Need a new Furnace, don't know what to decide.

[Nate S.]

Apparently I'm having a major Electric furnace problems since my Electric bill in December and January was $657. The worst part, the house is vacant, it is being bio washed, remodeled. at the moment.  The house was built in 1977, so it has original furnace since then.

I got a local heater & ac local guy to drop by, who does rehabbing himself said changers are bad like turning it off and on. Told me since I plan to rent it out, defiantly go Gas which most of the landlords do. Even said the gas company would come out, install a gas line straight to it with no cost(too good to be true) All he does is install the gas meter & new AC unit for $6k. There is a daycare next to my house which has a gas meter. I don't know if he is trying make a buck off of me because I'm new to this.Told him I'll give it some thought, not rushing on any big decisions such as this. 

I keep reading go gas because during winter because the Electric bill will be too high and may have some vacant units. Then my friend who owns actual house in town, equivalent to my size only paid $150/month for electric bill in the winter. He spent like $1k on a new electric furnace, installment was $4k. Even said, more and more people are going Electric, gas is becoming a thing of the past. 

Is it best to just buy a new Electric furnace go with that route or installing gas? I don't know what to decide on this. Just seems electric is far more simple, more likely less costly since it is already electric. 

[Jeffrey VanGilder]

Down south I would think you should have a heat pump. Heating and cooling all in one system. The new ones are capable of producing 100% rated heating capacity down to 17° which should be fine for you in Georgia. Just make sure the contractor runs a heat load/loss calculation to properly size your system. Over sizing is not a good thing to do, find a hvac contractor that will do the calculations and then your unit will run more efficiently.