I lived up north our entire life.
I only relied on furnaces, there was no need for AC.
The Summer season is short and not recognizably hot. There would be 1 or several mornings of heat that would follow with chilly days. There was no reason to have AC, a pool or any other Summer related things. My family had several gas furnaces in the house. We had a living room heater, gas fireplace in the kitchen and an old Moore gas furnace upstairs. Even with all several gas furnaces running, the loft wasn’t ever toasty. The temperatures would get to -20 degrees. It was strenuous to heat a crucial loft that was so cold. Adding insulation, caulk and putting towels around the doors only helped so much. When I moved down south I was gleeful to no longer experience snow and drastic cold. I still wanted a heating plan in our house. I talked to our Heating and Air Conditioning corporation and he was adamant that I needed air conditioner. I felt deranged buying a cooling plan when I have never needed 1 before. The guy sold myself and others on a ductless heat pump and I am so thankful. Thank goodness I didn’t go separate from AC for even a month. The south is the reverse of where I used to live. I now use AC all the time! Very rarely do I need to turn on our furnace. It is a nice change up. I now get to be too warm for once and really get a tan. My partner and I are looking into buying a pool.