Equipment
- Cooper&Hunter PEAK high-efficiency heat pump system
- Matched indoor air handler
- New refrigerant linesets
- Smart thermostat
- Updated electrical disconnect + surge protection
The starting situation
A Walnut Creek homeowner called us in summer with a furnace that had failed mid-season, not the usual time of year for furnace failures to surface, but they’d been having intermittent issues for a while and the system finally gave up. We did the diagnostic. The furnace was old enough and combined with enough other end-of-life signals that repair would have been throwing money at a system on its last legs. We laid out the options: like-for-like furnace replacement, or step up to a heat pump that handles both heating and cooling.
They picked the heat pump path. Cooper&Hunter’s PEAK line was the right SEER/price fit for their house, quiet operation, high seasonal efficiency, and a price point that wasn’t carrying premium-brand markup. With a properly sized C&H heat pump they’d get whole-house cooling (which the existing setup didn’t have at all) plus more efficient heating than the old gas furnace.
What we installed
- Cooper&Hunter PEAK high-efficiency heat pump: outdoor condenser sized to load
- Matched indoor air handler with factory-spec airflow
- New refrigerant linesets (the existing copper from the old system wasn’t worth pressure-testing)
- Smart thermostat with heat-pump staging
- New disconnect box and whip at the condenser
- Surge protection on the high-voltage feed
- Load-matched return-air sizing verified at the air handler
The detail that mattered
The original setup was heat-only, no central AC. Adding cooling capacity isn’t just about installing the equipment; it’s about making sure the existing duct system can move the airflow a 3-ton cooling load actually needs. We measured static pressure, checked return-air sizing, and confirmed the duct system would handle the new airflow before signing off on the equipment. Two duct joints needed sealing; we did that during the install rather than discovering it later as a comfort complaint.
What the homeowner got
Whole-house heating AND cooling on a single efficient platform, quieter operation than the old furnace, lower energy use across the year. 10-year manufacturer’s warranty on the equipment and 2-year warranty on the labor. The Cooper&Hunter platform also qualifies under utility rebate programs that change year to year, we walked them through the current options at install time.
The photos below show the disconnect of the old equipment, the new outdoor condenser installation in progress, and the connection work.
Before
After
