So I have a 20+ year old furnace..
 

Ive been reading into heat pumps and they sound like a good way to go.. I've found a few decent ones on Craigslist for less than 500$.. Is it worth getting one and hooking it up to my old system? Even if it's only for a year or 2 till I planned on updating the whole system (or do a DIY gshp)

Thoughts?

even if you only save 350$ with a 500$ heat pump, you can still resell the pump for $400 probably, Ohio is pretty cold though, so I would think it would save you a bunch, but im not really sure

If you are going to replace your furnace in a year or two, why not install a heat pump inline with it at that point in time?
I was checking in to air source heat pumps in my area and natural gas is cheap enough here that there would be very little cost savings for me, so unless you are using fuel oil or LP I don't see you saving $350 a year, my best guess is that I could save $50 a year with an air source heat pump over the cost of cheap natural gas and natural gas would still be the cheaper heat when it's below -0- so the only time I can see it being worth installing a heat pump with a furnace that is going to be removed in a year or two would be when you have a mini-split that is not part of the furnace or when you are going to be able to keep using your furnace for a few more years beyond it's current life span because the heat pump is taking that much of a load off of it, but new furnaces often also have multi-speed fans that save a lot on the electrical side.

Well the Main reason I thought about putting on in is because my furnace is really old and I know it's no where near efficient.. We have had a pretty mild winter so far and I'm using 170-190 ccf of ng at .55 a ccf.. (also have a gas water heater turned WAY down) just seems expensive to me.. Figured it would save me some money in the long run

Here is one from Craigslist.. I currently have a 2.5 ton ac unit..

A 6yr old R-22 heat pump and air handler with 10 kw electric heater, was removed from condo both pc of equipment where running when removed , I'm not interested in installing . Both pc. of equipment are in pretty good shape. E mail me if interested and I'll get back intouch with you . Thanks

I would suggest a wood stove. I am heating my place for FREE. Plenty of people give away wood. Trees fall down all the time.
Sure, there is work involved, but the payoff is well worth it.

What's your electrical rate? I'm paying 11kwh and 75 cents per therm for natural gas and our coldest month so far this year we used 105 therms of natural gas for a 2250sf house built in 1906 using a sealed combustion furnace from 1987 and a new A.O. Smith vertex gas water heater.

Looks like .022 a kwh?

Fordguy64
If your only using 190 ccf of ng at .55 per ccf thats about $104.00 per month. Not bad. If you electric costs are 0.22 /kwh I think it will cost you more for running a heat pump. My GSHP thats heating my shop 1600 sf. is costing about 135.00/month @0.15/kwh Maybe your best bet is a new high efficiency gas furnace. My friend had the same issue. Her furnace was a 22 yr old gas that no parts where avalible any longer. She installed a new HE gas furnace with a central air unit and cut here usage in half.

Randen

IMO money spent on insulation and weatherization in general is better than money spent on HVAC. That is unless your places is already a passivehaus.................

Make the envelope rock solid and then heat it with incandescent light bulbs or something like that.