Choosing a new heating and cooling system can be confusing with all the different options for heat pumps, air conditioners, furnaces, and air handlers.

Homeowners looking into heat pumps often wonder if they also need an air conditioner. Others ask if they need a separate heating system. The HVAC industry tends to overcomplicate everything. At Watkins, we understand your frustration and we’re here to simplify and explain.

Let’s clear this up to start: a heat pump is an air conditioner that also heats in the winter – so you do not need to combine your heat pump with an additional outdoor A/C unit.

Another key point to clarify: a heat pump serves both purposes of cooling and heating in your home, but you DO still need an indoor unit like a furnace to distribute the air through your ductwork. In our Ohio climate, we also use the indoor heating unit to help supplement the heat pump in extreme weather. We’ll go into more detail later in this article.

In this post, we’ll help you choose which heat pump, A/C, and furnace combo is right for your home. But first, let’s explain heat pump operation.

What is a Heat Pump?

A heat pump is an HVAC outdoor unit that cools your home during warm seasons and heats your home during cold seasons. A heat pump is an air conditioner with the added ability to produce heat.

How Heat Pumps Work

A heat pump’s inner workings and functionality are very similar to that of an air conditioner.

Just like A/Cs, heat pumps work by compressing refrigerant gas to take unwanted heat from your indoor air and move it outside to make your house cooler. However, a heat pump system has the added technology of a reversing valve. The reversing valve allows it to reverse refrigerant flow, extracting heat from outdoor air and moving it to your indoor space to make your house warmer. This is what sets heat pumps apart from other heating and cooling systems – their bidirectional capability to seamlessly switch between hot and cold temperatures.

Downsides to Using a Heat Pump

Of course, even an impressive piece of technology like a heat pump has its pros and cons.

There are a couple of minor downsides to using a heat pump, such as the sound level it produces. Particularly in the wintertime – because your heat pump is an outdoor system working hard to pump heat into your home – cheaper models can be a bit noisy. This might be especially noticeable on a quiet, snowy night if yours is the only home with a heat pump in the neighborhood. Theoretically, heat pumps should not be louder than air conditioners. However, extreme cold weather creates a bigger pressure differential, making some scroll compressors noisier than in summer. Some heat pumps also make a whooshing noise when they shift into defrost mode. These effects are usually only noticeable if the unit is directly outside a bedroom window.

The only significant drawback of a heat pump is its longevity.

The average heat pump unit is likely to wear out nearly twice as fast as an air conditioner unit. Because a heat pump system works hard for you year-round, it also experiences twice the runtime as an air conditioner, leading to earlier repairs and replacement.

While a heat pump may wear out faster due to its constant use, you won’t have to deal with the maintenance of a gas furnace. So, there are tradeoffs with all heating and cooling systems.

Heat Pump Operation in Extreme Cold Weather

When heat pumps first became popular in American homes from the 1950s to the 1980s, they earned a bad reputation for underperforming in cold weather. While this was true back then, modern advancements have transformed heat pumps into highly effective systems, even in the depths of winter.

Today’s heat pumps, especially cold-climate models, are designed to operate efficiently in temperatures as low as -15 degrees Fahrenheit. However, if your heat pump is older, you might notice a dip in efficiency around 30 degrees Fahrenheit where heavy icing becomes a problem. This is where Trane’s heat pumps stand out with their Demand Defrost technology. This feature can save you serious money by running defrost functionality precisely when ice is detected, dramatically improving efficiency.

While modern heat pumps perform well in winter, your location matters. In extremely cold climates like Alaska, where lows routinely drop below zero, fossil fuel may still be your best option. However, in more moderate climates, like here in Dayton, Ohio, heat pumps are ideal. They can handle both the heat of summer and the cold of winter with impressive efficiency and reliability.

With a Heat Pump, You Don’t Need a Separate A/C Unit

Homeowners often ask us at Watkins if we have a heat pump combined with an air conditioning unit. The idea that you need both a heat pump and a separate air conditioning unit is a common misconception. This misunderstanding arises because “heat” is in the name, leading many homeowners to assume that a heat pump only provides heating. In reality, a heat pump is an air conditioning system with the added ability to reverse operation and provide heating.

Basically, a heat pump is your all-in-one solution for heating and cooling your home. In the summer, it pumps heat out of your home, and in the winter, it pumps heat into your home. So, when you have a heat pump, you effectively already have a heat pump and A/C combo!

It is important to note that while a heat pump takes care of your heating and cooling, you do still need an indoor unit to pair with it. Your heat pump or air conditioner will connect to the indoor evaporator coil to complete the refrigeration circuit, but then an indoor unit like a furnace or air handler is needed to move air over that evaporator coil to move warm and cool air through the duct system to your home.

In the following sections, we’ll explore the three main types of indoor/outdoor combinations to keep your home comfortable year-round.

Furnace A/C Combo vs. Heat pump Air Handler Combo

When Ohio homeowners are shopping for a new heating and cooling system, they usually end up going with one of two common pairings: the Furnace A/C Combo and the Heat Pump Air Handler Combo. These are the setups we see most often at Watkins Heating & Cooling, each with its own advantages depending on your home’s specific needs.

The Furnace A/C Combo is the most traditional setup, where a gas furnace heats the home in colder months and an air conditioner cools it in warmer months. The furnace burns fuel such as natural gas, propane, or oil to generate heat, while the air conditioner extracts heat from the indoor air and releases it outside. This pairing provides reliable comfort year-round.

The Heat Pump Air Handler Combo is another popular alternative with exceptional energy efficiency. Here, the heat pump serves as the outdoor unit, handling both heating and cooling, while the air handler, also known as a fan coil, circulates air flow through your home’s ducts. The air handler also has an electric heat strip to heat the home during defrost cycles and to supplement when the heat pump can’t keep up. While the heat pump is very efficient, the supplemental electric resistance heat is needed for about a third of the heating season (in Ohio’s climate). This makes the heat pump air handler combination more expensive to heat with than a natural gas furnace but cheaper than a propane or oil furnace.

Both setups are highly effective heating and cooling systems, and the choice between them often depends on the availability of natural gas, your personal energy efficiency goals, and your budget.

Using a Heat Pump with a Gas Furnace – Hybrid Solution

Did you know that you can pair a heat pump with a fossil fuel furnace too? This combo, known as a dual fuel system, is a setup that many homeowners aren’t even aware of. With this hybrid system, you have a heat pump outside and a fossil fuel furnace – like natural gas, propane, or oil – inside your home.

Here’s how it works: During milder weather, the heat pump efficiently heats your home, and the furnace only runs the blower to circulate air through the duct system. But when temperatures drop significantly, say around 30 degrees, it might become more economical to switch over to the fossil fuel furnace. In this case, the heat pump shuts off, and the furnace takes over, providing that cozy warmth that only fossil fuels can offer during extreme cold.

This dual fuel system gives you the best of both worlds: the high efficiency of a heat pump during moderate weather and the reliable warmth of a fossil fuel furnace when winter really kicks in. It’s a versatile and energy-efficient option that ensures your home stays comfortable no matter how cold it gets outside.

Heating with a Heat Pump vs. Fossil Fuel

When it comes to choosing between a fully electric heat pump system or a fossil fuel-based system like a gas furnace, there are a few key factors to consider. While we’ve already discussed the option of a dual fuel system, this section will focus on the pros and cons of going all-electric with a heat pump and air handler versus sticking with a traditional fossil fuel furnace.

A heat pump is a highly efficient piece of equipment, transferring heat rather than generating it, which can provide up to four units of heat for every unit of electricity used (depending on the outdoor temperature). This makes it a great choice, especially in milder weather.

On the other hand, a fossil fuel furnace – whether powered by natural gas, propane, or oil – generates consistent heat, regardless of outdoor temperatures. While a heat pump’s efficiency decreases as it gets colder outside, a fossil fuel furnace maintains its performance, providing reliable warmth even in the coldest weather.

To see how this plays out in real-world scenarios, we designed this chart to illustrates the relationship between the heat needed by the home and heat produced by a heat pump. View the chart here.

Cost is another factor to consider. While heat pumps are efficient, the cost of electricity versus natural gas can shift the balance. For example, with current gas prices around $0.60 per therm, a heat pump is only more economical than natural gas when the outdoor temperature is above 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Below that, a gas furnace often makes more financial sense. Oil and propane are much more expensive, making the heat pump cheaper down to 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Check here for current energy prices in Ohio.

Environmental impact is also a consideration. Although heat pumps have a lower carbon footprint than electric resistance heat, Ohio’s reliance on coal-generated electricity means the carbon footprint of a heat pump is roughly twice as large as that of a fossil fuel furnace.

Whether it’s a heat pump, a dual fuel system, or a traditional furnace and A/C combo, the key is finding the right fit for your home’s needs and your climate. At Watkins Heating & Cooling, we’re here to help you make the best decision for energy efficiency and year-round comfort. We’d be happy to evaluate your home and help you find the best solution. Book a free appointment below: