Spokane WA Heat Pump Installation is a heat pump contractor providing propane-to-heat-pump conversion for homeowners and property owners across Spokane County, WA and out to the Idaho state line. Every job starts from a load calculation rather than the size of whatever came out.
Propane heats a great many rural properties around Deer Park, Elk, Chattaroy and Nine Mile Falls, and it is the most expensive common heating fuel per unit of heat delivered. That makes the arithmetic on a propane conversion unusually favourable. The typical arrangement keeps the propane furnace as the backup and adds a heat pump that handles the majority of winter hours, which means the tank gets filled far less often. For most rural properties here that shift alone changes the annual heating cost substantially.
Because propane costs more per unit of heat than natural gas, the economic balance point sits lower, meaning the heat pump stays in service through colder weather before the furnace takes over. That is why propane conversions show larger savings than gas conversions.
These are rural properties, which brings a specific set of considerations beyond the fuel arithmetic.
Propane pricing is what makes this conversion work, and it deserves a moment of honesty: propane is bought at a delivered price that varies by supplier, contract and season, so the balance point calculation needs your actual price rather than a published average. Bring a recent delivery invoice to the assessment. It is the single most useful document for working out what this will actually save you.
Assume propane is expensive, install the heat pump and set the changeover to whatever the controls default to.
Use your actual delivered propane price from a recent invoice to calculate the changeover, so the heat pump stays in service exactly as long as it is genuinely cheaper.
The economic balance point is where the cost per delivered BTU is equal between the two fuels. Because propane costs considerably more per BTU than natural gas, that crossover point sits at a lower outdoor temperature, which means the heat pump remains the cheaper option deeper into cold weather before the furnace takes over.
The practical consequence is that a propane property sees a larger share of its winter carried by the heat pump than an equivalent natural gas property would. Combined with a cold climate unit that holds capacity well below zero, the propane furnace can end up running only during genuine cold snaps, which is exactly the outcome that makes these conversions worth doing.
The conversion cost is the heat pump outdoor section, the cased coil, line set and controls, plus any electrical capacity work the property needs. The propane furnace, ductwork and gas piping stay in place.
The saving is easier to quantify here than on most jobs, because propane arrives as a measured delivery at a known price. We work out the expected reduction in gallons from the calculated load and the balance point, and show you that arithmetic rather than describing it in general terms.
We take your actual delivered propane price and consumption history, and check the electrical service capacity.
The economic balance point is worked out from your real fuel price and the proposed equipment's efficiency at that temperature.
The outdoor unit and cased coil go in, the line set is run, and the control system is wired for dual fuel changeover.
Heat pump and propane operation are each verified independently, the changeover is set, and simultaneous operation is locked out.
These jobs are on rural properties, and the assessment covers more ground than a suburban visit.
Call for a load calculation and an itemised quote. You keep the numbers either way.
Request a quote