Heat pump vs. furnace?

11 years ago

I am living in "south" Florida, Bradenton,, and I am to replace a carrier furnace (orig. equip.) and air conditioner with a carrier heat pump and air conditioner.

I got a call from the company who gave me the quote and they recommended that I change out the proposed new heat pump for a furnace.

I know the heat pump is more efficient than the furnace, but the sales person said that with the large rebate the gas company is giving, the furnace is now the best choice.

Does this make any sense?

I was looking at a split system Carrier 25HPA536 and a FX4DWFU43 (?)

but the change is now a Carrier 24ACB760 and a 58CVA135..or CUA, and a coil CNPUP6024.

Which in your opinion is the better way to go?

Thanks

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Comments (5)

ionized_gw
11 years ago
It depends on the current and future cost of electricity and fuel.
SaltiDawg
11 years ago
It's probably just me (again) not understanding what is posted, but I understand that you need to replace your cooling device and also your heating device.

Your old cooling device is A/C and your old heating device is your gas furnace.

An option is to replace your A/C with a heat pump. The heat pump will do the cooling and also will be an option for heating.

You could also replace your old gas furnace with a new gas furnace and this would provide a second option for heating.

When I was deciding what to do with a similar setup to yours (Oil instead of gas), I found that the difference in cost for a heat pump versus the essentially identical model A/C unit was just a couple of hundred dollars.

I opted to replace my old A/C with a Heat pump and also replaced my old oil furnace with a new one. This past winter was quite mild and I was so glad to have the option to heat with the heat pump. I used the oil furnace only a few times on really cold days and saved a bunch of money compared to previous years.
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mike_home
11 years ago
Your sizing seems strange. The heat pump proposal is 3 ton, but the AC is a 5 ton with a 135,000 BTU furnace. Did this contractor do a load calculation?
david_cary
11 years ago
I like the "'s around south because South Fl to me is Dade and Broward.

What are the comparable costs? In the end, your heating costs should be pennies a year so upfront cost is everything.

I would never say the a heat pump is more efficient than a furnace (it is but....), it just usually costs less to run in mild temps. But I am going to venture that a heat pump would cost $150 a year to run and an NG furnace might be $170 a year to run. So .... go for the upfront costs. The NG furnace would need to have one heck of a rebate to be less than a reasonably priced heat pump (ie
energy_rater_la
11 years ago
for my clients I only recommend heat pump
if gas is not available.
the thing you will notice is that the hp
heat is not as warm as ng.

gas equipment is always more costly, but
is efficient.

has he/she talked to you about variable speed
units? for people in our climate, humidity is
a factor. being able to lower air speed to
increase dehumidification makes a huge
difference in comfort.

best of luck.