Hybrid dual-fuel heating in San Mateo County
Dual fuel? Know the rebate catch first.
A hybrid dual-fuel system pairs an electric heat pump with a gas furnace as backup. We install them, and we'll tell you up front that the utility heat pump rebates we checked do not pay for dual-fuel systems.
What is a hybrid dual-fuel system, and is it right for my house?
It's a heat pump outdoors and a gas furnace indoors, sharing the same ducts and one thermostat. In mild weather the heat pump does the heating, which is most of a Peninsula winter. When it gets cold enough, or the heat pump can't keep up, the controls hand over to the gas furnace. In summer the heat pump cools the house like an AC, so you don't need a separate air conditioner.
It fits when you already have a gas furnace and gas line, you want that furnace as backup, and you aren't counting on a heat pump rebate. It also suits a house where you'd like to try a heat pump without giving up gas heat in a cold snap. A fully electric heat pump fits when the rebate matters, when you want to be off gas, or when the furnace is at the end of its life and you'd rather not replace it with another one.
Which setup costs less to run depends on what you pay for electricity and for gas, and no one can promise that number in advance.
Does a dual-fuel heat pump qualify for a rebate?
No, not from the programmes we checked. Peninsula Clean Energy, Silicon Valley Clean Energy and Palo Alto Utilities pay only for fully electric systems. Their own terms are quoted in the notices below: a fully electric system qualifies, and a heat pump added alongside a gas furnace that stays does not.
That is the real cost of choosing dual-fuel: you give up the rebate. If the rebate decides it for you, a fully electric heat pump is the system to look at. If you want gas backup and the rebate isn't the point, dual-fuel is a sound way to go, and we'll install it.
Not sure which system fits?
Call and talk it through, or book a visit online.
Tell us what it's doing. We'll take it from there.
Call and describe the problem: the noise, the smell, the room that never warms up. Or book a visit online.
