A heater isn’t the first thing you cosmetically notice when you walk into a home like a beautiful painting would be, but as soon as winter starts, it is the first thing that you notice. So perhaps you’ve decided that your heating and cooling system needs an upgrade, but you don’t know if you should go with a gas furnace or a heat pump system. You’ll need to ask yourself a couple of questions in order to figure out the right choice for your home.

Does your house support gas appliances?

Many newer homes these days are built to be electric-only, without a pipe connecting to the gas company, or even an underground gas tank. You certainly wouldn’t want to buy a furnace only to find out that your home has no main gas line. So the most important check is to make sure that your home is set up to support gas in the first place. We typically recommend that our clients stick with what their home is currently set up to support. This is unless you have set aside a budget for setting up your home to support your new setup or you are building a new home where you have the option to choose.

Do you live in a cold or tropical area?

The northern states usually rely on gas furnaces because this is thought to be the most efficient way to heat a home in the snow. On the other hand, if you live in a warmer climate where it rarely snows, you would benefit from a heat pump to maintain the temperature of your home in the winter. The heat pumps can also reverse their cycle and cool your home during the winter time as well. The cost savings benefits of having a heat pump will not be as significant is areas where the climate get very cold during the winter.

What is the difference between the two?

A heat pump is designed to draw hot or cold air from outside, depending on the season. It then uses this air to heat or cool your home. The initial part of the heating uses only outside air but if the temperature drops too low, a heat pump can also use built in electric heat strips or a gas furnace to help aid in the heating. In contrast, a gas furnace heats a home very quickly as air passes through a set of burners producing flames. Gas furnaces use primarily gas energy to heat the whole while heat pumps primarily use electricity.

National Air Warehouse wants you to make the best informed decision as possible when purchasing a new HVAC system. Hopefully this article has helped you make a decision on which type of system to choose. If you need assistance or are still unsure about which type of system to choose for your home, get in touch with a representative from National Air Warehouse so that we may assist you with finding out which choice is best for you home.