Independent Power finished the installation of our cold-climate heat pump on January 6, just about a week before the super cold, sub-zero temperatures hit. We knew it was going to be the first big test of the system, and I'm happy to say that it came through with flying colors! Our house stayed nice and toasty throughout the cold snap. We still have a gas furnace for part of the house, but we didn't even think of firing it up because we never needed it. Really impressed with the system's performance over the cold snap and in its first month of operation!Now a few words about the Company itself. My understanding is that IPS hasn't been doing heat pump installations all that long, but that they hired people with lots of previous heat pump installation experience. It sure seemed that way to me--the crew that installed our system, which was fairly complex, was really professional, highly skilled, and very responsive to my questions and requests. I gotta say, I was impressed with how quickly and efficiently the team worked.As I mentioned, our system is rather complex: part of it (our lower level and upper level) uses existing ductwork, and the other part (living room, kitchen, dining room) uses wall units. Based on my request, they installed the refrigerant lines in such a way that they are completely hidden. Originally the estimator had specified a route for the lines that would have had a lot of the lines outside the house and also would have required them to punch holes in the ceiling every few feet (which we would then need to repair at added cost). They accommodated my request for the alternate route, which made for a more difficult installation, but a much cleaner one.Another thing I'll mention is that the crew was very careful about cleaning up after themselves at the end of every day. They were all very polite and answered a lot of questions that I and my wife had. Definitely high marks for customer support!We needed an electrical upgrade to handle the extra power draw of the heat pump. The electrician came out in advance of the install to scope out the existing panel and plan the work. He told me exactly where he was going to run the lines and the new grounding system that we needed. His work was very clean and exactly as specified. Extra added bonus: now every breaker has a label describing the circuit that it serves! Plus, we now have a lot of extra capacity for any new loads in the future.I will say that there is a small learning curve with heat pumps. The working fluid doesn't get nearly as hot as a gas flame, so the system uses a slower fan speed and less air flow than a gas furnace. That means that it takes these systems longer to come up to a set point than a conventional furnace. So if you use a nighttime setback temperature, you probably don't want to let it drop as far as you did with your furnace because it will take longer to come back up to your desired temp in the morning. Even so, we've found that we can use a nighttime temp of 62 and unless it's brutally cold outside, the house is usually back up to 70 by the time we come downstairs around 7 am. Also, the user guide that comes with the Mitsubishi wall units leaves a lot to be desired. It can take a while to understand how to control the wall units so they perform the way you want, but we got the hang of it in a couple weeks.All in all, I'm a very satisfied customer and would strongly recommend IPS for your heat pump installation!
Response from the owner: Wow, Dan! We are so grateful for this 5-star review. Your level of detailed explanation on how the install went and the performance of your Mitsubishi heat pump system will help people who are considering a heat pump system what to expect from a system and what it's like to work with our team. It's exciting to see the Colorado Community making the switch to energy-efficient heat pumps and we love being a part of the movement.Please let us know if we may be of service for your future electrification/renewable energy projects.
