Electric or Gas Furnace?

[Patricia]

We are building a new house and must decide whether we want a gas or electric furnace. Gas prices just went up drastically in my area (Alabama) and we are considering an electric heat pump. Any advice? We want something that is the most economical in the long run but we also do not want to sacrifice quality. We intend on having a gas powered generator in the event the electricity goes out so we will not putting all our eggs in one basket even if we do an electric heat pump. Any advice?

[Kidd6488]

We installed an open-loop geothermal system last year and we are very happy with it. We use the pump-and-dump system where you pump the water up with a well and dump it (we dump down a field tile, but others use an old well, or a ditch, creek, etc.) Is is considerably more expensive to install, but we are already seeing the savings, as we used to have electric cable heat. It is also air-conditioning in the summertime.

[bek]

Originally Posted by Patricia

We are building a new house and must decide whether we want a gas or electric furnace. Gas prices just went up drastically in my area (Alabama) and we are considering an electric heat pump. Any advice? We want something that is the most economical in the long run but we also do not want to sacrifice quality. We intend on having a gas powered generator in the event the electricity goes out so we will not putting all our eggs in one basket even if we do an electric heat pump. Any advice?

I've had gas and electric. I have gas right now, and am selling my house and would not even consider another gas-heated home. Sure, it's warm (sometimes too warm--like at 4:00 am when you wake up dry), but the bills are skyrocketing. An electric heat pump will work just fine, especially in Alabama, and is still cheap on the wallet each money.

Please buy the electric heat pump.

Good luck with your decision.
-Brian

[lonestarheir]

As an HVAC company owner, I would recommend the heat pump. Couple of reasons. In the Gulf Coast region, heat pumps are the perfect choice. Usually our temps don't get to low for to long (heat pumps are good to about 30 degrees after that you are dependent on the back up straight electric heat which is very expensive to run). 2nd they should cost about the same price as a gas unit (maybe a bit more sometimes). Make sure that you hire a quality contractor and do some background checks and call referals that they should be willing to give you. I think more important than the brand of equipment is the quality of the installation. You can buy the best equipment on the market and it will only preform as good as the person installing it. Ask to see pictures of previous jobs, every contractor should have some to show.