RWHeatingAndAirConditioning.com - What are the pros and cons of having two heating systems in a house?

What are the pros and cons of having two heating systems in a house?

I am looking to buy a 4000 sq ft house that has 2 heating systems in it. Each one is for half the house. What are the pros and cons of having two heaters?

Public Comments

That seems to be quite common in the new 2 story homes. I guess a con would be the initial cost of the 2 systems and the preventive maintenance costs and replacements costs--I'm assuming heat pumps. Pro would be that the main living area can be warmer and the sleeping are cooler; more control over the overall temp of the house. I guess it would be more expensive to run two systems as opposed to one, but there is no requirement to run both of them, with the hopes that the hot air will rise and the cool are will fall.
pros if one breaks the other one is still working, you can kind of keep your house zoned 2 temps. its getting to be more and more common to see 2+ hvac units in a home, or house zoning with a smaller hvac unit.
Cons ~ higher initial costs (not a factor here) ~ higher maintenance/replacement costs possible offset by one less service call for PMs and lower run times (see below) ~ more system losses (based on efficiency ratings) due to two systems rather than one... maybe... Pros ~ lower operating costs if systems are designed to accommodate occupied areas (zones) ie: running in living v. sleep areas at different times ~ closer temp control due to zoning (smaller, less diverse areas to condition) ~ maintaining of some conditioning if one system crashes ~ longer system life resulting from lower run times