You are looking at a cooling system and wondering whether to buy a heat pump or simply an air conditioner. The answer turns on one question, and it is worth a few minutes because the two are close in price and very far apart in what they give you back.
Cooling only, or heating and cooling? Decide this first: do you want the system to heat the house as well, or only to get you through the summer? It matters more than it sounds, because you are already paying to heat the house for eight months of the year. A machine that takes over part of that job is working against a bill you are paying anyway.
What actually separates the two. The difference is simple, and it holds at every size. An air conditioner cools. A heat pump cools and heats, because it can run its cycle in reverse. Depending on the model and how cold it gets, the heat pump carries a real share of your heating down to a given outdoor temperature, and that is where the savings come from. Everything else about the two, how they are installed, how they are sized, how they look in the room, is broadly the same.
The choice exists at every scale. If your house has ductwork, the comparison is central air conditioning against a central heat pump, both using the ducts you already have, and our side-by-side of those two goes into running costs, winter performance and lifespan. If it does not, or you want to treat rooms separately, it is a wall-mounted air conditioner against a wall-mounted heat pump, either as a single unit for one room or a multizone system covering several. The question is the same in all four cases: are you buying cooling, or cooling plus heating? Our guide to choosing a wall-mounted heat pump covers the smaller end in detail.
What it costs, beyond the unit. The equipment itself differs by a few hundred dollars. Installation is a significant part of the total and depends on what is being installed and on the layout of the building. If your installer is not a qualified electrician, you will also need one to connect the unit to the panel, so ask before you book.
Upkeep and warranty. A heat pump runs about ten months a year against roughly two for an air conditioner, so it asks for more maintenance, and it earns that back on your heating costs. Check the warranty on each model as well. Good heat pumps and air conditioners carry strong coverage on parts and labour, and efficient heat pumps also qualify for government rebates, which narrows the price gap further.
If you are not sure which side of the line your house falls on, talk to one of our specialists. It is a short conversation and it usually settles the question.
