Air Handler Vs Electric Furnace

Forced air electric heat pump electric heat pumps are different from furnaces in one big way.

Air handler vs electric furnace.

The air handler is not heating or cooling the air. A furnace works on a different concept. Instead external heat pulled from outside or the ground flows into the home. In addition electric furnaces often are paired with heat pumps air handlers or added as the heating component to an air conditioner.

Costs of electric furnaces. In fact the two systems can look so similar you may think you have an electric furnace when in actuality you have an air handler. The air handler and the condenser will be replaced with an air handler that is similar to the air handler you have now except there will be some heat pump controls versus the electric heat controls that are used to control the electric. Furnace types explained single stage vs.

Instead of an air handler furnaces have included blowers that move the warmed air into your ventilation and disperse through your home. Both air handlers and gas furnaces pair with your air conditioner or heat pump and are located in either a closet attic or basement. Since furnaces have combustion chambers and create heat they don t have some of the parts you ll find in a typical air handler. There is no pilot light or combustion involved.

It s just blowing the air past the refrigerant lines which are changing the temperature. Electric heat pumps are more energy efficient than gas furnaces and require much less electricity to operate than electric furnaces. The unit cost of a forced air. In this case an air handler will be used for your air conditioner.

The prices of burning fuel or using electricity are much more expensive nowadays so there has been a shift away from furnaces to systems such as a boiler which can use electricity more efficiently. For homes with both a furnace and central air conditioning the furnace s blower acts as the air handler for the air conditioning system. This is why it can be confusing to tell the difference between the two. By contrast in an electric furnace an electric ignition receives the thermostat signal and activates electric heating elements inside the furnace.

For heat pumps all units will use an air handler. When you take into account the cost of fuel and the efficiency of the heating appliance either a gas furnace or an electric heat pump could be more cost effective. That s what makes an air handler different from a furnace. The heat exchanger draws heat from the main burner and heats the air that will circulate to the house.