TECH Clean California's mission is to transform the California market and make heat pumps the dominant residential heating source. This is a long tail project as furnaces can last for decades. Additionally, customers with split systems frequently do not replace both heating and cooling units at the same time. This creates an opportunity for contractors who have been called in to replace a failed/failing AC unit, even if the customer isn't in the market to replace their furnace.
By installing a heat pump in the AC side and leaving the furnace as BACKUP HEATING, a dual fuel system is created. We allow this in the program as long as certain specifications are followed. If the situation meets any of the below situations, the dual fuel system is allowed:
- The furnace was decommissioned fully and gas line capped.
- The heat pump was configured to use existing furnace blower, while using only heat generated by the heat pump.
- Furnace was setup to backup provide heat with the heat pump being the PRIMARY heat source