Heat Pumps or Furnaces: Which Is Best for My Home?

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If you are balancing your options for heating your home, you may come down to a choice between two popular—but very different—systems: the heat pump and the furnace. Furnaces are common and have kept homes warm for centuries. Heat pumps are more recent innovations (comparatively, at least) and offer the benefit of air conditioning as well. How best to decide between these two? First, don’t make the decision alone. When it comes to making any important choice regarding your home, you should always consult with a professional in the field. For your home heating, talk to experts like those at Air Mechanical, Inc. about whether furnaces or heat pumps in Mounds View, MN do the better job—or at least, will do the better job for your home.

Furnaces: pros and cons

Furnaces are common in Minnesota because they excel at defeating extreme cold temperatures. Furnaces can reach high levels of heating rapidly, and they can endure for many years—not as many as boilers, but with a furnace you never have to worry about pipes freezing! Furnaces also have many different options for their fuel source—natural gas, electricity, propane—so there’s always a furnace that will work with your power supply. The downside of furnaces is that they often require more repairs than other systems to keep them operating. Gas furnaces also pose a larger safety hazard than other systems, although with regular maintenance the risk is minimal.

Heat pumps: pros and cons

The huge advantage of heat pumps is that they work as both heaters and air conditioners. You have winter and summer covered with only one installation. Heat pumps are also exceptionally energy-efficient, since they use a small amount of electricity to move heat from one place to another, rather than burning fuel to create heat, the way a furnace does. A switch to a heat pump from a furnace can often save a family up to 30% off their annual heating bills. The only drawback for heat pumps is their effective heating power starts to weaken when the temperature goes below freezing. In Minnesota, this can present a problem. A well-insulated house, however, can sometimes compensate.

Let Air Mechanical, Inc. help you find the right heating system

You should have HVAC professionals assisting you from the start of looking for new heating system installation. Call Air Mechanical, Inc. and we can look over your home and perform a heat load calculation to determine the best method to bring you the warmth you need. Whether you end up considering furnaces or heat pumps in Mounds View, MN you can’t go wrong with the services of Air Mechanical, Inc.

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