“They sat at my kitchen table and went through the load calculation before they quoted anything. I kept the oil boiler for the first winter, then shut it off.”
Roxanne D.Homeowner, Deering
Cold-climate heat pumps · Portland, Maine
A heat pump that keeps the house warm in a Maine January.
We replace oil and propane heat with cold-climate heat pumps, sized to your house from a load calculation. As a registered Efficiency Maine vendor, we also handle the rebate paperwork.
- Registered Efficiency Maine vendor
- Load calculation before the quote
- Your boiler stays until you decide
Rebates
Efficiency Maine runs the rebate. We do the paperwork.
Efficiency Maine is the state's efficiency program, and it rebates qualifying heat pump installs. We are one of its registered vendors, so we check what your house qualifies for and file the paperwork with you.
How the rebate is set
Two indoor units: the rebate rises with household income, in steps the program publishes.
Your quote shows the rebate as its own line, with the program's name beside it.
Amounts and rules change. The program's page has the current ones, and we confirm yours in writing before you sign.
What we install
Three ways to leave oil and propane behind.
Every job starts with the same visit and the same load calculation. What changes is how much of the house the heat pump serves.
A wall-mounted indoor unit, a small outdoor unit and a thin line set between them. Good for an addition, a floor, or a house that never had ducts.
Ducted or multi-zone equipment that heats and cools every room from one or two outdoor units, built around your load calculation.
Keep the boiler as backup for a season, or retire it. We lay out both paths, and what each means for the tank.
Winter
What a heat pump does at five degrees.
A heat pump moves heat instead of making it. Air at five degrees still holds heat, and a cold-climate model is built to draw it in and carry it indoors.
What changes in the cold is how much it can move. The colder the day, the less the outdoor unit delivers, so the size of the system matters more than the name on the box. We calculate your house's heat loss room by room, then choose equipment whose published output at your coldest design temperature covers it.
That number goes on the quote, so you can read what the system is expected to do on the worst night of the year before you decide.
Side by side
A heat pump and a boiler, day to day.
Neither is wrong for every house. Here is what changes for the people living in it.
| Oil or propane boiler | Heat pump | |
|---|---|---|
| How it heats | Oil or propane boilerBurns fuel in a boiler or furnace | Heat pumpMoves heat from outdoor air into the house |
| What you buy | Oil or propane boilerOil or propane, delivered | Heat pumpElectricity |
| Summer | Oil or propane boilerNeeds separate air conditioning | Heat pumpCools the house with the same equipment |
| In a power outage | Oil or propane boilerMost burners stop too; they need power to run | Heat pumpStops, unless you add a generator or battery |
| Yearly service | Oil or propane boilerBurner cleaned, tank and flue checked | Heat pumpFilters and coils cleaned, outdoor unit checked |
| Backup heat | Oil or propane boilerThe boiler is the only heat | Heat pumpYour existing boiler can stay in place |
The job
From the first visit to the first warm morning.
- 01
Step 1: A home visit
We walk the house, look at the boiler room and the electrical panel, and ask which rooms stay cold.
- 02
Step 2: A load calculation
Heat loss, room by room, from your walls, windows and insulation. It decides the size of the system.
- 03
Step 3: A written quote
The equipment model, the electrical work, the permits and the rebate each get their own line.
- 04
Step 4: The install
Indoor units, outdoor unit, line sets, wiring and condensate, with the old system left alone unless you ask.
- 05
Step 5: Commissioning
We start the system, check the refrigerant charge and airflow, and show you the controls.
- 06
Step 6: The rebate filing
We submit the Efficiency Maine paperwork and tell you when it has gone in.
Customers
What homeowners wrote after the first winter.
“The quote showed the rebate as its own line with the program's name next to it. When the paperwork came back, nothing was a surprise.”
Wesley G.Homeowner, Cumberland
“A house with no ducts, two indoor units. They told us up front where the line sets and wires would run, and they did.”
Leigh P.Homeowner, South Portland
Sample reviews.
Towns we serve
Greater Portland and the towns around Casco Bay.
We install and service heat pumps in these towns. If yours is not listed, call and we will tell you straight.
Cumberland County
- Portland
- South Portland
- Cape Elizabeth
- Scarborough
- Falmouth
- Cumberland
- Yarmouth
- Freeport
- Westbrook
- Gorham
- Windham
- Gray
York County
- Saco
- Old Orchard Beach
We do not work on the Casco Bay islands or north of Brunswick.
ZIP codes: 04101, 04102, 04103, 04105, 04106, 04107, 04074, 04110
Questions we hear before the first visit.
Do heat pumps work through a Maine winter?
Cold-climate models do. They are built to keep heating well below freezing, and Efficiency Maine says many perform down to -22 degrees F. What matters for your house is the equipment's published output at your coldest design temperature, so we size from that number and not from the model's name.
What happens on the coldest nights?
The outdoor unit delivers less heat as the air gets colder. A system sized from a load calculation covers the house on the design day. If you keep your boiler or furnace as backup, it takes over only if the heat pump falls behind, and we set the thermostats so you can see which one is running.
Will I still need my boiler or furnace?
Not always. Some homeowners keep it for the first winter, or for one wing the heat pump does not reach, and some retire it after the first season. We tell you which fits your house at the visit, and we do not remove anything you want to keep.
What size system do I need?
The one your load calculation says, not the biggest one that fits. We measure the house, note the insulation and windows, and calculate heat loss room by room. Oversized equipment cycles on and off, and an undersized system leans on the backup.
What rebates are there?
Efficiency Maine runs the state's heat pump rebates, and the amount depends on the system and on household income. We are a registered vendor, so we check what applies at the visit and show the rebate as its own line on the quote. Rules change, so the program's page is the final word.
My carbon monoxide alarm is going off. What do I do?
Get everyone outside into fresh air and call 911 or the fire department from outside. Do not go back in to find the cause. Once the house is cleared, call us if the alarm came from your oil or propane equipment. A heat pump makes no carbon monoxide, but a boiler or furnace that stays as backup can.
Home visit
Tell us about your house.
A few details are enough to book a home visit. We answer on the next business day.
Phone(207) 555-0102
Hours
- Monday – FridayToday
- 7 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
- Saturday – SundayToday
- Closed