Middletown couple ditches oil tank, installs heat pump to lower heating costs

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. (WTNH) — As the temperature begins to drop, many will be thinking about how they can save on high heating bills.

One Middletown couple is making some significant changes.

Nick Sinatra and his wife Erin are ditching their oil tank and boiler system.

"This was like the most exciting part is we're getting rid of 300 gallons of oil that was sitting in our basement," Sinatra said.

They're replacing it all with an all-electric carbon free heat pump.

"This system's actually extracting the heat from that air, going through refrigeration cycle, and delivering warm air inside the home," Ricardo Jordan, manager of energy efficiency for Eversource, said. "What makes it even more unique is that in the summer time it acts in reverse."

The indoor portion of the system is in the attic. It's an air handler which will push that hot or cool air through the entire house using the home's existing duct work system.

The total cost for the heat pump, added insulation in the basement and attic and weatherstripping is about $20,000, but the Middletown couple was able to get $6,000 knocked off that price through the EnergizeCT rebate program and the Home Energy Solutions Program managed by Eversource.

"Heat pumps are two to three more times more efficient than existing fossil fuel heating systems," Jordan said.

Residents rally against high utility rates outside Capitol

"With the rebates we're getting from Connecticut, we're also getting rebates on our taxes at the end of the year," Sinatra said.

He says the new insulation he had installed in the house already made a difference in trying to cool his home this summer.

"We noticed the next day," Sinatra said.

He is now hoping the heat pump system will add to that efficiency once the temperature drops this winter.