On March 12, 2012, South Sound Ductless installed a new ductless heat pump for a customer in Olympia, WA (Thurston County). The primary heat source at the time was a fourteen year old forced air electric furnace.  An original heat pump, which was installed at the same time as the furnace, had quit working two years earlier.  Although the furnace kept the home heated, it was expensive to run and blew air out of the ducts at 74 degrees, making the home feel drafty and cold.

The first thing the homeowners noticed was the fact that the house was now warm, comfortable and much quieter (due to the noisy, drafty furnace being shut off).  A month later they decided to wash the filters, as you should each month. Although the filters didn’t look dirty at all, the homeowners were very surprised to see the color change as they washed the filters. They were amazed at all the dust and particulates that washed way. Although these were all great, positive, changes to the comfort of the home and air quality, the best was yet to come.

On May 1st the homeowners received their first power bill from PSE since the installation. By using the PSE web site they were able to analyze their power bill.  According to PSE, the bill should have gone down $33.00 to $55.00 due to warmer weather and $16.00 due to a shorter billing cycle. All things being equal, as a best case, the bill should have dropped $71.00. The bill went down $226. The PSE web site could not account for the $155.00 dollar decrease.  Since the customer had not made any other changes to the house or their lifestyle, the only explanation for the decrease was the ductless heat pump.

As of July 5th, two more months have passed and the homeowners recently received their second power bill since installing the ductless heat pump. Compared to the June 2011 bill, they saved $92. Not as much as the March/April bill, but the weather has been warmer, so the demand for heat is less. What was interesting though is that according to the analyses from the PSE website, the homeowners actually spent more money on hot water then on heat for this billing period. The first time that has ever happened.

Our customer couldn’t be more pleased with the Ductless Heat Pump. For the first time their home isn’t noisy and drafty, and instead is extremely comfortable and quiet. The air that used to be blown through dirty ductwork is now clean and pleasant to breath. And they’ve saved $247 in just three months. When we last spoke with them, the homeowners joked that the next bill may not show as much of a savings, since they are planning to run the air conditioner and live comfortably in the heat of the summer.

To learn more, or if you’re already familiar with Ductless Heat Pumps and are ready to experience your own “case study,” be sure to call South Sound Ductless at 360.529.7567  or feel free to send a note.