From Solar to Net Zero
These owners already had solar but wanted to get to net zero. Their house had a conventional central furnace, AC, and a gas hot water heater. The family was experiencing extensive comfort issues since the bedrooms over the garage were always too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. Even though the homeowners wanted to get to net zero, timing and budget constraints meant that they preferred to complete the project in phases.
Phase 1: Helio installed a three head mini-split system to their bedrooms with ceiling cassettes and powered it with a single outside condensing unit.
Phase 2: We then removed their central gas powered furnace and replaced it with a Mitsubishi Hyper Heat cold climate heat pump. We added another outside condensing unit to power the central air handler and an additional ceiling cassette in their primary bedroom. We switched out the gas hot water heater for a heat pump hot water heater, and insulated and air sealed the attic and ceiling above the garage to take care of the comfort issues in their upstairs bedrooms.
Phase 3: Finally we installed additional solar to their roof to cover the increased electrical load, and added batteries in their garage for backup.
