Manifesto

There is a category problem in residential heating. Not a technology problem. The technology is good, and getting better at the kind of rate that makes the average buying cycle feel slow.

The category problem is that the writing about it is bad.

It is bad in two directions. On one side, it is technical to the point of useless, the language of contractors talking to contractors, with all the warmth of a spec sheet. On the other side, it is marketing, which is the language of the very urgent stranger, the one who believes that this device, of all the devices in your home, requires you to feel something. Neither voice reaches the person who is actually going to live with the machine for fifteen years.

GetHeatPumped is the third voice. The voice of the friend who happens to know, who is not in a hurry, who has nothing to sell and would rather take you through it slowly. The voice of the magazine you read in a hotel room and think, well, this knows what it is doing.

What we believe

The heat pump is one of the most interesting consumer products of the next decade, and almost no one has noticed.

It is interesting because it is sensual. The cycle hum, the slow ramp, the steady warmth that does not blow on you. It is interesting because it is beautiful, finally, after a long period of being merely capable. It is interesting because the math is honest. It moves more energy than it consumes. There is a poetry to this and we are not going to pretend otherwise.

We also believe the writing should match. Dense paragraphs are not a sign of seriousness. Flat product pages are not a sign of trust. The reader gets to feel something while learning the thing. Both are allowed.

What we will not do

We will not punch at gas, oil, or the people who chose them. They are someone’s livelihood and someone’s last winter. The case for the heat pump is strong enough that it does not need a villain.

We will not write copy that pretends the install always goes well or that the math always pencils out. It does not. The variance matters. We will tell you where the variance is.

We will not chase trend. We will write the things that hold up at ten years.

What we want

A reader who finishes a piece and writes back. A homeowner who walks into the contractor meeting able to ask the three questions that matter. A renter who learns that the window unit option exists. A designer who understands that the wall-mount is no longer the only choice. A skeptic who, on the way out, says, fine, I will read another one.

That is the room we are setting.