Voltline does not install gas furnaces, oil boilers, or propane heating. We do not service them, either. This is a scope decision, not a political stance — but it has reasons. This piece walks through them. It is not a screed. It is a position paper for the customers who want to understand why the firm is the shape that it is.
The first reason: heat pumps work.
I covered the technical case in a separate article. The short version: the cold-climate variable-speed inverter heat pumps that have been on the market since around 2016 perform reliably down to outdoor temperatures Vermont actually experiences. We have installed 840 of them across Chittenden County. The systems do what the manufacturers say they do.
That is the necessary precondition for everything that follows. If heat pumps did not work in Vermont, we would not be having this conversation. But they do. The technical objection to electrification in cold climates is no longer a valid technical objection. It is a holdover from a different era of equipment.
The second reason: the operating cost math.
At current Vermont fuel prices, a cold-climate heat pump on a typical 1,800 sf home costs roughly 30–40% less per heating season than an oil boiler. The math gets larger when you include the heat-pump water heater, which costs about $130/year to operate versus about $700/year for oil hot water.
This is not theoretical. Voltline installs come with measured operating-cost reports at the one-year mark — we collect electricity-bill data from customers (with permission) and compare it against the projected operating cost from the Manual J quote. The projections have been within ±10% of measured on roughly 90% of installs we have followed up on. The 10% miss is usually a customer occupancy-pattern change we did not know about (someone added a hot tub, someone left their thermostat at 74°F).
Installing a fossil-fuel heating system for a customer in Vermont today commits that customer to roughly 15–20 years of operating costs that are higher than they need to be. That is a real-money decision the customer will live with.
The third reason: embedded emissions.
The home heating sector contributes meaningfully to U.S. residential carbon emissions. That is a settled fact. The technical pathway to cutting those emissions is also settled: electrify the heating load, and source the electricity from a grid that gets cleaner every year. Vermont's grid is among the cleanest in the country — roughly two-thirds carbon-free generation as of 2025, and trending cleaner.
Every fossil-fuel heating system installed today commits 15–20 years of fossil-fuel combustion. The equipment lifetime is a lock-in. If we install an oil boiler this year, that boiler will be burning oil through 2045, regardless of what happens to the grid or to the cost of heating oil in the interim.
I do not think it is the customer's job, on the day their old boiler dies in February, to think about the next 20 years of carbon emissions. The customer is making a household decision under time pressure. I think it is the contractor's job to offer the customer an option that is technically valid, financially reasonable, and not locked in to a fossil-fuel path the household will probably want to leave within the decade anyway. The cold-climate heat pump is that option. It is the contractor's job to know it is the option.
The fourth reason: scope clarity.
Voltline is a small specialty firm — eleven people. We are not large enough to be a generalist HVAC contractor. We have to choose a scope. We have chosen this scope.
The technical depth required to install a cold-climate heat pump correctly is non-trivial. Manual J load calculation, Manual D ductwork analysis, refrigerant cycle commissioning, capacity-curve sizing against the local design temperature, integration with the electrical service. Marisol Fender, our lead Comfort Auditor, has been doing Manual J calcs full-time for four years and her quality has been improving the entire time. This is a craft. It is not "we'll figure it out."
If we tried to be a generalist firm that did oil boilers, gas furnaces, oil tanks, propane installs, fuel-oil deliveries, central AC, mini-splits, ducted heat pumps, AND cold-climate electrification — we would do all of it badly. The firms that do all of those things have larger labor pools, dedicated divisions, and a different cost structure than Voltline. The right move for Voltline is to be exceptional at one thing.
If your gas furnace has failed and you want it replaced with another gas furnace, we are not the firm for you. We will gladly recommend a generalist contractor who can serve you well. We are something more specific, on purpose.
What we will not do.
Voltline does not install gas furnaces, oil boilers, or propane heating. We do not install them as a primary system. We do not install them as a backup to a heat pump. We do not install them as a "transitional" piece during a renovation.
Voltline does not service or maintain fossil-fuel heating equipment that someone else installed. If you call us and ask us to tune up your oil boiler, we will recommend a generalist HVAC firm in the area that will do that work well.
Voltline does not install a heat pump as a supplement to a working gas furnace ("dual-fuel"). Our installs remove the fossil-fuel equipment. If you want to keep your gas furnace and add a heat pump for cooling and shoulder-season efficiency, we are not the firm for that job. Several other excellent firms in Chittenden County will do that job well.
Voltline does install supplemental electric resistance strip backup heat where it is needed for deep-cold pockets. The strip is electric. The whole heating load is on the electrical service. We do not introduce fossil-fuel pieces into the system as backup.
What we will do.
We will install a cold-climate heat pump correctly. Manual J on the actual envelope. Right-sized equipment from a brand family with published cold-climate performance data. Refrigerant charge commissioning, COP verification, manufacturer registration. Real customer orientation at handoff. Annual maintenance for the service life of the equipment.
We will walk you through the rebate stack — federal 25C, Efficiency Vermont, your utility's program, HEEHRA if you income-qualify. We will file the paperwork. The rebate appears on your final invoice; you do not chase it.
We will treat the relationship as a multi-year project, not a same-day close. The phone consultation is free. The on-site assessment is free. The quote is valid 90 days. There is no pressure to decide same-day. There is no upsell. We do not sell financing partners; we do not sell extended warranties beyond manufacturer terms; we do not sell anything except the install and the maintenance contract that follows it.
If that is the relationship you want with a contractor, Voltline is the right firm. If you want a generalist who will install whatever you ask for, Voltline is not the right firm, and the recommendation we will make to you is honest.
— Adrienne Beaulieu, Founder · Voltline Heat & Cool · Burlington, VT
References
- U.S. Energy Information Administration — Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS 2020 release)
- Vermont Public Utility Commission — Annual Generation Mix Report (2024)
- Efficiency Vermont — Statewide Heat-Pump Operating Cost Comparison (2024)
- NEEP — Cold-Climate ASHP Specification, Version 5.0
- Vermont Department of Public Service — Comprehensive Energy Plan 2022