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My wife and I would like to remove the older oil heat from our home and replace it with a heat pump. We currently have an Amana central air conditioning unit (3 ton), and an oil furnace in the basement. From what I can tell, it looks like the furnace is doing all the air moving (upflow), blowing air through a Goodman CAPF Cased Indoor Coil, which is of course connected to the outside unit.

Since the furnace is doing all the air moving right now, but the coil is working great, can the furnace be removed, and in its place install a modular blower? (Like Goodman's MBR, for example).

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A blower will only work if you are content with A/C only and no heat. It's probably illegal to have a house with no heat unless you live in the tropics. AFAIK, most A/C units cannot be converted to heat pumps, so it would likely be a complete system replacement.

Also, with conventional heat pumps in all but the most temperate climates, you need a source of backup heat because the heat pump will not work well in very cold weather. So you still pretty much need a furnace with a heat pump. Only heat pumps using alternate heat sources such as ground or ground water do not need backup heat. Such systems are more costly to install than backup heat, but should pay off in the long run with better efficiency.

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  • In NZ, we have heat pumps available that can work down to around -10C (32F). And here, it's not illegal to have no (built in) heat. But there are minimal amounts of insulation you have to have installed when building new. – hookenz Jul 22 '13 at 0:09
  • @bcworkz: Sorry, I should have been more clear. We would replace the outside unit with a heat pump, and on the inside have a heat kit installed to support the heat pump during extreme cold. – themidnightwill Jul 22 '13 at 1:57
  • In that case, then yes, all you need is a blower unit, and the proper controls so the various components work together properly. – bcworkz Jul 22 '13 at 23:09
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    @Matt: -10 °C is 14 °F. – wallyk Aug 20 '13 at 22:35

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