Pennsylvania Heating

Heat pump vs furnace in Northampton County, Pennsylvania

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For homes in Northampton County

Which costs less to run in Northampton 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 gas furnace with a metal flue pipe and sheet-metal plenum stands against a blue-painted concrete block wall in a basement with a bare ceiling light.

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?

  • Steady, even comfort

    It eases up and down with the weather. There are fewer swings between too warm and too cool.

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  • Heats and cools in one system

    A heat pump runs the same way all year. It pulls heat into the house in winter and pushes it out in summer.

    A cream sofa with blue cushions and a blue fringed throw sits beneath a dark-framed window overlooking a green garden, with a wooden coffee table holding a bowl, mug and books in the foreground and a table lamp and framed landscape painting at left.

  • 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.

    Kitchen with navy blue cabinets, white marble countertops, white subway tile backsplash, stainless steel range hood and kettle, a wooden bowl of green apples, a glass vase of white hydrangeas, and two wooden stools at the island.

Where does a furnace shine?

  • 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 clean pleated air filter in front of a furnace, with shelving holding a mug, basket, and toolbox to the right.

  • Fast, strong heat on demand

    A furnace pushes out hot air within minutes of switching on. A cold house warms up fast.

    An entryway with a dark blue door, snow-dusted winter boots on a blue rug, a floor vent, a pale blue sheer curtain billowing, a bench with a cushion and mug, and a woven basket holding a gray blanket.

  • Pairs with any central AC

    A furnace's blower and ducts carry cooled air too. Adding central AC uses the same system.

    A linear metal floor vent set in a wood plank floor near an open blue door, with a sheer white curtain, a woven basket holding a plant, and a woven rug.

What the cold here does to a heat pump

Your winter low here averages 22°F, and that's the number this choice turns on. A standard heat pump starts putting out less than its rated heat below 40°F, and below about 35°F it usually needs backup heat to make up the difference. Both marks sit above your average low, not below it.

About 125 nights a year here drop to freezing or colder, roughly half the nights across the eight months your heat runs. Every one of those nights is below both marks. That doesn't mean a heat pump can't keep your house warm. It means that on about half the nights of the heating season, a standard one is leaning on backup heat to do it.

Cold climate heat pumps are built for exactly this. To earn the ENERGY STAR Cold Climate label, a heat pump has to deliver 1.75 units of heat per unit of electricity at 5°F, and hold onto 70 percent of its 47°F capacity at that same temperature, checked by outside testing. In a two winter field test of prototype cold climate models in occupied homes, backup heat covered only a small share of the heating between 0°F and 35°F, and running on backup alone was rare even above 0°F.

Of the roughly 125 nights a year here at or below freezing, only about 2 reach 0°F. Most of your cold nights sit in that freezing-to-moderate range, not the deep cold the field test was already finding backup heat barely needed in. A standard heat pump, built only to the federal minimum, is the one that leans on backup through that stretch. A cold climate model is built to carry more of it on its own.

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 each one costs to run, and what that means for your choice

A gas furnace is the cheapest of the three to run here. At Pennsylvania's prices, it makes 100,000 Btu of heat for $1.64. A heat pump runs $2.37 for the same heat, and an oil furnace runs $3.03. If gas already runs to your house, that's the cheapest way to heat it.

If your home runs on oil, the comparison flips. A heat pump at $2.37 beats an oil furnace at $3.03 for the same heat, and it gives you central air conditioning in the same system. Oil heats about one in five homes in Northampton County, so this is a real choice for some of the people reading this, not a footnote.

Heating is the long season here, eight months against three for cooling, so the furnace or heat pump you pick is working most of the year, not the air conditioner. A furnace only heats. Outside those eight months it sits unused while something else cools the house. A heat pump does both jobs in one system, all year.

So the choice comes down to what you have now and what you want the system to do. Gas furnace if you have gas: cheapest to run, paired with a central AC for summer. Heat pump over oil: cheaper to run than oil, and it covers your summers too, as long as it's a cold climate model suited to the roughly 125 freezing nights your winters bring.

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

  • Can a heat pump heat a house through a Pennsylvania winter?

    Yes, but a standard heat pump struggles on the coldest nights without help. Below about 40°F its heat output falls short of its rating, and below about 35°F it often needs backup heat. An ENERGY STAR Cold Climate model is built to hold most of its capacity down to 5°F, which matters here since the overnight low only reaches 0°F or below on about 2 nights a year.

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

    Most homes with a heat pump here will want it. A standard heat pump's heating efficiency drops once outside temperatures fall below about 35°F, and its heat output falls short of its rating below 40°F. The average overnight low here runs 22°F across December, January and February, well past both marks, and about 125 nights a year here hit freezing or below.

  • Can I keep my furnace and add a heat pump?

    Yes, and here that pairing is common. A heat pump can carry the mild days and hand off to the furnace once it gets cold enough to need backup heat, usually somewhere below about 35°F outside. With overnight lows averaging 22°F in December, January and February, the furnace would still have real work to do most winter nights.

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

    No, a furnace costs less to run here if it burns gas. A gas furnace makes 100,000 Btu of heat for $1.64 at Pennsylvania's prices, against $2.37 for a heat pump built to the federal minimum. An oil furnace is the exception: it runs $3.03 for the same heat, more than either one.

A man in a navy shirt, jeans and cap works with gloved hands on vent piping above a furnace in a basement utility area, with sheet-metal ductwork overhead, a blue door and shelving at left, and a tool bag on the floor.

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