I lived up north our entire life.
I only relied on oil furnaces, there was no need for AC. The Summer season is short and not unique ly hot. There would be one or several mornings of heat that would follow with cold mornings. There was no reason to have AC, a pool or any other Summer related things. My family had several oil furnaces in the house. The two of us had a bedroom heater, gas fireplace in the kitchen and an aged Moore oil furnace upstairs… Even with all several oil furnaces running, the home wasn’t ever toasty. The temperatures would get to -20 degrees. It was difficult to heat a large home that was so cold. Adding insulation, caulk and putting towels around the doors only helped so much. When I moved down south I was happy to no longer experience snow and severe cold. I still wanted a heating plan in our house. I talked to our Heating and A/C company and she was adamant that I needed air conditioner. I felt crazy buying a cooling plan when I have never needed one before. The girl sold me on a ductless heat pump and I am so thankful. Thank goodness I didn’t go without A/C for even a month. The south is the reverse of where I used to live. I now use A/C all the time! Very rarely do I need to turn on our oil furnace. It is a nice change up. I now get to be too hot for once and actually get a tan. My hubby and I are looking into buying a pool.