I'm considering moving to Florida soon and have noticed many houses have electric heat. Since they have air conditioning, how difficult and expensive would it be to convert the heating from electric to gas, assuming there already is gas in the house? Any other suggestions?
Depends on how the system is installed. I had an heat pump on the roof. I changed it to a straight cool ground mount compressor and a new air handler in a closet that had a gas heater in it. As I could do most of the work myself it was pretty easy. That was 8 years ago. Before doing the change check the rates for both fuels. It might take a long time to get your money back. Depending on the seer rating. My new home has a 10 seer and I looked into changing it out to a 14. Cost you ask,,, $5400.00 I am not doing it as it will take 8 years to break even. I do not plan to be here for more than 4-5. More insulation and weather stripping would be my first expense. Heat in Florida, should not need that much..
Scratch the gas heat idea, think heat pump. Greg
I'll second that - in Florida go Heat Pump - if the house already has central air all you BASICALLY need to do is replace the outside unit and a new t-stat .
You want a heat pump if you live in FL. I'm in the Tampa area and ran my heat exactly 3 days this year... Depending on where you are moving to it may not make sense to change the type of heat.
Steve B.
Thanks for the great responses. If the house I find has electric, I'll definitely investigate a heat pump.
Steve, I'm planning to move to Tampa. Can you email me at reader at midsouth dot rr dot com?
To the OP...heat pump IS the way to go...as suggested...however...some additions on the information given below.
Where the unit is mounted means nothing...nothing at all. It is how the duct work is installed, and if it is matched to the system at hand that matters, along with a properly sized system using manual T.
SEER ratings have NOTHING to do with how well the heat pump will save you money. None. SEER ratings only apply to the AC function of the unit. HSPF is what you rate the heat pump by in heating mode.
Not enough information there to determine if the price is right, since we just installed a 16SEER rated unit (remember, SEER is for the AC only) for about $3100. You dont state tonnage, what was or will need to be done...so that figure is pointless..
i am in south louisiana, and last year, winter, the heater was on maybe two night at most... if you are gonna be in florida i dont think that putting any money into heat is going to be cost effective.. probably will not use the heat much anyway..... a/c will probably run about 11 months out of the year or more.....
It makes very little sense, (or cents, for that matter!), to go with gas heat in the far south US. A heat pump is by far a clear choice. You want AC anyway, for a few more dollars you can lmake it heat for you too. A gas furnace is much more money to install compared to the differance between AC and heat pump. The climate is perfeect for it too. No question in my mind! Greg
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