Our house was heated by an oil boiler and hot-water baseboards and we did not have central air conditioning. In the hottest summer weeks, we made do with a few window air conditioners and a dehumidifier in the basement, all of which were noisy and inefficient. In Spring 2019, I obtained multiple quotes for various heat pump systems. I decided to go with a Mitsubishi mixed ducted/ductless system installed by Rodenhiser Home Services. Our electricity usage last August when we ran the new heat pump continuously for cooling was identical to the previous year when we only used the window ACs for a few weeks, showing the efficiency of our new system. We used the heat pump for heating throughout the past winter except the coldest days when our system automatically switched to our existing oil system as backup. We used less than 50 gallons of oil for heating in comparison to 750-800 gallons in previous winters. Our extra electricity cost was about the same as we would have spent on fuel oil, but we reduced our greenhouse gas emissions by several metric tons, a substantial reduction. Plus, our house was more comfortable with air continuously circulating and filtered by the heat pump’s indoor units. This was the first winter in memory when my nose didn’t feel dry and stuffy all the time.
