You can buy a heat pump at Best Buy...

This is Part 2 in a miniseries about heat pumps in India. If you missed the last issue, you can find it here!

Buying a heat pump in the US usually means calling several contractors, getting on-site estimates, and comparing multiple quotes. For most customers, the process generally lacks pricing transparency (we’re solving some of that friction with our HVAC quote database). Much of this is driven by the uniqueness of each project, which we've previously outlined.

Contrast that with buying a refrigerator. You can go to an electronics or hardware store and pick out whichever brand, color, and size you prefer. The store delivers the new fridge to your home, hauls away the old one, and sets everything up so you’re ready to go - often all for free.

Heat Pumps, just another appliance?

In India, heat pumps are sold like any other appliance! I visited Pai International, a national electronics and home appliance store similar to Best Buy, and found a wide array of heat pumps from different brands and in different capacities.

I posed as an uninformed homeowner (with a suspicious American accent) looking to add air conditioning to a room in my house. A sales associate walked me through the options.

First, we talked about capacity. For the 200 sqft room I wanted to condition, he recommended a 2 ton unit - about four times the size I would expect to install in a room this size. I was surprised but played along (more on that in a future installment of this series).

Next, we talked about efficiency. Equipment is rated on a scale of 1-5 stars, with thresholds based on Indian Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (ISEER) ratings, which are to the SEER ratings used in the US. The salesperson explained the importance of an inverter in simple terms, and how it can help with efficiency. He also ensured me that the equipment didn’t lose cooling capacity even with very high summer temperatures (In the US, we’re generally more concerned about derated heating performance in cold winter temperatures).

Lastly, we discussed brands and models. All units were single zone wall mounted ductless systems, with a mix of domestic Indian HVAC brands like Godrej and IFB, and international brands like LG, Samsung, and Panasonic. The associate recommended Panasonic as it was a “good Japanese brand”, but implied that all the options were great and the Indian brands would be my cheapest options.

Based on all our conversations, we picked out a Panasonic 2 ton unit with a 3 star efficiency rating. The unit could be delivered to our house the same day, and installed by an authorized Panasonic technician within 48 hours!

Hot and Cold

It turns out that in India, the majority of systems sold are cooling-only air conditioners. After looking at the fine print, I realized that the unit we settled on did not have heating capability. In fact, the Pai showroom didn’t have any heat pumps that could do heating (referred to as Hot and Cold Air Conditioners here) in stock!

The associate was able to pull up pricing and information about the heat pump units in his online catalog, but after calling his counterparts at the local warehouse and other branches, he wasn’t able to find inventory anywhere.

The everything store

Fortunately, brick and mortar isn’t the only way to buy a heat pump here. They’re easily available online through retailers like Amazon, as well as directly from the manufacturers.

Unlike equipment sold online in the US that doesn't include installation, all of the online retailers offer free or low cost delivery and installation, and many offer financing too. Purchasing a heat pump online seems to be a seamless experience - the information about the installing technician is abstracted away.

What can we learn?

The purchasing experience plays a big role in heat pump adoption. Heat pumps are ubiquitous in India, in part because of how easily they can be purchased. But there are other factors around the installation process, regulations, and customer expectations that play into widespread deployment as well. We’ll get into those in future issues of this miniseries.