usually there is a jumper in teh stat for gas furnace control. what this does is allow the airhandler to turn on teh fan instead of the stat. so your stat would be calling for heat only, and not requesting the fan turn on. maybe yours does not have this option or is wired wrong and doing it. i see no harm in using the on/off switch if it works fine. in today's economy i would not spend money to fix soemthign with such a minor issue!

Steve What is your location? Any idea of your nat gas and electric rates? If your furnace is in good working order, you can certainly keep it. I will assume it s sized correctly. The only negative here is its efficiency and the fact that high eff condensers AC and HP can not be utilized because of the conventional blower system on your furnace. Just stick with a good basic 13 SEER AC or HP. It is important that lineset size is the correct size for any new condenser especially if you intend to keep old and flush. This is not a small detail. Also, I would want a complete ductwork evaluation as to size of trunk lines and supply and return ductwork. If you have any hot/cold spots in home, now is the time to address. I realize you are in a breakdown situation. However, don't rush in. Do your homework and get it right. I realize this is a biased statement but I do not recommend purchasing anything from Sears especially HVAC. It is a mistake using third party for HVAC. Go through an independent dealer with a track record. And just for info, Westinghouse is one of the brands of old appliance names in the Nordyne family of HVAC. The name is licensed and has absolutely nothing to do with the product name you are probably familiar. I would like to hear back from you on your location and rates before I made a final recommendation. IMO

1. A heat pump should be able to provide decent heat down to below 30 degrees (probably 20-30 degrees it would struggle). Heat pumps have electric heat as backup. You want the electric heat so you don't get cold air during defrost. If you want to use your other heating system as backup, I don't see why that would be a problem either; you would just manually turn it on and off. Is your current heating system costing you a lot of money to operate, and is this why you're looking into replacement? If so, heat pumps can provide quite a bit of energy savings. Can you post your price for gas and electric. Tigerdunes hopefully can advise you on the cost savings aspect of the decision. Ask the dealers who come for estimates about heat pumps, and see what they think about your particular case.

I know nothing about this kind of stuff, that's why I like coming to sites like this to get opinions beyond just the one tech guy. I do not have the skills to be changing and diagnosing parts myself. There are just some things I know I'm not good at. I mentioned to the tech that I was puzzled by the system failing, and being low on refrigerant since as part of the Hiller Club they come out and check my units in the spring time and everything checked fine. I understand with a system being as old as mine, certainly something could have failed even between the spring and now.....but I think given that they had just checked it in the spring, maybe that's why he filled up the refrigerant for free. @fsq4cw I did not see the tech measure the current. I left him to do his thing up in the attic. I try not to bother people when they're working, I certainly don't like having people watch me when I'm working....although I insist on going around with Terminix when they do their inspections since they tried to screw me once already! @klem1 how in the world would I know if he's being 100% truthful or not? I've been dealing with Hiller AC and Plumbing because they were one of the few companies I trust around here. The first AC guy I brought out last year when my main system went out tried to sell me on a new system without trying to test or repair anything. Hiller has always been professional, and on-time. Do they tend to try to sell me things and upgrades, yes, but I always assume that's what they're going to try and do anyways. But they always give me options and pricing that will get me by. The tech didn't insist I had to buy a new motor. He didn't insist I had to buy a whole new unit. He gave me the situation, and the pricing, and let me make the ultimate determination. He came across a little dopey, but I don't think he was untruthful.