Wasted $200 on a cheap air-to-water heat pump that barely heated my basement

I thought I was saving money by getting a no-name heat pump off an online marketplace for my crawl space in Portland. It claimed to be 3.5 kW and cost me $200 including shipping. After 2 months of struggling with it, my electric bill actually went up $30 and the space never got above 55 degrees. I finally had a local HVAC guy look at it and he said the compressor was undersized and the refrigerant charge was wrong from the factory. He quoted me $3,500 for a proper Mitsubishi unit that would actually work. Has anyone else gotten burned by cheap heat pump gear that seemed like a steal at first?

2 comments

2 Comments

thea_chen16d ago

Those online marketplace sellers often just slap a 9,000 BTU label on a 5,000 BTU window unit and call it a day.

the_shane16d ago

lol I definitely bought one of those last summer. Turned it on in my bedroom and it sounded like a jet engine but barely cooled a closet. I was sweating like crazy wondering how I got duped so bad. Now I just stare at the label and feel like an idiot every time it kicks on haha.