Choosing the right furnace is essential for ensuring your house is comfortable throughout the winter and your heating bills stay as low as possible. In terms of whether an electric furnace or a gas furnace is best, the biggest factor is generally where you live. Electric furnaces are rarely used in places that experience severe winters for a few different reasons. Nonetheless, an electric furnace can potentially be a good option in the Vacaville, California area due to our winters typically being so mild. In this article, we’ll compare electric and gas furnaces so you understand the pros and cons of each and also discuss everything else you should know to make a more informed decision on which heating option is best for your home.
Why Gas Furnaces Are More Common in Colder Climates
There are two primary reasons why gas furnaces are usually the preferred option in places with colder winters. One is that a gas furnace puts out far more heat than an electric furnace, so it heats a house much more quickly and effectively. A gas furnace can usually raise the temperature of the air flowing through it to between 120 and 140 degrees. While the air loses some heat as it moves through the home’s ducts, it is still quite hot when it flows out of the vents. Electric furnaces, on the other hand, are typically only capable of heating the air to somewhere around 90 to 100 degrees.
The other main reason that gas furnaces are so common in colder climates is that they cost far less to run compared to electric furnaces. Electric furnaces are technically more energy efficient, but they can be extremely costly to run in a cold climate due to their high power consumption. In a place with cold winters, even a home that’s not all that big will likely need anywhere from a 15- to 20-kilowatt electric furnace to keep every part of the house sufficiently warm. An electric furnace would also have to run much more per day than a gas furnace as a result of it not heating as effectively. That means the cost to heat the house with an electric furnace could easily be twice as high compared to the cost of heating with a gas furnace.
Advantages of Opting for an Electric Furnace
The milder winters in our part of California mean that both of the issues we just discussed are far less pronounced since your furnace won’t need to run all that much and you won’t need nearly as big of a furnace. An electric furnace will typically be more than sufficient in our climate. While your heating costs will still be a bit higher with an electric furnace, choosing this option can still provide some significant benefits over a gas furnace. One is that electric furnaces are less expensive to purchase. They also typically last for 20 to 30 years, whereas gas furnaces usually give out after about 15 years. Your maintenance and repair requirements will also usually be less with an electric furnace.
Another advantage of electric furnaces is that they are safer. Although any type of furnace can be a fire hazard if it’s not properly maintained and you don’t take certain precautions, the risk of fire is higher with gas furnaces since they produce flames. The other major safety concern with a gas furnace is that it has the potential to expose everyone in the house to carbon monoxide, which can lead to fatal carbon monoxide poisoning.
Many people also consider electric furnaces to be more environmentally friendly than gas furnaces. That’s because gas furnaces release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere whereas electric furnaces don’t produce any carbon emissions. Nonetheless, whether an electric furnace is actually more environmentally friendly is up for debate. It really depends on how much an electric furnace runs and how the electricity generated to run the furnace is produced. If the electricity comes from burning fossil fuels, an electric furnace can contribute to more carbon emissions being released since it will run more than a gas furnace. If the electricity comes from renewable and non-fossil fuel sources like hydroelectric and nuclear, an electric furnace will be much better for the environment than a gas furnace.
Reasons to Consider a Heat Pump Instead of a Furnace
Instead of installing either a gas or an electric furnace, choosing to install a heat pump might be your best option. One reason is just that a heat pump can also keep your house cool during the warmer parts of the year in addition to providing effective heating. That means you can save quite a bit of money since you only need to install, repair and maintain one unit instead of having both a furnace and an air conditioner.
In terms of all of your heating options, the one area where heat pumps really stand out is in terms of energy efficiency. A quality heat pump will usually allow you to heat your house for around half the cost of what you’d pay if you had a gas furnace. Compared to an electric furnace, a heat pump will typically use a third or even a quarter of the amount of energy.
The superior efficiency and reduced energy consumption also make a heat pump the most environmentally friendly way to heat your house. That means installing a heat pump is one of the easiest and most effective ways to lower your carbon footprint. This is why there has recently been such a huge push both in California and at the federal level to encourage people to switch to heat pumps.
As part of this push, there are a variety of excellent incentives like tax credits and rebates available when you install a heat pump. For instance, installing a new heat pump that meets certain energy-efficiency criteria enables you to get up to a $2,000 credit when you file next year’s federal income taxes. You may not receive the full amount since the credit is capped at 30% of the installation cost, but you can still save some money. You can also receive a $1,000 rebate on a new heat pump through the TECH Clean California program as long as it is installed by a licensed HVAC company. Many local utility companies offer their own incentives and rebates for homeowners who install heat pumps as well.
Whether you’re looking to install a new gas or electric furnace, a heat pump or any other HVAC unit, you can trust the pros at Cozy Home Services. We have over two decades of experience serving homeowners in Vacaville and the surrounding areas and are ready to assist with all of your home comfort, plumbing, electrical and solar installation needs. Our experienced team is dedicated to providing an unbeatable level of customer service and will work to ensure that you’re completely satisfied with the work we perform. If you need any type of HVAC or heating installation, we also offer financing for new systems on approved credit. To get expert help and advice on choosing the right type of heating system for your home, give us a call to set up a consultation with one of our experts.
