Combining an electric heat pump with a gas oil furnace
When both of us bought our home, it was already equipped with a forced air oil furnace.
The gas furnace was fairly new & in fantastic condition.
It was plenty powerful enough to handle the dire weather in our local area… Living in the northeastern part of the country, both of us experience every genre of season & condition, including sub zero temperatures, snow, frigid rain, high winds, intensive heat & brutal humidity. While both of us were perfectly gratified with the performance of the oil furnace in the winter, both of us wanted to add a cooling system. My first thought was to purchase a conventional centralized a/c. That would have been the least extravagant option. However, after I did some research into the pros & cons of bizarre types of systems, I decided to spend more on an electric heat pump. I knew that the heat pump would pay for itself in energy savings. The advantage of a heat pump is that it provides both heating & cooling capability. We use it just love an a/c in the summer. It keeps costs low & effectively handles excessive humidity. Once the outdoor temperature cools off, the heat pump reverses the flow of refrigerant to bring heat into the house. It relies on ambient heat rather than burning fossil fuels to generate heat. This process is especially energy efficient. It’s also legitimately environmentally friendly, safe, quiet & clean. For the majority of the year, the year pump provides everything both of us need. It’s only when the temperature drops below frigid that the heat pump struggles to keep up. At that point, the oil furnace kicks in & supplies adequate heat to keep the loft perfectly comfortable. The combination of the gas oil furnace & the electric heat pump is known as a dual fuel system.