Replacing old furnace with a heat pump
My parents’ house is old and has always had a furnace for heating.
My brother, our firstborn, decided it would be more cost and energy efficient to have them shift to new heating technology.
As an engineer, he’s more exposed to the heating industry, so we always follow his recommendations without questioning much. He’s the one who introduced us to the digital thermostat when they first became the hottest heating device addition to have in the house, and he’s been telling us to shift to the smart models. He’s not an HVAC tech, but he does know a bit that’s reliable and makes it easy to understand what the heating dealer means with some of the terms they use to explain heating maintenance. Before its ultimate end, the previous equipment had taken us through a tough patch of ductwork maintenance and duct sealing before we realized that we were spending more on heating repair than we would with buying new equipment. We were listed to install a heat pump, and a simple home services inspection found that the house was perfect for a ground source, but my brother wanted an electric heater installed. For once, we were in a dilemma my brother didn’t have a solution for. My parents were worried about the cost of electricity if we went electric, but my brother thought it would not be a problem. I was so confused that I had to seek out the HVAC serviceman, who’d become familiar during the repair season. The technician was kind enough to break it down for me, which is how I understood both options would still use electricity. I stuck with the ground source option because it would cover our home entirely compared to the heater option.