Turning Gas Heat and Window ACs into Silent, Year-Round Comfort with a Heat Pump

Turning Gas Heat and Window ACs into Silent, Year-Round Comfort with a Heat Pump

Scott and Jessica chose Forge because the experience felt different from the start. Beyond offering comfort upgrades, our team’s quality standards and in-house training gave them confidence the job would be done right the first time. Here’s what stood out most:

• Radiator Removal & Bathroom Heat — Forge was the only installer who offered to remove radiators and add heat to bathrooms, ensuring ultimate comfort.
  
  
• Quiet Operation — Many homeowners worry about noise when installing new systems. This heat pump, however, operates whisper-quiet, which Scott and Jessica especially appreciate during warmer weather.
  
  
• Personalized Comfort — Mini-splits let each room be set to the perfect temperature, keeping Scott, Jessica, their kids, and their dog, Pepper, comfortable all year long.
  
  
• Cost Balance — While they're paying more now for electricity, their gas bill has gone way down, and they're relieved to no longer face the yearly furnace repair bills that used to eat into their budget.

A Smarter Way to Heat and Cool Your Home

In March 2025, Forge helped Scott and Jessica upgrade their 1915 five-bedroom, three-bathroom home in Newton. They moved from a natural gas boiler with noisy radiators and window AC units to a ductless whole-home heat pump system. Their old setup meant clanging radiators in the winter and the constant hum of window units in the summer — an inconsistent and loud way to stay comfortable in every season. With Forge’s heat pump installation, led by our crew leads Stone and Andrew, Scott, Jessica, and their family now enjoy steady, whisper-quiet comfort in every room.

What made this project unique was Forge’s all-in approach. We added ductless wall and floor units in the main-floor common spaces and in each bedroom, as well as electric baseboards in the bathrooms. We even removed the old radiators to open up space.

We opted for installing the slim electric baseboard strips to  ensure comfort in the bathrooms— a thoughtful solution that no other installer would complete due to the difficulty. While electric baseboard heating isn’t the most efficient way to heat a home, they can be the right tool in the right space. In rooms like bathrooms, where wall space is tight and a ductless heat pump unit can’t be installed, a small electric strip provides just enough warmth to take the chill out of the bathroom air.

While other bids suggested leaving radiators or not heating the bathrooms at all — potentially leaving those spaces uncomfortably cold and vulnerable to frozen pipes — Forge’s design covered the entire home. We combined a ductless heat pump system with carefully placed baseboard strips in the bathrooms, delivering efficiency, comfort, and safety in every room for Scott and Jessica.

The Design Work That Makes Comfort Possible

At Forge, every project begins with best-in-class calculations and design practices. This ensures each system is not only efficient, but also tailored to the unique needs of the home. For Scott and Jessica, that process included three critical steps:

1. Manual J

We ran a Manual J using Conduit, the industry-standard tool for sizing heating and cooling systems. Unlike old-fashioned pen-and-paper methods, Conduit uses detailed home data and real performance assumptions to model exactly how much heating and cooling a house needs. This step is essential: an oversized system wastes energy and creates comfort issues, while an undersized system leaves rooms too hot or too cold. A Manual J should never be skipped—it’s the foundation of a properly designed heat pump system.

2. Electrical Load Calculation

Next, we ran an electrical load calculation using Kopperfield, a tool that models how much power a home’s panel can safely handle. The calculation adds up the demand from all major appliances and compares it to the panel’s capacity in amps. In this case, Scott and Jessica’s 200-amp panel had more than enough capacity for their new heat pump—no upgrades required.

If the calculation had shown the panel was at its limit, we would have walked them through several solutions, such as a panel or service upgrade, adding a subpanel, installing a SPAN smart panel, or using a SimpleSwitch to manage electrical load more efficiently. Running this calculation up front ensures there are no surprises and that every system we install is safe and reliable.

3. System Design & Layout

With the load calculations complete, we turned to the Mitsubishi Diamond System Builder to map out the right mix of ductless equipment for the home. This design step determines the ideal placement of indoor and outdoor units to balance comfort, efficiency, and aesthetics. By investing time in thoughtful planning before installation, we gave Scott and Jessica peace of mind that their system would perform efficiently year-round—even through the harshest New England winters.

A Refreshing Change for Every Season

Before the switch, the homeowners relied on clunky window AC units. This summer, though, they’ve been delighted by how quietly their new heat pump keeps the whole home cool. “We barely know it’s running,” Scott shared.

The wall hanging mini-splits and floor units have also solved a long-standing comfort issue in the winter: Jessica, who often felt cold, can now adjust the temperature in each room independently. With their old setup — radiators powered by a single thermostat in the winter — the whole house was locked into one setting. Now, every indoor unit has its own thermostat and remote control, so she can warm up the spaces she spends time in without overheating the rest of the house.

Skilled Installation by the Next Generation

The installation was led by Stone and Andrew, two of our crew leads who started as apprentices in Forge’s heat pump job training program. Having grown their skills with us from the ground up, they bring both technical expertise and a deep understanding of Forge’s approach to quality. As a teacher, Jessica enjoyed seeing the next generation of heat pump experts taking charge of such a complex project. What impressed her most wasn’t just their enthusiasm, but the confidence and skill they brought to the job — the result of Forge’s hands-on heat pump training program.

Heat pump installers at Forge start with foundational training at our workshop, where they learn everything from safely handling ladders and equipment to setting up mini-splits, condensers, and line hides. Once they’ve completed this workshop training, they head into the field as apprentices, doing hands-on installs under experienced crew leads until they have enough experience to become crew leads themselves.

We hold regular evaluations for every member of our heat pump team. These check-ins aren’t just about tracking progress — they’re a core part of how we make sure every installer is growing their skills and consistently meeting the Forge standard. It’s our way of reinforcing training, catching gaps early, and ensuring that every crew member delivers the same level of quality our customers expect.

Stone and Andrew’s thoughtful, methodical approach — explaining steps as they worked, double-checking fit and alignment, and staying communicative — made Scott and Jessica feel genuinely looked after. It’s proof that at Forge, youth and expertise truly go hand in hand. 

Thorough Walkthrough and Quality Check

After completing the installation, Stone and Andrew spent time walking the homeowners through the system. They explained how to use the mini-splits in each room and adjust settings for comfort.

Before leaving, they also performed a commissioning check focused on the mini-splits, using advanced diagnostic tools like Fieldpiece. This step goes far beyond a visual inspection: it verifies that each indoor unit is delivering the right airflow, that refrigerant levels are balanced across the linesets, that electrical connections to the heads are sound, and that sensors are calibrated for accurate temperature control. By running live performance data with Fieldpiece equipment, our team can confirm that every mini-split is operating exactly as designed — ensuring quiet, efficient comfort in each space and giving homeowners peace of mind from day one

This summer, when Forge performed our quality check, Mike, our Service Team Lead, provided an even more detailed run-through of the system. He confirmed that everything was operating at peak performance and answered additional questions on the spot.

At Forge, we build QA checks into selective projects because even the best installations benefit from a second set of eyes. Systems settle in once they’ve been running for a season, and our follow-up visit lets us catch small adjustments early, make sure performance is on track, and give homeowners another opportunity to ask questions. For Scott and Jessica, that two-step process meant peace of mind: their system wasn’t just installed with care — it was double-checked for lasting comfort and reliability.

Looking Ahead

This March installation shows how heat pumps can be more than a heating upgrade — they can replace whole systems, cut clutter, and deliver comfort without noise. If you're curious whether a similar transformation could work in your home, let’s talk.