HeatPushers/PumpPicker

Heating/Cooling Calculator

Heat pumps are pretty awesome. They're basically air conditioners that can run in either direction, and because they move heat between in and outside instead of just creating it, they can be more than 100% efficient! In many cases, they're in the range of 400% efficient, or even more. You can get more heat in your house using natural gas to generate electricity to run a heat pump than if you burn the gas directly in your house. Crazy!

This tool is for people who are interested in buying a heat pump without going through a contractor, or for any contractors who might find comparisons useful. In many cases, especially with minisplits, it's not too hard to do it yourself, and much cheaper than hiring a professional. But they can be a bit tricky to compare when it comes to efficiency versus cost tradeoffs, which is why I built this tool to help you play around the numbers and figure out what might be right for you.

If you decide to DIY this, though, I'd advise a few things. First, watch a bunch of YouTube DIY videos, but be aware that it's not quite as simple to do a good job of it as they show. If you get one of the MrCool DIY series pumps, you can just use their pre-evacuated linesets, and I've heard that's pretty simple. But if you go with one of the others with normal linesets, you need a vacuum pump, torque wrench, and the other tools they recommend, but you also need a digital micrometer, a flaring tool, and you probably want a coring tool with shutoff valve, and you might want to do a pressure test with nitrogen, which means you probably need a pressure regulator. You probably also want a higher quality vacuum pump than most YouTubers show. Many YouTubers use an analog manifold, but for pulling a deep vacuum and making sure it holds, that's like trying to measure inches with your car's odometer - the level to which you need to measure is invisible on that scale. Instead, you want a digital micrometer. This isn't to scare you off, I did my own this way and it wasn't hard once I figured out what I needed, this is just to make it so you don't get halfway into your project before you realize the real cost of doing this right.

House Details

Latitude
Longitude
F Heating Setpoint
F Cooling Setpoint
F Building Balance Point Offset - This depends on insulation, insolation, and waste heat from other energy use, so probably want to redo, but basically this sets how much colder it can be outside before the building needs any intentional heating
Total Heating Degree Days
Total Cooling Degree Days
Over # days
Square Feet

R- Average Insulation
/kWh
Years Heatpump Operation

Heat Pumps

Heat Pump Options

Name Brand Refrigerant Performance Operation

Debug