> Disclaimer: I self installed one for my house (13kWth) and I'm very glad I did
My HVAC guy keeps telling me to install a couple of heat pumps (he doesn't like driving out to me), solar panels, and an in-house battery; what sort of complexity was this job? Are there online sources you used?
With this sort of work let the HVAC guys do the research for you. Call 3 of them get quotes. Then research what they are offering. Pick the one you like. Last time I did this around 2008 it was about 5k-15k I was quoted. I asked all 3 for a small, medium and large systems. For me it was mostly an in place replacement. The ducts were already there. The refrigerant lines were all ready in place. The biggest cost was the unit themselves and some change out of the controllers. The labor was about 1 days worth of work for 4 guys.
You can also gain quite a bit by just fixing drafts and putting in proper insulation. Which can be much cheaper to do. I also had the guys go thru and fix an leaks in the duct system. That way the air was coming out where it should. It is amazing how badly that is installed many times. I also had them put in an attic fan which vented the attic when it got to about 110F. Insulation would have helped more there and I screwed up and put it off. If your house is older than 2000. I say go thru and review the existing insulation and look for drafts first.
It trimmed my bill from about 350 a month to 200. My new house has excellent insulation the house is slightly bigger and the power bill is in the 80-150 range (less because I got solar, but I figured out the actual cost anyway). It has one unit and an air valve to switch between the floors. So the total cost is lower but the one unit will run longer. That savings I am getting is mostly because of better insulation.
Installing heat pumps doesn't require a ton of domain knowledge (assuming you're already a handy person), but it's a lot of work. It took 3 guys who do it for a living 160+ man hours to install our mini-splits. They had to drill through walls, attach channels to the siding, crawl into a tight crawlspace, do some plumbing when they hit a water pipe with their drill, wire up electrical, and add breakers to the panel.
The only thing that might catch you up is designing the system and ensuring you right size it for your heat load requirements. I'm sure you could research this pretty well, but your HVAC guy might also be happy to consult on that portion.
My HVAC guy keeps telling me to install a couple of heat pumps (he doesn't like driving out to me), solar panels, and an in-house battery; what sort of complexity was this job? Are there online sources you used?