AC Unit Question

For your butlers work shed, for a two story condo, for a 5000 sf house? So many unknowns.

With heat pump option = can move heat from inside to out or reverse itself and move heat from outside to in and can operate as a heater as well as an AC
Without heat pump option = only moves heat from inside to out and functions only as an AC

Do you want to be cold year round or not?

ETA: I hit submit too soon. As those guys down below have said, I'd go with an AC and a separate gas furnace for heat. Then the heat pump. Then an AC with an electrical coil for heat. In that order.

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Would you recommend a 16 seer unit with or without a heat pump living in south Louisiana?

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If natural gas is available, I would not get a heat pump.

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So is having a heat pump not need?

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Not if you have a separate heating source. The difference between a heat pump and an AC is that the heat pump has additional equipment and engineering that allow it to function in reverse and provide heat to the home as well as cooling it. In cooling mode however, it's functionally identical to a standard air conditioner. While heating, a heat pump will suffer from some performance issues in very low temperatures, though. Just like an AC has a limit to how cold it can make your house when it's very hot outside, a heat pump has a limit to how warm it can make your house when it's very cold outside. In addition, no electricity, no heat.

Natural gas heaters not only put out a better quality of heat, but when you REALLY need heat when the freak ice storm takes the electricity out and it's going to be in the 20s for days, natural gas is going to be there to keep your balls warm. That heat pump won't.

EDIT: I meant other gas heaters will be available, you pedantic motherfrickers. The furnace won't, as Bullfrog points out below.

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when the freak ice storm takes the electricity out and it's going to be in the 20s for days, natural gas is going to be there to keep your balls warm

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16 SEER NO heat pump

I'd go with heat pump.
Gas is better,but not needed so much where you are.
But, look into rebates offered by the utility companies.
I went from heat pump to gas furnace and received $1000 credit.

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Natural gas heaters not only put out a better quality of heat, but when you REALLY need heat when the freak ice storm takes the electricity out and it's going to be in the 20s for days, natural gas is going to be there to keep your balls warm. That heat pump won't

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So when your electricity goes out, what powers your thermostat, provides the power for your blower motor, etc? Gas or no gas, no electricity means your heat source isn’t going to keep you warm.

If I lose power during the winter, my generator kicks on and runs my natural gas furnace. I also have a New England Soapstone wood stove for back up. I had to live several months without reliable heat in south louisiana during the winter and swore I would never be without a reliable source of heat again. I can live without A/C but frick the cold.

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If natural gas is available, I would not get a heat pump.

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What he said. Natural gas heat is what I've been running since I put the central unit in my house in 92 and it is more than adequate. I have a 2 story and the central is on the top floor which is 1600 sq. ft. with 10 1/2 ft. ceilings, plaster and lath walls, double hung wooden windows and only insulation blown in the attic. My bill runs about $150 average in the winter months.