It’s becoming increasingly clear that gas stoves are bad for your health. According to Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, gas stoves contribute to about 13% of childhood asthma cases in the US, which is equivalent to the risk of developing asthma due to secondhand smoke exposure!
As a result, there’s been a lot of chatter about gas stove bans in the media and you may have thought about switching to induction cooking yourself.
But gas stoves aren’t the only appliance that threatens your home’s health and safety.
As it turns out, there are two other major sources of indoor air pollution lurking in your home—your furnace and your water heater.
But you need heat and hot water, so what do you do? Enter heat pumps.
The Problem with Gas Heating
First, let’s take a closer look at why gas water heaters and gas furnaces are bad for your indoor air quality.
Gas appliances pose a health risk because of the fuel they burn. Natural gas contains a significant amount of methane, which traps heat in the atmosphere and is a leading cause of climate change. But it also contains several other pollutants that are harmful to your health when inhaled.
The Environmental Protection Agency has identified three major air pollutants that come from gas furnaces and other combustion appliances.
- Carbon Monoxide - A colorless, odorless gas known as the “silent killer” that can cause dizziness, headaches, nausea, and, with prolonged exposure, death.
- Nitrogen Dioxide - A poisonous gas that can irritate the eyes, nose, throat, and respiratory tract. Exposure to high levels can cause more serious health effects, including trouble breathing, collapse, and death.
- Particulate Matter - Microscopic particles that cause serious respiratory tract irritation when inhaled.
Your indoor air quality and HVAC system are inherently linked, but gas appliances don’t automatically infect your air with harmful pollutants. When installed, vented, and maintained correctly, they will operate safely and vent harmful byproducts outside of your home.
But they always pose a risk.
Leaks, poor ventilation, and incomplete combustion can all cause pollutants to leak into your breathing air. To improve your indoor air quality and protect your family, you should prioritize furnace and water heater maintenance. But the best thing you can do is get gas appliances out of your home completely.
The Solution? Electric Heat Pumps
Heat pump HVAC systems and heat pump water heaters are the safest alternative to gas space and water heating systems.
Why?
Because they don’t burn gas.
Instead of burning fuel to create heat, heat pumps simply move heat that already exists from one place to another using electricity and a substance called refrigerant. In heating mode, heat pump space heaters extract heat from the air outside your home and release it into the air inside your home. Heat pump water heaters do the same thing, extracting heat from the surrounding air and transferring it to the water they store.
When to Replace Gas Appliances with Heat Pumps
If you have gas appliances in your house, you don’t have to panic. You should prioritize regular maintenance, but as long as they are properly installed and vented, the risk of a leak is low. When your furnace or water heater starts to die, however, don’t go out and buy a new one. Instead, take advantage of the opportunity to eliminate the risk of a gas leak by replacing your aging gas furnace or water heater with a heat pump.
If you're due for a furnace or water heater replacement, now is a great time because of the heat pump tax credit (formally known as the Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit). You can save up to $2,000 per year with the federal heat pump tax credit, which means you could install a heat pump HVAC system this year and claim a $2,000 credit, and then install a heat pump water heater the following year and claim another $2,000 credit!