Beware -- Johnson's retrofitted my old house with ductwork and a heat pump system about 7 years ago. The ductwork was installed well, and was kept almost completely out of sight. However, there were two major problems with the installation. #1, the 400lb heat pump unit was not installed on any kind of pad or footing, so it gradually sank into the ground over the years and has had to be shored up. Other people who gave us quotes included a pad, but as inexperienced homeowners we didn't think to request this explicitly.
The larger problem was that the heat pump specified was a type that has a two stage compressor that was never connected. This means that for peak efficiency the first compressor speed would come on (to heat or cool), then if the thermostat detects that it is not meeting the heating/cooling needs fast enough then the second compressor speed would engage (stage 2).
Last week the White-Rodgers thermostat died. When I opened it up and researched the wire colors and so on I could tell something wasn't quite right. Sure enough, when I looked at the other end of the wires and cross referenced the connections with the heat pump manual, it was obvious that the second stage compressor was never hooked up. In fact, the thermostat that Johnson's installed was not even capable of driving a two stage heat pump.
On cold winter days the heat pump was not capable of keeping the house at a comfortable temperature, even with the auxiliary heating element. Without the second stage compressor kicking in we were never getting the full heating (or cooling) that he heat pump was capable of. Additionally, by having the auxiliary heat kicking in sooner than it should have been, we were not getting the full efficiency of a heat pump.
There is no excuse for a professional HVAC company to specify a unit and then not connect it correctly. It can only be caused by one of the following: lack of understanding, incompetence, or lack of integrity. Either way, I will be looking more carefully for a HVAC company next time, and doing much more research and checking up on their work. read more