Commission the heat pump, heating side included.
Heat pumps now out-ship gas furnaces, and the workforce installing them mostly trained on straight-cool boxes. They run harder to diagnose, in cold-weather conditions a cooling check never sees. measureQuick scores the heating side the same way it scores the cooling side.
More to get wrong, less room to guess
Charge by weight breaks down in cold-weather heating. Balance points, dual-fuel changeover, and defrost behavior all affect whether the system actually delivers capacity. A technician who learned on straight-cool equipment is now commissioning a system with twice the failure modes.
That is why, when a heat pump disappoints, it is almost always the commissioning and not the box. measureQuick founder Jim Bergmann, a former skeptic who put one in his own house, frames the fix the way the whole platform does: "I don't believe in heat pumps. I verify them. Proper evacuation. Commissioning. Measured performance, not guesses." The equipment is good enough now; the install decides whether the homeowner ever feels it.
Charge against the real conditions
Score the charge against the conditions the system is actually running in, not a summer assumption. The reading corrects to rated conditions, so a 20-degree day still tells the truth.
And where the charge has to be set in the cold, the AccuTools low-temperature charging solution, powered by measureQuick, builds a controlled condition around the condenser, so a new system gets commissioned in winter instead of waiting for a 70-degree afternoon.
Measure what the heat pump delivers
Dual-fuel and backup-heat decisions ride on what the heat pump can really carry in the cold. measureQuick scores the heating-side performance against the real outdoor conditions, measured, not assumed.
DR Richardson, owner of Elephant Energy, ran the proof in a cold snap that hit 13 below zero: "not a single customer lost heat. They all stayed within a degree or two of, uh, the desired set temperature."
Prove it delivers through a defrost
Confirm the system delivers the heating capacity it was sized for, through a defrost cycle, documented in the same Vitals score the cooling side produces.
Commission a heat pump in cold weather
Cold weather changes what a good heat pump reading looks like. Here is how to commission one with measureQuick, down to 35°F, instead of guessing.
A2L and the new refrigerants
The market moved to R-454B and R-32 as of January 1, 2025. measureQuick already handles the new refrigerant profiles, so the diagnostic does not change when the refrigerant does.
“I am also pleasantly surprised at the 0.72 SHR from my Bosch heat pump. It is very effective at removing moisture with the settings I’ve inputted my ecobee thermostat.”
Questions, answered
Can measureQuick charge a heat pump in heating mode?
Yes. It scores the charge against the conditions the system is running in and corrects to rated conditions, so a cold day still tells the truth instead of relying on a summer weigh-in.
Does it handle the A2L refrigerants?
Yes. measureQuick already handles the R-454B and R-32 profiles, so the diagnostic does not change when the refrigerant does.
What about dual fuel and backup heat?
measureQuick measures and documents the heat pump's heating-side performance against the real conditions, so you can confirm it is carrying the load when it is cold. The heating side rolls into the same Vitals score as the cooling side.
Is the heating-side score the same as the cooling-side score?
Yes. The heating side rolls into the same HVAC Vitals™ score, so one number covers the whole system, through a defrost cycle.
Why do heat pumps get a bad reputation?
Almost always the install, not the equipment. Heat pumps are the least forgiving system to charge by feel, and a cold home or a high bill usually traces to charge or airflow that was never verified. measureQuick scores the heating side so the install is confirmed, not hoped.
Score your next heat pump.
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