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The summer has started, and you\u2019ve made the discovery that your old air conditioner is not getting the job done. Time for it to retire to the scrap heap. What should you have installed in its place?<\/p>\nThe summer has started, and you\u2019ve made the discovery that your old air conditioner is not getting the job done. Time for it to retire to the scrap heap. What should you have installed in its place?<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s kind of a silly question,\u201d you say. \u201cAnother central air conditioner, of course!\u201d<\/p>\n
We\u2019re not arguing that you don\u2019t<\/em> need a new air conditioner for your house. But there\u2019s an option for air conditioning that comes with heating as well. It\u2019s not the standard combination of an air conditioner and a furnace, which is what you probably already have. It\u2019s a single unit called a heat pump<\/em>, and it\u2019s an air conditioner that can switch how it works so instead of moving heat out of your home, it moves heat into the home.<\/p>\n If your furnace is new and you don\u2019t think you\u2019re likely to replace it within a few years, then a heat pump is probably not the best choice. Heat pumps cost more than standard air conditioners. To get the most return on an investment in a heat pump, it must run in both modes each year. If your home is fine as far as heating\u2014especially with a gas furnace\u2014then arrange for a new air conditioner installation rather than a heat pump. There are great options for high-efficiency ACs that will offer you energy savings.<\/p>\n If your home runs entirely off electricity and has no connection to a gas line, then you may wish to consider a heat pump installation even if you\u2019ve got an electric furnace that\u2019s still working fine. A heat pump has higher energy efficiency than an electric furnace because it only draws electric power to move heat, rather than create it by electrical resistance. A heat pump is 3 to 4 times more energy efficient in heating mode than an electric furnace. So if you haven\u2019t yet given thought to replacing your electric furnace, you may wish to have a heat pump put in and have your future heating taken care of.<\/p>\n Okay, it\u2019s summer and you want to hear more about the immediate benefit of a heat pump, which is the cooling power. The good news here is that a heat pump is the equal of any AC of equivalent size. It doesn\u2019t \u201close\u201d any power because it also works as a heater at other times of the year. You can expect fantastic cooling. And if the heat pump is replacing an ancient air conditioner, you\u2019ll probably have cooling that\u2019s better and less expensive than before.<\/p>\nBut I\u2019m not currently looking for a new heating system<\/h3>\n
What if I have an electric furnace?<\/h3>\n
What about the cooling side?<\/h3>\n
I still can\u2019t decide<\/h3>\n