air filters every few months.” E 

“Had 2 mini splits installed at the end of August 2022, and so far, I love them. Even produced heat when it was -15 degrees Fahrenheit during that brief but brutal cold snap. I have a backup propane boiler, but haven’t needed it. In the winter you do need to get the snow off the units pretty regularly. They have their own defrost cycle, but when there’s ice build-up efficiency drops. A/C and dehumidifier capabilities are also stellar. And the electric costs were very reasonable.” K