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What Kind of HVAC Is Best for Your Home?

Posted On Tuesday, 16 May 2023 22:12
What Kind of HVAC Is Best for Your Home?

Is it time to upgrade your HVAC? You might be faced with more choices than you expect. There’s ductless, heat pumps, split systems, boilers, and packaged systems. Which one is right for you?

That depends on your home and climate. Split systems are the most common, but that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t be better off with a heat pump or a ductless system. Let’s take a closer look at the different kinds of HVAC systems you can choose from, and the pros and cons of each.

Ductless

Ductless systems are a great solution if you don’t have ductwork in your house or want a flexible heating and cooling option that allows for zoned climate control. Ductless systems don’t cool or heat your home by pushing air through a system of ducts. Instead, they consist of small interior units that heat one room of your house at a time. Each interior unit is accompanied by an outdoor compressor. 

These systems can be the easiest to install, and since you’re only heating or cooling the rooms you’re using, they can be efficient. If you just need to heat a specific room, such as a garage or an attic that has been recently finished, a ductless system could be an elegant solution. They’re also good if you don’t use all the rooms in your house. However, they can be expensive, costing $2,000 to $14,500 to install.

Split System

Split systems consist of a furnace, boiler, or heat pump and an air conditioner, and they’re the most common form of HVAC. Most people in the United States have either a boiler, which uses hot water pumped through a series of radiators around the home, or a furnace, which uses electricity or natural gas to generate heat. Split systems require ductwork, and if your ductwork needs to be repaired or replaced, you can add up to $2,000 to the price of your HVAC install. Split systems are great for homes in four-season climates. 

One advantage of a split system is that you often don’t have to replace both the heating and the cooling component at once. One may still be working while the other needs to be replaced. As a result, costs of split systems are broken down according to whether they’re for the heating or the air conditioning portion of the system. New air conditioners cost $3,800 to $7,500. A furnace, boiler, or heat pump can cost $2,600 to $17,000, which heat pumps being on the higher end.

Another advantage of a split system is that you might be able to only install one half of the system if your local climate allows it. For example, if you live in Florida, you might skip the furnace and only install the air conditioner. If you live in an extreme northerly clime, where it doesn’t get too hot in the summer, you might just have your heating system and skip the central air. However, if you live in a climate like Arizona, where it gets both cold and hot, sometimes on the same day, you will need an HVAC showroom in Phoenix to show you systems that can handle extremes.

Heat Pump

Heat pumps work not by generating heat, but by transferring heat from one place to another. In the winter, it pumps geothermal heat from outdoors into your home. In the summer, it pumps the heat in your home into the outdoors. 

Because it doesn’t actually generate heat, a heat pump can be one of the most energy-efficient HVAC options. It’s especially popular in cold climates; if the climate is especially cold, a heat pump might be combined with a secondary heating source, such as a furnace or boiler. While efficient, heat pumps can get pricey, costing $3,700 to $17,000. You need a lot of property to put in the required underground pipework, and your yard will need to be excavated for the installation.

Packaged System

Packaged systems combine the heating and cooling components of your HVAC into one unit, which is usually installed outside the house. Package systems may be installed on a concrete slab, or on the roof of your home. They’re convenient for homes that don’t have basements, and they’re energy efficient, but they often don’t provide the powerful heat needed for very cold climates. 

Choosing the right HVAC for your home can feel like a big decision – because it is. The system you choose will determine your comfort at home for years or even decades into the future, so choose wisely, and buy a dependable unit that will meet your needs for a long time.

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