[dznutz]

I’m in Chicago and have a natural gas furnace with central air conditioning in my house. The AC crapped out on me and I had an HVAC guy give me a quote on replacing just the AC coil and condenser unit, the furnace was in good condition. He tried to sell me on a heat pump/AC unit, said it would be the same price as just replacing the AC, and I could use it as a back up to the natural gas furnace. I declined, figuring it is just another system that could break and cause problems down the road.

[Secret Agent Man]

Good move.

[Tell It Right]

I have extended family in Colorado who wanted to add A/C to the house. I suggested a heat pump for the purpose of not just cooling the house in the summer, but being an option for heating in the cooler seasons during mild cold (still use gas furnace for extreme cold). The idea of heating during mild cold with either the electric heat pump or the natural gas furnace was to give the homeowner the option to choose whichever energy was cheaper at that moment. If their utility company, Excel, was charging a lot for natural gas, use the heat pump to warm the house (again except for extreme cold). If the utility was charging more for power, use the gas furnace.

They say it works fine in saving them money by simply having options.

[catnipman]

“and I could use it as a back up to the natural gas furnace.”

not much of a selling point: a good quality NG furnace will last at least 50 years ...