A Field Report From the Heat Pump Front Lines

I went to the US Heat Pump Summit in Worcester, Massachusetts, in November, and was struck by how many people there were working to apply best practices in standard HVAC companies, not just niche shops. Of course, there was plenty of nerdery — the panel I was on discussed past energy use as a sizing method — but much of the discussion was about applying hard-won knowledge in medium to large-sized companies. It was refreshing to my sometimes cynical soul.  

One of these folks is James Wilson of Belton Air Conditioning, north of Austin, Texas. I’ve been trying to get my head around surge protection, and Ty Branaman suggested I chat with James. We met in-person, and he sat down to school me on how voltage changes come from inside and outside the home, the four different places you can place surge protection, and more. I’ll be putting this in my upcoming Common Sense HVAC Guide to help teach homeowners what a good install looks like. It was one of many great conversations I had.  

James continuously strikes me as someone who is pulling hard for operational excellence in his company as he grows it. He has a strong focus on training and using Bluetooth probes, which leads to better installs and fewer callbacks. If you watch his Facebook feed, it’s obvious how hard he works for both his customers and his team.  

Another person I was looking forward to meeting is Chad Simpson of Simpson Salute, south of Cleveland, Ohio. He was on a number of panels and presentations, and is a huge believer in MeasureQuick. He has a remarkably low callback rate, which contributes to good margins and customer satisfaction — especially considering that ~90% of new home HVAC installs have measurable defects.  

Chad is also very generous; he even lets competitors do ride-alongs. He’s an open book on just about anything you can ask him. He’s grown a significant company in a small area and also has a strong focus on training and insisting on excellence across the company. I find it extremely refreshing to see a larger company that isn’t a dumpster fire when you get to see under the hood.  

The third conversation that stood out was with Grant Gunnison of Zero Homes. Grant is a literal rocket scientist (as is Shreyas Sudhakar of Vayu in the Bay Area) and is focused on streamlining the heat pump sales process. I’ve been very skeptical of selling jobs without site visits and of Zero in particular, but he won me over as I tried his tool and spoke with him. Zero can sell nice jobs and then hand them directly to smaller shops that enjoy installing more than selling.  

A key thing that I appreciated is that Grant said they haven’t solved for emergency installs, but that it’s something they really want to figure out. With emergency installs being 80-90% of residential HVAC installs, heat pumps, and best practices in general are not going to happen unless we can address emergencies.  

These are only a small sampling of the dozens of conversations I had over those few days. I finally got to meet Ross Trethewey of This Old House, Paul McHugh of Ray O’Cooke, Mark Wille of Build, Ken Allison of IDI, Hal Smith of Halco, and many more. Plus, I got to see a ton of old friends.  

Overall, I was extremely impressed by the caliber of people at the US Heat Pump Summit, and how smoothly it ran under Brent Davidson. I go to events both to learn and to meet people, and this delivered on both. It was also intimate enough that you could meet just about everyone.  

And best of all, I can see a path with this group of people to where knowledge is applied, so it can be useful. 

If you also love the great comfort and client results that come from heat pumps, and want to see them be an even more popular option, it’s a show worth going to! The show (and myself) will be back in Worcester next year.