If you ask, “Can I install my own heat pump?”, the best response is another question: “Could you install your own central air conditioning system?” And not a window unit: a large central cooling system, with an outdoor cabinet, fixed on a large concrete slab and an indoor air handler and evaporator hooked up to the ventilation system.
Your answer is probably no. Well, a heat pump is almost the same as a central air conditioner. It may be able to change the direction it operates so it can provide heat to a home as well as cooling, but the configuration of parts and how they integrate with the house exterior and interior are identical.
So no, you can’t install your own heat pump.
This Is a Complicated, Time-Consuming Task
We’ll level with you: it isn’t 100% impossible for you to install a heat pump yourself. But we say that you can’t because we don’t want you to risk all that can go wrong, or all the time you’ll waste. To have any hope you’ll do the job right requires putting in an immense amount of research and education. This is the kind of training that technicians go to school for years to learn. Taking the slightest shortcut with the research phase will mean making a mistake like putting in the wrong size heat pump. That’s a mistake you can’t undo unless you have the whole system replaced, starting over from square one.
Let’s say you finish your research (YouTube videos do not count) and think you can get the job done. Now you have to dismantle the current HVAC system to remove the air conditioner and the furnace if this is your first heat pump. A heat pump isn’t something you just plug into an empty slot and you’re done. You have to make numerous wiring connections and attachments to the duct system. Parts of the ducts may need to be replaced. If you have a natural gas furnace, you have the extra concern of safety hazards trying to remove it.
And we haven’t even gotten to handling the refrigerant for the heat pump, which you must put into the unit yourself. It’s not safe handling refrigerant without training, and lack of expertise may lead to either undercharging or overcharging the heat pump—and that means a system break down in the near future.
Do we need to elaborate on how much time this takes? Investing all this effort and time into something that probably won’t work right and will end up costing you more money than if you had called a professional Wesley Chapel, FL, HVAC contractor for the job.
We Want to Help You
We are always honest with our customers. It’s one of the cornerstones of how we operate. We’re aren’t warning you away from a DIY installation because we want to get your business. We know that hiring us for the job is what’s best for you. Calling us is an investment in a better life in your home, and that’s what we deliver.
Experience Comfort! Balanced Air, Inc. can handle your home comfort needs in the Tampa Bay Area.
