Pennsylvania Heating

Heat pump vs furnace in Bedford County, Pennsylvania

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Pros who install both

Which costs less to run in Bedford County?

An outdoor air conditioner condenser unit on a concrete pad beside a dark blue horizontal-siding wall at night, with an electrical disconnect box and conduit on the wall above it.

Heat pump

To heat your home here$2.37per 100,000 Btu

A beige metal furnace with two access panels stands on a concrete floor against a dark blue painted brick wall, with a metal flue pipe and a gas line running up from it.

Furnace

To heat your home here$1.64per 100,000 Btu

At Pennsylvania's gas and electricity prices, a gas furnace makes the same heat as a heat pump for at least 30% less.

Btu stands for British thermal unit, the standard measure of heat energy.

Where does a heat pump shine?

  • Heats and cools in one system

    One machine handles the heat in winter and the cooling in summer. There's no second system to buy or keep up.

    A living room with a beige sofa, blue throw blanket and cushion, a wooden coffee table holding a vase of white flowers, a bowl and a mug, dark blue built-in shelving at left, and a white-framed window showing green trees and shrubs.

  • No gas line, nothing burning in the house

    It moves heat instead of making it from fire. That means no combustion, no flue and no gas bill for heat.

    A kitchen with navy cabinets, white subway tile backsplash, wooden open shelves holding bowls and plants, a light speckled island with an induction cooktop, a blue kettle and mug, two wooden stools, and a window over the sink.

  • Steady, even comfort

    A heat pump runs long and low instead of blasting on and off. Rooms hold an even temperature all day.

    A dimly lit living room with a navy armchair, gray throw blanket, open book, lit floor lamp, stone fireplace with flames, woven basket, and a light-colored dog sleeping on a textured rug, with snowy conifers visible through the window.

Where does a furnace shine?

  • Pairs with any central AC

    The ductwork that delivers heat in winter delivers cool air in summer once an AC coil is added.

    A sheer white curtain hangs beside a sunlit window over a metal floor vent in a wood floor, with a blue chest of drawers, a woven basket, and a blue fringed rug nearby.

  • Proven, simple, easy to get serviced

    Gas furnaces have heated homes for generations. Almost every HVAC tech knows them inside and out.

    A gloved hand holds a pleated air filter with a white cardboard frame in front of a furnace and ducting, beside shelving with plastic storage bins.

  • Fast, strong heat on demand

    The air coming from the vents feels genuinely hot. That's welcome on a freezing morning.

    A mudroom with a navy cushioned bench holding a cream throw, woven storage baskets beneath, a steaming mug, coats and a plaid scarf on hooks, and snowy boots on a gray mat beside a dark blue door with a sheer curtain and a snow-covered view outside.

Cold is the real question here

Winter is the long season in Bedford County. Heat runs about eight months, October through May, against three months of cooling. Whatever you buy will spend most of its working life heating this house, not cooling it.

The overnight low here averages 22°F across December, January and February. That is below the point where a standard heat pump starts to struggle. Below about 40°F a conventional heat pump already puts out less than its rated capacity, and below about 35°F it often needs backup heat to make up the difference. At 22°F average, you are past both marks most winter nights, not just on the cold snaps.

About 140 nights a year here fall to freezing or below, more than half the nights across the eight months the heat runs. On those nights a standard heat pump is working below its rated output and likely leaning on backup heat to keep the house warm. Only about 4 nights a year drop to 0°F or lower, so the bitter cold is rare, but the ordinary cold that gives a heat pump trouble is not rare at all here. It is most of the winter.

A cold-climate heat pump is built for this. To carry the ENERGY STAR Cold Climate label, it has to make at least 1.75 units of heat per unit of electricity at 5°F and hold onto at least 70 percent of its 47°F capacity at that temperature, tested by a third party rather than claimed by the maker. Field tests of prototype cold-climate models back this up: over two winters in occupied homes, backup heat covered only a small share of the heat needed between 0°F and 35°F, and the system running on backup heat alone was rare even above 0°F.

So the plain version is this. An ordinary heat pump will keep this house warm, but it will be running below its rating on more than half the nights of the heating season, and leaning on backup heat to cover the gap. A cold-climate heat pump is built to keep its output and its efficiency at the temperatures Bedford County actually sees. If you are buying a heat pump here, that is the one to buy.

A two-story navy blue clapboard house with white trim, a gabled roof, a brick chimney and a blue front door under a pedimented entry, surrounded by deep snow and bare trees under a clear sky.

What it costs to run, and what to weigh against that

At Pennsylvania's average prices, a gas furnace is the cheapest of the three to run: $1.64 to make 100,000 Btu of heat, against $2.37 for a heat pump and $3.03 for an oil furnace. That ranking holds whether you are comparing against a heat pump or an oil furnace. Gas is cheaper than both.

But gas is not really on the table for most houses here. Utility gas heats only 4.1% of homes in Bedford County, fewer than one in ten. Fuel oil heats about half the homes in the county, and electricity heats about one in four. So the real choice most homeowners here are making is between a heat pump and an oil furnace, not between a heat pump and gas.

Against oil, the heat pump is the cheaper machine to run: $2.37 against $3.03 per 100,000 Btu. That is the opposite of the comparison against gas, and it is the one that applies to most houses in this county.

A heat pump also does something a furnace cannot. It cools the house in summer as well as heating it in winter, on one system, with nothing burning indoors. A furnace only heats. It pairs with a separate central air conditioner, and for the four months outside the heating season it has nothing to do.

If your house already runs on oil heat, a cold-climate heat pump costs less to run than the oil furnace it would replace, and it adds cooling you would otherwise need a separate system for. If your house runs on gas, gas stays the cheaper way to heat it. Either way, the decision in Bedford County turns less on the fuel cost line and more on whether the machine you choose is built to keep up on the roughly 140 nights a year this county spends at or below freezing.

Sources: NOAA nClimDiv · NOAA 1991–2020 seasonal normals · PNNL Building America guide · PNNL-37127 field study · ENERGY STAR product criteria · EIA SEDS 2024 · 10 CFR 430.32 · Census ACS 2020–2024

A two-story navy blue clapboard house with white trim, a covered front porch and light blue front door, surrounded by deep snow and bare trees under a clear sky.

Common questions about heat pumps and furnaces

  • Do I need backup heat with a heat pump here?

    Most likely, yes. A standard heat pump's output falls below its rating once it's under 40°F outside, and the overnight low here averages 22°F in December, January and February, with about 140 nights a year at or below freezing. Backup heat, usually electric resistance coils, covers the difference on those nights. A cold-climate rated heat pump holds more of its capacity at low temperatures, so check whether the unit you're considering carries that rating before you size the backup.

  • What if my house doesn't have a gas line?

    Without a gas line, the real choice is between a heat pump and an oil furnace, and the heat pump costs less to run. At Pennsylvania's prices a heat pump makes 100,000 Btu of heat for $2.37 against $3.03 for oil. Electric resistance heat costs more than either, since it turns electricity straight into heat instead of moving it the way a heat pump does.

  • What if my house heats with oil or propane?

    Oil heats about half the homes in Bedford County, and at Pennsylvania's prices it is the most expensive of the three to run: $3.03 per 100,000 Btu against $2.37 for a heat pump and $1.64 for a gas furnace. If your house already has a gas line, a gas furnace costs the least to run. If it doesn't, a heat pump beats staying on oil.

  • Is a heat pump cheaper to run than a furnace in Bedford County?

    No, a gas furnace runs cheaper here. At Pennsylvania's prices a furnace makes 100,000 Btu of heat for $1.64, a heat pump for $2.37, so the furnace costs about 30% less to run. That heat pump figure is its rated efficiency with nothing added for backup heat, which it will lean on over half the nights here.

A person's hand in a blue shirt adjusts a round black and silver wall thermostat on a white wall, with a living room containing a dark sofa, coffee table and patterned rug blurred in the background and a tool bag below.

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