Air Conditioner vs Heat Pump - What's the difference and how to choose

Hello, Steve here from FurnaceUSA and, have you ever wondered what is the difference between a air conditioner and a heat pump? Because the confusing part is, they look identical from the outside. So, you're looking at two units. One is a box, one is a box. So, you might think, well you might as well just get a heat pump or you might as well just get an air conditoner. But there's some pretty big differences between the two.
So, the primary difference between them. In the summertime, a heat pump and an air conditioner is the exact same thing. They do the identical thing. They both equally cool your house. A heat pump in the summertime, is an air conditioner. Mechanically, what's going on inside the unit is identical to what's going on virtually, inside of a heat pump. So, their both just cooling. So, the difference is in the wintertime, a heat pump can help your furnace save you some money on utilities.
So basically, this kinda comes down to, what it does. It absorbs heat from the outside and it brings that heat to the inside, and your furnace distributes it. So, where it gets a little bit tricky is that, depending on how much your electricity costs are in the area, relative to your gas costs. It can sometimes not be very cost effective to even have a heat pump. So, I'm up in the pacific northwest, and up here what the issue has been. If you go back a number of years, it used to be great, great value to put in a heat pump. So, what a heat pump could essentially do is just save you a ton of money on your utility bills because, electricity was relatively less expensive.
Because what you're choosing to do in the wintertime is, use electricity to absorb heat out of the outside air. And it could absorb heat right down to like, minus 10 degrees or sometimes, beyond depending on the type of heat pump. So, it absorbs heat from the outside air. It brings that heat into the house and then, the furnace fan distributes it. Where either choice that you're making is to basically, heat your house in a roundabout way with electricity, and a much more efficient way than electricity. Instead of using gas to heat your house, right? With, say like, natural gas to heat your furnace and heat your house up.
So, everything makes sense unless the ... Unless utilities cost too much for the furnace, right? Or sorry, the utilities cost too much for the heat pump. If that's the case, then you might as well just stick with a furnace. So, if your electricity costs are too high and for that, I would say just reach out to us and we can tell you for your specific area, if that's an issue or not. But currently, in the pacific northwest, it's usually a better value right now to just get an air conditioner instead.
So, why would you not just buy a heat pump every time if it could potentially save you some money? Well, relatively, they're more expensive. They will cost you more either on a monthly plan, it will cost you more as a purchase. If you have to pay possibly, thousands of dollars more upfront for it, and if you're only going to save a little tiny bit like, let's say you're going to save $50.00 per year, right? But it's going to cost you $2,000.00 more upfront to buy a heat pump instead of just an air conditioner. It's going to take you 40 years to pay for the cost differential. And really, the only benefit that you're getting is that it's going to save you a little bit money in the wintertime. Because in the summertime, it's the exact same thing.
Generally, our opinion here at FurnaceUSA, is that air conditioners usually, are a better value unless some circumstances apply that makes a heat pump better value because maybe, your input cost for your furnace, whether it be propane or natural gas is higher, which makes the heat pump a better value or more cost effective. So, those are kinda your choices. But yeah, reach out to us today. Message us today, and we'll give you lots more information about heat pumps and air conditioners here at FurnaceUSA.
And, if you found this information useful, be sure to subscribe to our channel. Thank you.

[chengshi]

Best video I found to explain the difference between an AC and a Heat pump. Thank you!

[TheGbab]

I just bought a house in Vancouver BC. The owner installed a high efficiency gas furnace with split system AC a few years ago. His rationale was that the furnace is great at heating, and the AC is great at cooling. A heat pump HVAC system was almost 3K more money, and would run year round. AC only saves wear and tear on the AC compressor, as it runs only for a couple months per year, and the outside areas of the house are quiet when the AC is off. The AC condenser does make noise while cooling, but people expect some AC noise in the Summer. Our Summers are no where near as warm as say, Florida or Southern California, so a heat pump system here is overkill, noisy, and too expensive all things considered.

[Cedders]

This explained that a heat pump has the additional function in terms of space and water heating (and some additional cost for a water tank inside the house to benefit from running it for heating). What it omits is that a heat pump saves on greenhouse gases - the electricity can be used two to ten times more efficiently than straight electric heating. The cost of fossil gas (methane or propane) will have to go up in future relative to electricity.

This means an ASHP or GSHP is a much better investment financially and environmentally than the video suggests.

[nicholasfink]

I don't know why people keep saying this it doesn't absorb air . Heat pumps is a air condition . I get cold air inside it will be hot on the outside of the unit . To get hot air inside it will be cold on the outside hot on the inside. All these machines do is Compressed Gas and releasing the compression. Just like a propane pipe if you use propane the pipe will get cold. But in an air-conditioned you want to reuse the same gas.

[JustinJohnson-sgsz]

A large percentage of my PSE bill is from gas (Tacoma area). Hot water and furnace are gas. I’m wondering if installing the heat pump will lower my total bill. Plus add the cooling aspect in the summer.

[thejake]

Some other things to consider:

- Gas prices are becoming more expensive (winter 2021 was rough) and will continue to be as govts reduce reliance on fossil fuels
- If you have solar, it’s generally more cost effective to utilize electrical appliances whenever possible
- Your location matters

[BhojrajChauhan-lj]

Thanks man to clarify the use and what is a heat pump. In India we use AC only in summer time we dont have that much of low temprature in winter.

[RollnBear]

What if in our house we have no gas and everything is electric, then would a heat pump save more than just an AC?

[asdreww]

You can buy split wall mounted AC systems now that also 'heat' & are reversible... Are these heat pumps, as they are sold as AC systems???

[MelbourneMobileDetailing]

Why do I feel so much more confused after this video. I think it would of been easier to just say a heat pump does the opposite of an air-conditioned in winter

[praneethgadam]

Helped understand the basic components.
People who are saying "reverses the function of an ac" - that explanation doesnt help.

[dianajimenezjohnson]

This was such a helpful video! Thank you!

[johngraham]

I'm in Texas. It's way hotter most of the time than it is cold. We have loads of natural gas, so it's reasonably priced. I'm pretty sure that for the initial cost difference between the two, a standard AC unit is a better value than a heat pump. anyone disagree?

[MardomTV]

I assume the weather is COLD when we use Heat pump, how it observe the heat from outside when its cold outside ? am I missing something ????

[sanseiryu]

In Los Angeles during the heat of summer, my electric bill can be $250 or more per month. So if I get a heat pump, I will pay the same for electricity in the winter as I do in the summer. My natural gas bill is nothing during the summer but it can get high in December and January but not close to what my electric bill would be for basically running my central AC in winter. You will never read an ad for heat pumps where they will state that your electrical costs will be exactly the same as the non-heat pump unit. They keep focusing on the efficiency of the heating but never tell you about the fact that the very same electricity gobbling components that are used to cool in the summer are still running during heating. You're just air conditioning the outside. Remember when your parents yelled at you to close the windows and doors when the AC was on? You're letting all of the cooling out!!! That's exactly what you're doing when you use a heat pump.

[mansourramzey]

I liked those poppy flowers.
Where can i get some.
Great video

[jesselaporte]

Stumbled across this while doing some research. We are obtaining quotes here (Vancouver, BC) for both a furnace and ac units as both need replacing. However, getting a lot of heat pump suggestions from friends now. What are you thoughts now 3 years later than the time you released this video? Thanks in advance.

[shadowamazon]

Then why not just have a single heat pump unit without the air conditioner? The saving pays part of the electricity vs natural gas equation?

[Nolaman]

Or in a situation where NG or Propane would be unavailable, then heat pump maybe. Luckily I have cheap NG here in Louisiana.

[theusconstitution]

If you have solar panels on your roof and your grid tied having a heat pump is the perfect thing and I don’t understand why it could be thousands of dollars more the only difference is a reversing valve so one essentially one solenoid valve or possibly two depending on how you do it just to reverse the Florida gases they should only be a few to $500 more