DIY Heat Pump System – The 7 Things You Need To Know Before You Buy

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Want to SAVE up to 60% by installing a DIY Heat Pump System?

Before you install a DIY heat pump system – it’s important to understand that every home is different. How you and your family use your space will be unique to you. Before we can guide you through the process of choosing the right system to suit your home and budget –  here’s a list of the seven things you’ll need to consider. 

1. Your climate zone (choosing the right DIY heat pump system for where you live)

Each DIY Heat Pump System has an optimal efficiency range. Cold winters, hot summers, deserts to mountain ranges – where you live and your local climate can make a difference to the type of system that will suit you. Be prepared to let us know the average winter and summer temperatures where you are. Is your priority heat in the winter, cooling in the summer or somewhere in between?

2. The size of each zone in your home   

Each area of your home that you want to heat or cool is a zone. A zone should be a single area without too many obstructions to allow the air to circulate. So if your home has a large open plan kitchen a living area upstairs that could be considered one zone. Add a secondary suite downstairs and you’re up to two zones and so on. Measure the square footage of each zone so we can help you calculate your heating a cooling needs.

3. Total size of all zones (determines the DIY heat pump system size)  

Once you have decided how many zones you have add these measurements together to give the total area you want to heat or cool. This allows us to calculate the size of condenser you need. These units typically range from 12k to 36K BTU’s.

4. Best option based on your current heating system  

Let us know what you currently use for heating and/or cooling. Do you have baseboard heaters or are you replacing a forced air gas furnace? Do you have a secondary heating source like a wood stove? What you have now will help us determine the most efficient and affordable DIY Heat Pump System for your needs. More information about heat pump considerations can also be found here.

5. Outside condenser location (the heart of the DIY heat pump system)

The outside condenser is the part of the system that extracts heat from the air ready to transfer into your home. This needs to be positioned in an area that is sheltered from strong winds, with free access for airflow around the unit, away from fences, wall and hot air vents coming out of the building. You want to consider the optimal distance between the outdoor unit and indoor units (Air handlers) to keep the line set lengths as short as you can.

6. Air handler location(s)  

For Mini-Split air source heat pumps you want to place an air handler in each zone to deliver your heating and cooling. Our air handlers need to be wall-mounted at least 6 feet and 6 inches above the floor. Make sure you choose a location that is not directly above another heat source like an appliance, anywhere exposed to steam like a bathroom or directly above your main seating area (too breezy!). Keep away from tight corners or placement behind grills that might obstruct the airflow. We can help you choose the right location for each zone.

7. Line set lengths 

Line sets contain a liquid that can transport either heating or cooling from the outside of your home to the inside. In order to be as efficient as possible, it’s important to keep the lengths of your line sets as short as you can. For Mini-Split air source heat pumps – Once you know where you want to place your outdoor unit (Condenser) and indoor units (Air Handlers) decide how you are going to run your line sets and measure the length you need to travel between each air handler and the condenser. Avoid too many sharp angles or corners. We can talk you through the options to get this just right!