Ready for an HVAC upgrade? Then you're ready for a heat pump.

Forge HVAC technicians installing a heat pump in Wayland, Massachusetts
01

Is a heat pump right for your home?

Whether or not a heat pump is right for your home depends a lot on your current heating and cooling system and what’s important to you. So let’s figure it out. If you want to:

Lower your climate impact

A heat pump is right for you regardless of your current HVAC system. Once they’re widely adopted, heat pumps will be our #1 weapon in the fight against climate change — they use less energy than fossil fuel-based systems and have the potential to be powered by renewable energy sources.

Save money on your utility bills

A heat pump is the best choice if your current HVAC system is fueled by oil or electrical resistance (electric baseboard heat, for example). If you have natural gas, then a heat pump won’t save you money so long as the cost of natural gas is lower than the cost of electricity. But regardless of what kind of system you have, a heat pump is a no-brainer if you have solar panels: Your panels will power your heat pump, and that means a very low (or even nonexistent!) heating/cooling bill.

Replace an aging HVAC system

A heat pump is almost always the best choice if your current system is broken, on its last legs, or is 10–15+ years old. Thanks to the $10,000 Mass Save rebate, upgrading your system is often more cost-effective than continuing to repair an older system.

Get year-round comfort

A heat pump is a great choice if you’re ready to swap your window ACs for central air. You can either upgrade your entire heating and cooling system or keep your current heating system and add cooling with a heat pump. We’ll help you figure out what’s right for your home.

Improve your indoor air quality

A heat pump results in healthier air than gas- or oil-run systems for a number of reasons: You’re not burning fossil fuels and polluting your air with combustion byproducts; the filters remove dust, pollen, smoke, and other impurities; and you can even find models that let you control humidity levels.

02

What to look for in a heat pump installer.

Heat pumps need to be properly installed to operate at maximum efficiency. Designing and installing heat pump systems is all we do at Forge. Put our experience to work for you.

Quality

Quality system design and installation is crucial for the health of your home. We’re heat pump experts because they are our sole focus. We’ve designed and installed every kind of system, and every member of our team is trained in house, so we know how skilled and capable they are.

Value

Forge delivers value for your money: All of our HVAC techs and electricians are employed by Forge, which means we don’t have to subcontract out (and mark up) any part of the job.

Customer experience 

If you’ve had major work done on any of your home’s systems, you know how stressful it can be. Well, not with Forge. We’ll answer all your questions, handle all the scheduling, deal with the permits and Mass Save, and keep you in the loop at all times.

Forge HVAC technician adjusting a heat pump thermostat in a home
03

How to pick the right system for your house.

Whether you have a single room you want to make more comfortable or a large house with legacy HVAC systems you’d like to upgrade, we’ll design the ideal heat pump setup for your home. There are a few different kinds.

Ducted

If your home is heated by an oil- or gas-powered furnace that blows warm air out of vents around your house, then you have what’s called ductwork. And if you have ductwork, then a ducted heat pump system is probably best for your home. In these systems, an air handler takes the heated or cooled air from the heat pump and blows it into the ducts and, ultimately, your rooms. (If you’re not sure and your basement is unfinished, then go down there and look up — if you see box-shaped metal tubes that attach to your furnace, then you have ductwork.)

Forge HVAC technician installing custom ductwork for a heat pump

Ductless

If you don’t have existing ductwork or your ducts are in rough shape, no problem. Some of the most popular heat pumps are ductless systems called mini-splits. This is a great option for multi-family houses, smaller houses, older houses, and those who want to add air conditioning to their existing heating system. They’re also a great option if you have an oil boiler that heats your home via baseboards.

Forge HVAC technician hanging a mini-split in a Massachusetts home

Hybrid

Sometimes the best system for a homeowner combines ducted and ductless heat pumps in a hybrid approach. Thanks to the flexible modularity of these fantastic machines, if that’s what would work best for your home and your needs, that’s what Forge will deliver.

Forge HVAC technician adjusting a thermostat as part of a heat pump installation
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Understand the installation process

When you work with Forge, we do all the work – from educating you on the options for your home to securing the permits to the final heat pump installation. Our extensive and unrivaled experience enables us to work quickly and diligently so you can start enjoying your new HVAC system ASAP.

Our pro team

Dave
Dave
HVAC Supervisor
Pete
Pete
Electrical Supervisor
Eric
Eric
HVAC Crew Lead
Cayden
Cayden
HVAC Crew Lead
Dylan
Dylan
Electrical Crew Lead
Mike
Mike
HVAC Crew Lead
Stone
Stone
HVAC Crew Lead

Our Massachusetts service area

We currently serve Greater Boston and the surrounding areas.
a map of the Metrowest towns we serve
Acton | Ashland | Bellingham | Berlin | Bolton | Boxborough | Grafton | Foxborough | Framingham | Franklin | Harvard | Holliston | Hopedale | Hopkinton | Hudson | Littleton | Marlborough | Maynard | Medfield | Medway | Milford | Millis | Natick | Newton | Norfolk | Northborough | Sherborn | Shrewsbury | Southborough | Stow | Sudbury | Upton | Wayland | Westborough | Westford | Wrentham

Don’t see your town listed? No worries — just get in touch with us using the form below for the very latest news on our ever-expanding service area.

Forge HVAC heat pump in Wayland, Massachusetts

Here’s what our customers say about Forge.

“Amazing customer service, super kind and helpful staff. Very detailed. And best price around. Can't ask for anything better with the system they installed.”
Eric H.
“All members of the team were professional, courteous, extremely nice and worked incredibly hard to finish the project despite the difficulties encountered with our older house. We highly recommend Forge based on a wonderful experience with them!”
Peter K.
“We worked with Forge to install heat pumps and a new water heater and remove our existing oil-based heating system. The team worked with us every step of the way... We would happily work with Forge again and recommend them highly.”
Madeline B.

Frequently asked questions. And answers.

Are Forge’s HVAC techs and other pros licensed?

Absolutely and extensively. Every Forge electrician and HVAC technician is fully licensed, insured, and lead compliant. 

Our licenses include: 

  • Mass. Lead Safe Renovation Contractor License
  • Mass. Lead Safe Renovator Supervisor Certificate
  • EPA Lead Firm Certified
  • Freon Recovery License (#BSST101950611) 
  • HIC (#205113)
  • Electrical (#51711E)
  • Master Sheet Metal License (#6978)
  • Oil Burner License (#BU-059796)
How do you get a heat pump installed?

A good installation is the key to heat pump happiness. Yes, you need the right equipment for the right house and the right climate. But a bad installation of even the best equipment can lead to suboptimal efficiency, poor performance in cold weather, and reliability problems down the line.

When you first contact an HVAC contractor, they might be able to give you a general idea of what a heat pump installation could cost without visiting your home, if you can provide accurate details. But this is uncommon, and most contractors will need to visit your home. Here’s how it works at Forge:

  • Give us a call or complete the form on our website to schedule an appointment for one of our home energy advisors to visit your home.
  • At that visit, you’ll do a walkthrough of your property with the home energy advisor. 
  • They’ll want to see your existing heating system and any ducts you have in place. 
  • They’ll also look for places to fit your new equipment: the outdoor unit, the indoor air handlers, and the lines connecting everything. 
  • They’ll inspect your electrical panel to make sure it can support a heat pump. (You may need some kind of electrical upgrade.)
  • They’ll take some measurements along the way using an iPad — room sizes, duct sizes, number of rooms, etc. — to do what’s called a Manual J calculation and determine what size heat pump your home needs.
  • After that, we will recommend the best system for your home and work with you to determine if you want to move forward with your project.
  • If you do, we’ll get your project on the schedule and install your new heat pump.
  • Afterwards, we’ll handle your Mass Save rebate application so you don’t have to worry about it.
What are the best heat pumps?

You’ll find at least a handful of models that will work well in your home and meet your heating and cooling needs. 

But even if you identify what you think is the perfect heat pump, it might not be available when you want to install it. Or it might not be eligible for some rebate that you want. Or the installer offers an equally good option for a much better price. Or they might prefer to work with a different brand and will offer a better warranty for that equipment. It’s much more important to have a great installer and a well-designed HVAC system than to have a particular brand or model of heat pump. If you keep up with basic maintenance, there are usually any number of heat pumps that will serve you well for many years.

What’s a mini-split? And are there different types of heat pumps?

There sure are. Let’s go over some definitions.

Ducted / ductless

This tells you how a heat pump delivers warmed or cooled air throughout your home. They use the same underlying technology to produce warmth or cooling, but they deliver it differently. 

Ducted systems connect to ductwork through an air handler that usually has a large fan.

But in a ductless system, you’ll usually have one air handler (or “head”) per room, attached to the wall or ceiling and connected to an outdoor unit by a long tube running through a 3-inch hole in the wall.

Mini-split 

This is another name for a high-performance air-source heat pump that’s more efficient, more flexible, and more comfortable than duct-only systems. 

Many people use “mini-split” and “ductless” interchangeably, though that’s not exactly right: ductless heat pumps are nearly always mini-splits. But mini-splits aren’t always ductless; a lot of brands sell ducted systems that they call mini-splits.

Air source / ground source / geothermal / water source 

This tells you where the heat pump gets heat from (or where it returns it to). Air-source heat pumps are by far the most common type in the U.S. They look (and, for the most part, work) like central AC units. When people talk about heat pumps, they’re almost always talking about air-source heat pumps.

Ground-source heat pumps, sometimes called geothermal heat pumps, rely on hundreds of feet of tubing buried in your yard (instead of one midsize box installed next to your house) to transfer heat from sources far underground.

Water-source heat pumps work like ground-source systems, except the heat-exchanging tube sits in a body of water, usually a pond or lake. 

Air to air / air to water

These are different kinds of air-source heat pumps. Air-to-air systems distribute heating and cooling into your home through a forced-air system that can be either ducted or ductless. Air-to-air heat pumps replace a furnace and central AC.

Air-to-water systems replace a boiler by distributing heat through hot-water radiators. (Cooling is more complicated.) Air-to-water is typical in Europe, and while they’re uncommon in the US, they’re available if you search hard enough.

Single-zone / multi-zone

These terms describe the number of air handlers or ductless heads connected to one outdoor unit. If it’s a simple one-head / one-compressor configuration, that’s a single-zone system. 

If multiple air handlers are connected to a single outdoor compressor, that’s a multi-zone system (also known as a multi-split). Single-zone systems are more efficient, but if you need to heat or cool multiple rooms and don’t have ducts, it’s usually more practical to install a ductless multi-zone system. Most multi-zone heat pumps can connect to up to five heads, though having a maximum of three heads per outdoor unit may be the most efficient setup.

Why are heat pumps more comfortable?

An inverter, or variable speed, heat pump should take your heating and cooling system to the next level. Here’s why:

  • Inverter heat pumps can keep temperatures and humidity levels steady. Usually, HVAC systems are either fully on or completely off, but inverter heat pumps constantly adjust to maintain the precise temperature they are set at.
  • Low fan speeds and an emphasis on quiet design mean they are quieter than most other HVAC systems, especially window AC units.
  • You don’t have to turn your thermostat down at night to save energy. High-performance heat pumps work most efficiently when you leave the thermostat alone.
  • HVAC systems of all kinds that constantly move air through a properly maintained filter remove a lot of dust and particulates from indoor air while keeping humidity levels steady. 
  • When heat pumps don’t result in greater comfort, it’s not the heat pump, but the way it was designed or installed — or some other factor, like having the right kind and amount of insulation — that’s the culprit.
What rebates and incentives are there to install a heat pump?

If you install a high-efficiency heat pump in Massachusetts, you can get up to $16,000 back in rebates — plus, an additional $2,000 in federal tax credits. Rebates are based on whether your heat pump system will be serving the whole-home or partial-home and whether you are eligible for the enhanced incentive based on your income.

Whole-home rebates are available to customers who install heat pumps as their sole source of heating and cooling. This rebate is $10,000 per home.

Partial-home rebates are offered based on equipment size (tonnage) to customers who plan to keep an existing boiler or furnace in place to supplement a new heat pump system. This rebate is $1,250 per ton up to $10,000.

If you qualify for the income-based enhanced incentive, you could get a rebate of up to $16,000.

For more information about rebates and incentives, visit the Mass Save website.

Who saves money with a heat pump?

According to recent studies, anywhere between a third and half of US households will find it costs less to operate a heat pump than other comparable HVAC systems. Will yours be one of them? That depends on a number of factors, including your home, your daily climate, local energy prices, what kind of heating fuel you’re replacing, and your contractor.
There’s no simple answer to who will save money by getting a heat pump, but here are a couple of things to keep in mind:

  • Heat pumps compare extra favorably to propane, electricity (i.e., electric baseboard heat), and heating oil. Virtually any properly installed heat pump should cost less to run in winter than systems that run on these pricey fuels, although the heat pump might cost more to install to begin with.
  • Mini-split units usually cost less for central cooling. Installing ductwork can be very expensive if your home doesn’t have it already, and then there’s the added cost of a ducted heat pump. Ductless mini-splits are usually easier and cheaper to retrofit.
  • If you also go solar, heat pumps can save even more money — a home solar system that produces enough electricity to offset your heat pump’s energy use can have total costs that are very low indeed.
  • In cold climates, heat pumps may not cost less than heating with natural gas as long as natural gas prices are lower than electricity prices, so a hybrid or dual-fuel system could be the most economical choice. And of course, weatherizing your home can help you save no matter what kind of HVAC system you have.
  • And this all assumes your heat pump was installed properly. That’s a major reason to go with an experienced installer like Forge.
Why is everyone talking about heat pumps? Here's what you need to know.

Heat pumps can have an enormous impact on reducing our carbon emissions, so the federal government and several states (with Massachusetts leading the charge) now offer huge incentives for installing them. That’s the main reason interest in heat pumps has reached an all-time high in the US. Here are a few more:

  • Heat pumps both heat and cool your home, usually using a lot less energy than inefficient old air conditioners, boilers, furnaces, and electric heaters.
  • They’re incredibly versatile and can heat and cool your entire house, a single room, or anything in between. They can work with ducts, without ducts, and sometimes even with hot-water radiators.
  • They can be installed just about anywhere — virtually any single-family house and many townhouses, condos, and apartments.
  • A heat pump can be used with or without a backup system. The best choice for you will depend on your home and the cost of energy where you live.
  • Compared to other HVAC systems, heat pumps usually cost less to operate, plus you’ll likely be eligible for thousands of dollars in rebates and tax credits.
  • Heat pumps and solar are a match made in energy heaven. With a large enough number of solar panels, you might never see another heating or cooling bill!

Get in touch.

Need a new HVAC system? Ready to upgrade to a heat pump? Want a quote? Not sure what you need but want to learn more about working with Forge? Whatever your question, the answer is just a simple form away. We look forward to hearing from you.

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