Pennsylvania Heating

Heat pump vs furnace in Cambria County, Pennsylvania

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Which costs less to run in Cambria County?

An outdoor air conditioning condenser unit on a concrete pad beside a dark horizontal-lap sided 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 residential furnace with louvered vent panels stands on a concrete floor against a dark blue wall, with a metal flue pipe and conduit running up from its top.

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

    Winter and summer are covered by the same outdoor unit. That's one machine to service instead of two.

    Living room with a light blue sofa holding patterned cushions and a grey fringed throw, a wooden coffee table with a vase of white and green flowers, a mug and a bowl of pebbles, blue built-in shelving with books beside a wood-burning stove, and a white-framed window looking onto a garden.

  • Steady, even comfort

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

    A navy armchair with a gray throw blanket and open book sits by a multi-pane window at night, beside a wooden side table with a lit lamp, mug and potted plant, while a golden-colored dog sleeps on a patterned rug near a stone fireplace.

  • 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 blue cabinets, white marble countertops, a white subway tile backsplash, a stainless steel kettle on an induction cooktop beneath a stainless range hood, a wooden open shelf holding bowls and a trailing plant, and a light blue mug and bowl of apples in the foreground.

Where does a furnace shine?

  • Strong, steady heat in hard cold

    Winter nights here average 20°F, and that's not a rare cold snap, that's the whole stretch from December through February. A furnace puts out hot air from the start and keeps it coming no matter how low the temperature outside drops.

    A two-story dark-sided house with a white wraparound porch and lit windows at dusk, surrounded by deep snow with a shoveled walkway leading to the front steps.

  • Fast, strong heat on demand

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

    Entryway with a navy paneled door, snow-dusted winter boots on a wood floor, a floor air vent, a sheer white curtain, a navy built-in bench with a plaid throw and a steaming light blue mug, and coats hanging at upper right.

  • Pairs with any central AC

    Most central air systems are built around a furnace. The two share the blower, the ducts and the thermostat.

    A dark metal floor vent set into a hardwood floor near a window with a sheer white curtain, a blue cabinet and a blue fringed rug at the edges of the frame.

Cold winters and what a heat pump does with them

Winter here is the whole question. The heat runs about eight months a year, October through May, and the overnight low averages 20°F across December, January and February. About 140 nights a year drop to freezing or below, over half the nights the heat is even running. A standard heat pump loses ground in exactly that range. Below 40°F it puts out less heat than its rating, and below about 35°F it often needs backup heat to make up the difference. Every one of those 140 nights falls below both marks.

That does not mean a heat pump stops working. It means it is not working at full strength on most of the nights you need it most. The furnace does not have this problem. A gas furnace or an oil furnace makes its full rated heat whether it is 30°F outside or 0°F, and this county sees 0°F about 5 nights a year. That is a small part of the season, but it is the kind of cold where a standard heat pump leans hardest on backup heat.

There is a real answer to this, which is a cold climate heat pump. To carry the ENERGY STAR Cold Climate label, a heat pump has to keep at least 70 percent of its 47°F capacity once it hits 5°F, and still produce more heat than the electricity it uses at that temperature. Field tests of these back that up: over two winters, backup heat covered only a small share of the output between 0°F and 35°F, and running on backup alone was rare even above 0°F. So the cold itself is not a reason to rule out a heat pump here. A standard one built to the federal minimum is.

A two-story light blue clapboard house with dark blue shutters, a white columned entry, and brick chimneys, flanked by a yellow house and a white picket fence, with plowed snowbanks along a bare road in the foreground under a clear sky.

What each one costs to run, and the rest of the house

At Pennsylvania's prices, a gas furnace is the cheapest of the three to run: $1.64 per 100,000 Btu, against $2.37 for a heat pump and $3.03 for an oil furnace. That gap is the federal minimum gas furnace against the federal minimum heat pump, so it holds before you account for backup heat on the cold nights above. A heat pump built to the Cold Climate standard narrows that gap by needing less backup, but gas still starts out ahead on fuel cost alone.

Fuel oil heats about 29 percent of homes in this county, well above the 14 percent it heats statewide, and an oil furnace is the most expensive of the three to run here. If your house is on oil now, a heat pump costs less to run, $2.37 against $3.03. If it is on gas, which heats close to half the homes here, gas stays cheaper.

Summer is a shorter argument. Cooling runs about two months here, July and August, against eight months of heat. A furnace only heats, so for those two months it does nothing and you need a separate air conditioner. A heat pump is both machines, it heats all winter and cools all summer on one system. That is worth something regardless of which one wins on running cost, since it is one piece of equipment to maintain instead of two.

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

A two-story dark blue shingled house with white trim, two dormer windows and brick chimneys, surrounded by deep snow banks under a clear sky, with a bare tree at left and a gray-shingled neighboring house at right.

Common questions about heat pumps and furnaces

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

    Yes, a heat pump can heat a house through the winter here, but a standard one struggles once it gets cold. Its output falls below its rating under 40°F, and it often needs backup heat below about 35°F. The average overnight low across December, January and February here is 20°F, so that's most of the winter, not an exception. A cold-climate model is built for this, holding onto most of its capacity even at 5°F.

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

    Most homes here need it. The average winter night runs 20°F, and a standard heat pump's output drops below its rating under 40°F and often needs help below about 35°F. About 140 nights a year fall to freezing or colder, which is the range where backup heat earns its place. A cold-climate heat pump narrows how much it's needed, since field tests show backup heat covers only a small share of the load between 0°F and 35°F, but even then, five nights a year here drop to 0°F or below.

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

    Yes, and here that often makes sense. The two run as one system: the heat pump carries the house most days and the furnace takes over on the nights it can't keep up. About 140 nights a year here drop to freezing or below, and that's the kind of cold where a furnace earns its keep.

  • What if my house heats with oil or propane?

    A heat pump costs less to run than an oil furnace in Cambria County, $2.37 against $3.03 per 100,000 Btu. Fuel oil heats close to three in ten homes here, so if yours is one of them, a heat pump is the cheaper of the two to run, not the pricier one. A gas furnace still beats both at $1.64, but that depends on a gas line reaching your house.

A man in a light blue shirt and dark trousers works on overhead ductwork above a furnace in a basement, with a tool bag on the floor and a water heater to the right.

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