Home heating/cooling: Furnaces (natural gas) vs cold climate air source heat pump?

[92redragtop]

yes - we installed the variable speed was good at first but like Steve mentioned propane skyrocketed this year - its hard to know which way to go but one thing is for sure if we have to go net zero I think that will really shake up resale value on the home as the more efficient homes will garner the highest market value - it will be a complete package rounding out a sufficient home that wins out in the end not just the HVAC.

Yes, the rebates to upgrade to heat pump and move away from primarily NG are significant right now versus straight NG furnace replacement (some of that is due to low volume and higher unit pricing on the heat pump systems) but as NG prices go up over the coming years then that value equation you noted should even out or invert.

[5.4MarkVIII]

Keep in mind with a heat pump you are using refrigerant, pretty much all of which have been labeled as a green house gas by our government and are in various stages of being phased out.

Find out what they are using and what will be used if repairs are required if a few years. and how that will effect the service life and efficacy.

[92redragtop]

Keep in mind with a heat pump you are using refrigerant, pretty much all of which have been labeled as a green house gas by our government and are in various stages of being phased out.

Find out what they are using and what will be used if repairs are required if a few years. and how that will effect the service life and efficacy.

That's a fair point about the refrigerant being GHG but I guess they're pushing it since the system itself does not need to burn additional fuel although in our climate it does need backup support to kick in during the couple weeks where we get extreme temps (can be gas or electrical). And the central air systems already use refrigerant so these systems replace that. The system is more expensive than an NG furnace though so it comes down to whether the annual savings offset the difference and the reliability.

[Ontariomystic]

You will not get the same reliability out of a heat pump that you get with a NG furnace. Also heat pumps are way more expensive to repair. The push from the government to move away from fossil fuels is only going to backfire when the costs to upgrade the grid between electric cars charging and home heating going electric gets passed onto the consumer. Just my opinion.

[ChickenLips]

anything that moves towards independence from outside services. IMO wood boiler beats electric, gas, oil, heat pump etc. Energy isn't getting cheaper.