"Boris" wrote in message
09.88...
"Ralph Mowery" wrote in
:


"Boris" wrote in message
9.88...
The furnace is an American Standard, up-flow, housed in the hall closet.
There are copper tubes (carrying what, I don't know, but they get cold
when the a/c comes on)going to the furnace bonnet. I don't know the
interaction, if any.



I guess that the furnace is either gas or oil ?

The copper tubes that get cold are carring the 'freon'. If no one has
explained how it works, here is a very quick explination. The compressor
has a piston in it that compresses the gas to a liquid, then to the outside
unit that air blows across it and takes away the heat. Then pipes it to the
inside coils where the liquid goes through a small restriction in the pipe .
There it absorbs heat from the air and causes the liquid to boil and turn
into gas. This makes the coils feel cool.

Unless you have a heat pump that reversed the flow and the tubes inside get
hot in the winter it has nothing to do whit the furnace, just uses the same
blower and duct work.

I don't recall you saying what part of the country you are in. If in an
area that does not get below 25 deg C very many days of the year, you may
want to look at a heat pump. Cost should not be much more. If in a cold
area of the country, then a heat pump will not be very efficent.