Heat Pump vs Gas Furnace - Which is the Best Choice For You?

When it comes to heating and cooling your home, many customers are curious about heat pumps but don't want to give up their gas furnace or think because of their climate they can't have a heat pump. In this video, Zach explains heat pumps and compares them to gas furnaces and propane heating to help you in your decision process.

[CLdriver]

Canadian here. Winter temperatures here regularly dip below-20F in January. We have both heat pump and oil fired furnace. I’ve programmed the changeover from heat pump to furnace at 15F because below that temperature, the heat pump runs continuously, and barely keeps up with the desired temperature. This gives us good heating, and saves a lot of money.
The oil furnace is a high efficiency unit with a dual fan speed capability.
Truly is the best of both worlds.

[canoebelue]

I heated a drafty mountaintop home for over 15 years with a waste oil furnace setup in the basement. Other than rebuilding the gun and nozzle once a season it was relatively trouble free. Had a GE Weathertron heat pump as backup that was a lot less dependable than the furnace. I've used a geothermal heat pump for 18 years now at this place. It's done a good job.

[wudubora]

I have always questioned the idea that a heat pump is more efficient than a natural gas furnace. I like how he explains it because now I understand that the heat pump is more energy efficient but that doesn't mean cheaper to operate. I spend way less on the gas to heat my house in the winter than I spend in electricity to run the A/C int the summer (A heat pump being basically an A/C unit running in reverse.)

[Monkeyseemonkey]

In my area (Oregon) I can't get a quote under $22k for a cold weather heat pump. Yet it is only $9k to replace with an 80% gas furnace and AC unit. It's hard to justify paying more than double to go green.

[LTVoyager]

Another issue going with a heat pump is power outages. With a natural gas furnace or boiler, you can still heat your home with just a small generator to run the furnace blower or the boiler circulators. With an all electric home, you need a huge generator too run your heat pump when it is below zero and the power is out. Redundancy is a huge benefit that not many think about until the power goes out.

[rockymountainman]

First make sure you insulate your house as best you can. Money you spend on insulation you spend only once to cut down on heating cost for many decades! Your propane heater will use a lot less fuel if your house looses less heat, so maybe hang on to it for now. Investing in a new heat source for a inefficient home is not smart!

[bills]

I have a dual fuel heat pump/ gas furnace system. 18 Seer 4 ton condenser and an 80% 100, 000 btu gas furnace. In South Carolina, electric is nuclear and hydro. Pretty cheap. The changeover is 40 degrees and the furnace may run at night and up to maybe 10 am and switches to the heat pump. Cheap to run and very happy with it

[jgesselberty]

Have had four homes in my life. Three used natural gas and the current one has a heat pump. All three gas furnaces lasted the life of my time in those homes, over 20 years each. I retired to a home and installed a high efficiency heat pump which promptly broke down after the 5 year warranty expired and cost me over $1, 200 to repair. I still have to use electric space heaters, which I never did with gas furnaces. That money you think you save, might be used up in repairs.

[JimHarrigan-mw]

The article does not explain very well the difference in a heat pump at different temperatures. The colder outside this less heat can be drawn from the atmosphere. At -22 the lowest temperature heat pumps work at there is no efficiency. You would be in a 1/1 where the electricity is used totally to produce any heat coming from your pump. You would have to have a furnace backup if your temp ever goes below 0. By the way everybody with a heat pump is trying to draw max power for the heat pump then of course all the EV's are drawing max power just to get a half charge. This is a great concept for areas that do not see temps below 15 degrees. Other than that you will encounter life threatening conditions.

[MimicoBungalow]

I replaced an old oil burning furnace with a new heat pump/Air conditioner system.
There are several things that you need to know before you make the switch:
1. You will likely save money on the heating as well as the air-conditioning because with a modern heat pump the air-conditioning part of it is also more efficient than the older ones
2. Heat pumps - when used on heating - cycle a lot more often than a fossil fuel furnace (when it is very cold outside)
3. below -20 C, you will find that the exhilarate heating coil generally cuts in if you have one installed, to save the compressor from running almost continuously outside to pull heat out of the cold air.
4. If you have been used to the blast of hot air that comes out of your heating registers when a fossil fuel furnace kicks in, you might be disappointed when the heat pump goes on because the air is merely warm rather than hot - Which is not to say that it does not heat the space properly it just takes longer to do it and will likely cycle longer as it works in colder weather
The Bottom line is: heat pumps are much easier on the environment and work well if you can deal with the different points listed above. I am very happy that I switched to a heat pump from a fossil fuel furnace...

[jamessmyth]

Well in summer with the heat pump, when the cooling cycle is used the power bill always goes up much higher, so it's going to be the same when the heating cycle is used in winter. Natural Gas is the less expensive option to run where I am and luckily enough for most of the year due to a favorable climate I don't need to run either heating or cooling.

[horsepowerandtalk]

Did you ever mention a heat pump runs on electricity? The price of which keeps going up.

[SergeLepage]

What if it goes to -45 c in Alberta Canada, how is it possible for the power to feed the demand, we already have power outages never mind having to deal with trying to run a generator to power to heat the home, how many watts does a heat pump take?

[tonyliberatore]

Since Dominion Energy, my natural gas supplier, has a basic service charge of 43.63 cents, I feel I would be better off with eliminating my gas furnace and going with a new technology heat pump. During the summer months I am charged this amount even though I used near "zero" natural gas. This really frustrates me! I really have a desire to boot out Dominion Energy and pay what I feel is a reasonable charge for electricity. What are your thoughts?

[JustHazardous]

Try to heat a home in Maine with just a heat pump.
I hope you like blankets and being cold.

[ralphwaters]

The invisible elephant in this room is the current cost of electric power ($0.53/KWH in my area) compared to natural gas ($2 per 100K BTU). I would love to see a chart showing the financial tradeoff between these energy sources and the cost of alternative equipment in several different climates. Part of me thinks that simply upgrading your insulation is a good start...

[JS-gfuc]

OK No cost output for Gas...But how much did your electrical Bill Increase?

[ebayerr]

How does a heat pump grab heat from the outdoors in the wintertime when it's freezing or below freezing?
How does it heat the house to 72 degrees when it's 40 degrees outside?

[billrentz]

A heat pump uses electricity, that electricity is generated by coal, or natural gas most likely. The bottom line is do they work effectively, and what is the return on the initial cost. Up North where I live they are not performing as well as they could but the technology is improving but at the end of the day what is the cost over time.

[rev.johnpate]

Good basic advice. It would be nice to do a cost comparison factoring cost per therm, cost per KWH, the btus they produce at some given ambient outdoor temperature, and considerations of SEER vs. initial purchase cost, life of the devices, and so to calculate return per year. There is also one other fuel some are considering that may be outside of your scope: solar.