Should I Get a Heat Pump or a Furnace This Winter?

Winters in Massachusetts can be brutally cold with lots of wind, ice, and snow. If you’re looking for an upgrade before the chilly weather hits, McClaren Heating & AC has you covered. Here’s a look at the differences between heat pumps and furnaces and which might be the right fit for your South Shore home.

How Furnaces Work

A furnace works by using either gas or electricity to warm air. Then, that heated air is blown through your ducts by a fan and distributed to each room via floor, ceiling, or wall vents.

Your furnace turns on when your connected thermostat senses a drop in your home’s temperature and turns back off when your desired temperature is reached. This cycle repeats throughout the day to keep your space at whatever temperature you’ve set your thermostat at.

How Heat Pumps Work

Heat pumps work much differently than furnaces. These systems don’t create heat at all, but instead move heat from one place to another. In the winter, heat is extracted from outdoors and pumped inside, where one or more indoor air handlers distribute it to different zones in your home. Even though it might not seem like there’s any heat outside to extract, these systems still work efficiently even down to frigid temps.

This also means it can function as an air conditioner when you need cooling in the summer. To do this, the process simply reverses, and heat is extracted from the inside of your home and pumped outside.

Comparing Heat Pumps and Furnaces

Feature	Furnaces	Heat Pumps
Can use natural gas	✅	❌
Can heat and cool a home	❌	✅
Has more than one level of heating	⚪ (depends on the model)	✅
Uses fan(s) to distribute heated air	✅	✅
High energy efficiency	⚪ (depends on the model)	✅
Lower upfront cost	✅	❌
Lower operating costs	❌	✅
Provides instant heat	❌	✅
Low noise level	⚪ (depends on the model)	✅
Environmentally friendly	⚪ (depends on the model)	✅
Good indoor air quality	⚪ (depends on the model)	✅
Risk of carbon monoxide leaks	⚪ (depends on the model)	❌
Compatible with a smart thermostat	⚪ (depends on the model)	✅
Easy to install	✅	⚪ (depends on the model)
Needs yearly maintenance	✅	✅

How to Decide Which System to Install

Which type of system you should have installed depends on several factors, like:

Your initial purchase budget
How much you want to spend on heating long-term
How large your home is
How many rooms, doors, and windows your home has
Whether your home has a natural gas hookup
How quiet you want your heating system to be
How important good indoor air quality is for your home
If you need air conditioning and want a system that can do both

Can I Have Both?

In some cases, you may be able to have a dual-fuel heating setup with a furnace and a heat pump. For example, if you already have a furnace, you can add a heat pump to one or more rooms to use as a backup on very cold days. Or, if your furnace is older, you can have a heat pump system installed and only turn on your furnace when the weather drops below a certain temperature.

If you have a heat pump system, it’s more efficient to add more indoor air handlers to increase your heating capacity. It’s unlikely that you would want to install a furnace after already having upgraded to a heat pump since this would be less effective at heating your home for the money.

Need Heat? Call McClaren Heating & Air Conditioning Today

At McClaren Heating & AC, we specialize in the installation, maintenance, and repair of almost every type of heating system. Whether you want a gas furnace, an electric one, or a high-efficiency heat pump, we can help you make the right choice.