We hear it all the time: “heat pumps don’t work in the winter.” To that we say: “No, heat pumps used to not work very well in the winter.” Heat pump technology has come a LONG way in the past decade, rendering this belief no more than a myth.
Continue reading “Heat Pumps Held Their Own During Arctic Blast in Colorado”
Project: HVAC Repair – Home sealing and heat pump water heater
Customer: Alex Roetter
Home: Single family foursquare home, built 1908
Alex Roetter was immediately drawn in by the character of the 1908 foursquare home he and his family bought in 2018.
But a home that’s over 100 years old comes with a long list of needed repairs and improvements
For the past few years, Alex has overseen major renovations to modernize the home.
He’s attempted to improve the energy efficiency with each new HVAC repair project and even put solar panels on the roof.
“They’re not specifically energy efficiency projects, but when I do work, I improve insulation,” Alex said. “Every time I do something, I try to make it better from that point of view.”
This past year, Alex started focusing even more on reducing his home’s carbon footprint.
“It’s becoming more and more urgent,” he said.
He had two different issues he wanted to solve. One was the huge amount of energy it took to heat and cool his home. The other was his inefficient gas water heater.
“I just want to burn less gas and my water heater burns gas,” he said.
“My house is old and not well insulated so in the winter the only room I’m able to effectively heat is the mechanical room because the gas water heater is so inefficient it just warms the space.”
“I just don’t want a crazy inefficient thing burning gas.”
After years of working with HVAC repair general contractors who could be hard to communicate with, he wanted a more streamlined experience this time around.
Alex heard about Elephant Energy through his local startup networks and decided to try working with a dedicated energy efficiency contractor.
“Their whole mission is the thing I’m trying to do,” he said. “Reduce residential carbon emissions.”
After an energy efficiency assessment, Alex received guidance from Elephant Energy on what would be the most effective steps forward.
“They came over, they looked through the house, they talked through things they could do,” he said.
“They also reviewed an energy efficiency report that I’d had done and we talked through what was economically feasible and what wasn’t.”
Alex received a plan for two improvements that would meet his goals and fit his budget: a home sealing project that would eliminate air leaks and improve his insulation and a heat pump water heater to replace the gas one.
Alex said it was a much smoother and efficient experience working with Elephant Energy instead of a general contractor.
“They’re smart and modern and responsive and know their stuff,” he said.
“General contractors, there are some amazing ones, but in general it’s a pretty old-fashioned industry,” he said.
“It’s way better just to deal with DR and a modern startup instead of chasing GCs around. So that made me happy.”
The heat pump water heater was only installed a month ago, so Alex is still waiting on the first energy bills to see the impact of the switch.
But the evidence that things have improved is already clear.
“The mechanical room is not hot anymore, which is good because that was all a complete waste of gas to heat a room that I don’t live in,” Alex said.
“And the water heater works great.”
The total cost for Alex’s water heater HVAC repair was around $5,000 and he received $1,200 in rebates. The sealing and insulation project was $1,000.
As he moves onto the next big upgrades, like a new HVAC, he would definitely work with Elephant Energy again.
“I like that you’re dealing with a modern, responsive, customer-focused company,” he said. “They’re clear on what they can do for you and then they make it all happen.”
“You have a single point of contact and you don’t have to worry.”
“They even do things like apply for the rebates for you and preemptively take that amount off your bill so then you’re not chasing down the utility company to see if they ever sent you a rebate.”
To learn more about our customer-focused approach to energy efficiency upgrades and how a heat pump water heater can reduce your home’s carbon footprint, read about our solutions or get in touch.
Project: Induction cooking – cooktop installation
Customer: Sam Harrington and Beverly Bendix
Home: Condo, built in 2004
The home Sam Harrington and his wife Beverly Bendix bought in November 2021 was a natural fit.
Sam is Director of Sustainable Packaging at Danone and Bev works for the Rocky Mountain Institute doing clean energy consulting. Both spend their days thinking about climate change, so cutting their carbon footprint at home was important.
The community they found had been built with sustainability in mind and their condo had already been updated with several energy saving details like ductless mini-splits, for home heating and cooling, and rooftop solar panels.
Soon after buying, they sought to rid the place of its last remaining natural gas appliance: the gas cooktop.
Sam had read all of the research about air quality and natural gas. Cooking with gas stoves causes repeated spikes of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in the air, which can lead to asthma and other respiratory illnesses in children.
Especially with a toddler son at home, they were ready to get rid of the old cooktop.
“We went onto Facebook Marketplace and bought a used induction cooktop for $800,” Sam said.
The trouble came after buying it. It turns out their home’s wiring didn’t have the amperage to support it along with their other electric appliances.
They hired a couple of different electricians who told them it would cost around $20,000 to increase the electricity capacity of their home and install the cooktop.
“We definitely can’t spend $800 on an appliance and then $20,000 to install it,” Sam said. “So we weren’t accepting the answers from the electricians that we got and kept looking for solutions that might be more creative than just going from 100 amp to 200 amp service.”
Sam had done some research and found out about the Simple Switch, which allows you to expand your home power by toggling two large appliances on the same circuit. If one appliance is running when you turn on the other one, the first will shut off.
When Sam took it to the electricians who’d given him the quotes and asked about it, they said they didn’t have any experience with it or didn’t know whether they could make it work.
Luckily, his wife Bev had heard about Elephant Energy through her work.
Sam said, “When I took it to Elephant Energy, they said, ‘We’d be happy to figure that out and make it work. And if there are any alternative ways to do that, we’ll speak up on that, too.’”
The electricians had given him a list of other contractors he’d have to hire after they did the electrical install: a drywall person to fix holes in the walls and ceiling and a plumber to disconnect the old gas stove.
“Elephant Energy coordinated all of that,” he said.
“They had a plumber come out and properly disconnect the old gas cooktop and remove it for us. A couple different electricians came. It required cutting holes in the ceiling and walls to run wires and then they had a handyman come out and put it back together again.”
“And now you can’t see where they opened it up,” he said. “Really complete work.”
The full cost of the installation including the used cooktop and the Simple Switch was $3,250, a fraction of what others quoted.
Their induction cooking cooktop works perfectly. It boils water super fast and, because it’s a sheet of glass, it’s quick to clean compared to the nooks and crannies of a gas stove.
But the best benefit is the improved air quality in their home.
“Shortly before we got this installed, I got this air filter system that is probably 10 feet away in the living room,” Sam said. “Even with the vent hood on, it would come on most of the time when we were cooking with natural gas.”
“It detects the air pollution in the room, so you’d hear the fan start to speed up and go on high power mode. That rarely happens with the induction.”
The induction cooking cooktop is a lot safer for their son. The sheet of glass doesn’t get hot and doesn’t pose the same burn risk as natural gas flame.
“The only downside to the system we put in is if we’re drying clothes and we try to cook on the cooktop, the dryer turns off,” he said. “I don’t think that’s actually happened since we installed it.”
“It’s more of a theoretical inconvenience.”To learn more about how we can improve your indoor air quality with induction cooking or help you move away from natural gas appliances, read about our solutions or get in touch.
Project: Heat pump water heater
Customer: E.J. Klock-McCook
Home: Townhome, built 1978
E.J. Klock-McCook is no stranger to energy efficiency projects.
He leads the transportation electrification division at the Rocky Mountain Institute and has spent the last six years going through a checklist of energy efficiency upgrades on the townhome he bought with his wife.
“When we bought the house we did a top to bottom renovation,” E.J. said. “That included switching from electric resistance heat to air source heat pumps. Insulation and air seal in the attic and LED everything down to the lights in the microwave.”
They also installed new windows and switched to an induction range.
“The water heater was the last significant thing that could be done,” he said.
With his connections and knowledge, E.J. was able to find great contractors for his previous projects.
But when it came time to get rid of his old water heater, things got more complicated.
“There was a real question about whether the room was big enough without ducting it,” he said. “And how cold would it make it and would it be shutting off?”
He started talking to contractors a year ago and received unsatisfactory results. But this year, the old water heater was officially past its life and it was time to make it happen.
E.J. heard about Elephant Energy in a heat pump forum he participated in at work and decided to reach out for help.
“They were super responsive and knowledgeable and they came over and did a thorough evaluation of the house and we talked through a lot of things,” he said.
But the quote was higher than E.J. wanted so he called some other contractors to compare his options.
One didn’t understand how a heat pump water heater worked, while another was familiar with them, but didn’t think it would work in the smaller room.
“He was like, ‘this room is too small and you’re going to have to put a louvered door on here and you’re going to have to sign this waiver about the noise it creates and it’s going to switch out of heat pump mode all the time,’” he said.
“That technical issue was not cut and dry because that room, the volume of it is on the line of what the manufacturer says is the limit.”
After asking friends at work for advice, he went back to Elephant Energy.
After another conversation with Elephant Energy, E.J. received a plan that put his worries to rest.
“They basically said, we think it’s gonna work, but here’s the plan if it doesn’t,” he said.
Doing the project during a cold weather month would allow them to immediately see if the unit would make the room too cold. If it turned out to be a problem, there were steps to address it.
“That really helped,” he said. “And we negotiated down to a good price.”
“Then from there, the whole actual experience of what they did here was fantastic.”
One of E.J.’s concerns was that the only way to get down to the mechanical room was a very expensive flight of stairs they’d had installed during their renovations. He expressed his worry that carrying a big water heater and tools down the stairs could damage it.
“And they’re like, ‘we’ve totally got it’,” he said. “‘We told the contractor up front and we’ll be on top of it during the day’ and they were.”
“There was no issue with that whatsoever. They got an extra guy to help bring it down without ever having to set it down on the wooden steps.”
There were also additional touches that went above and beyond what he’d expected.
“The plumber they used did a fantastic job and you can tell just by looking at the work,” he said. “He did a beautiful job and added some details that weren’t in the scope of work that will make it more user serviceable down the road.”
“It was definitely one of the best contractor experiences I’ve ever had and I’ve had plenty,” he said.
Two months after the heat pump water heater was installed, E.J. is happy with the results.
“You shouldn’t have to think about a water heater much and that’s certainly the case,” he said. “It outputs plenty of hot water.”
His biggest concerns about how the unit would perform in the small room have been relieved, too.
“The whole concern about the room getting too cold turned out to be a total non-issue,” he said.
“It was pretty cold when they installed it. The baseline temperature in that room is about 58 degrees and the lowest I ever saw it was 50, which is still 5 degrees above the cut off for the unit.”
E.J. has already seen a significant drop in their energy use compared to last year at the same time, but it will take a few months to accurately see the effects.
“In the winter, the heat pump’s working really hard, but now that we’re into the mild months where it’s not doing anything on heating or cooling, then the water heater is the biggest load and it should become apparent,” he said.
The total cost for the heat pump water heater project was $5.126, which included the water heater, an electrical disconnect, and a thermal expansion tank to bring it up to code. The rebates came to $1,450.
Elephant Energy handled all of the paperwork for the rebates and made the whole process much easier than his previous renovations.
“They know what they’re talking about which is really critical,” he said. “They made the whole thing super easy from being really responsive with all the questions up front to the actual delivery of the project itself to the rebates.”
To learn more about heat pump water heaters and how we can help you tackle even more complex energy efficiency upgrades, read about our solutions or get in touch.