Most of what homeowners read about heat pumps before they buy one comes from a manufacturer's marketing page, a forum thread with no context, or a contractor mid-sales-pitch. whatisaheatpump.com is an attempt to put the actual mechanics, numbers, and tradeoffs in one place, in plain English, without any of the three.
The people behind this site have spent real time around heating and cooling equipment: sizing systems, reading load calculations, and watching which installs hold up and which ones don't. That background shapes what gets covered here, but it isn't the subject of the site. The subject is the equipment, and whether it's right for a given house.
Every article, table, and calculator here is written to be useful on its own, whether you're shopping for a heat pump this month or just trying to understand why your electric bill moved after a contractor swapped your furnace.
A live savings calculator, the mechanics, ratings, and comparisons that decide whether a heat pump makes sense for a specific house, what rebates and tax credits are on the table, a maintenance schedule for after it's installed, and longer articles on the questions that come up once you start shopping for real quotes.
Our own rebates page covers federal tax credits and the general shape of state and utility programs. For the Los Angeles-specific detail, HVAC in LA keeps a running breakdown of local HEEHRA, TECH, LADWP, and SCE rebate amounts and eligibility.
HVAC rebates available in Los Angeles: HEEHRA, TECH, LADWP, SCE →