The pros and cons of heat pumps

If you’re ready to upgrade your HVAC system, heat pumps are the best choice for your home, your budget, and the planet. That’s why, as of 2022, more homeowners are choosing to buy heat pumps instead of gas furnaces.

But getting a heat pump is a big decision. It’s worth thinking about it from all the angles. Here’s everything you need to know about the perks of the pump.

Heat pumps are two appliances in one — they heat and cool your home. A heat pump can replace both a traditional air conditioner and a home heating system like a furnace, boiler, or inefficient baseboard heat. Why get two machines when one can do both jobs?

Heat pumps will lower your utility bill. Because heat pumps are 2 to 3 times more efficient than many traditional heating systems, homeowners are upgrading to heat pumps to reduce their high energy bills and protect themselves from the price spikes that come with extreme weather or high energy demand.

The average household in the United States can save $370 per year by switching to a heat pump. Homeowners switching from inefficient systems that run on fuel oil, propane, or traditional electric resistance (like baseboard heat or electric furnaces) can save closer to $1,000 per year.

Heat pumps have a slightly higher upfront cost than a traditional furnace, but there’s lots of money available to help reduce you save. The average heat pump installation is about $16,000. Luckily, the Inflation Reduction Act provides generous tax incentives and rebates (up to $8,000) to make heat pumps more affordable. Check our IRA savings calculator to see if you qualify for federal tax rebates and incentives.

Many states also provide additional cost-saving programs (Massachusetts offers up to $16,000 in rebates, for example) and private companies are stepping in to offer helpful financing. Plus, you’re paying for something that can replace both your heating and cooling system. If you compare a heat pump to a furnace and AC combo, it’s a more similar price from the start.

Heat pumps work even in very, very cold weather. Thanks to technological advancements in recent decades, heat pumps keep your home toasty warm even when the temperature dips down as low as -20° Fahrenheit. In fact, Rheem, a heat pump manufacturer, successfully tested their heat pumps with the Department of Energy in sub-zero temperatures. Still skeptical? Heat pumps heat roughly half the homes in snowy Norway, Finland, and Sweden, and more than 115,000 heat pumps have been installed in Maine, one of the coldest U.S. states. (As they say, if you’re an HVAC system that can make it in Maine, you can make it anywhere.)

Heat pumps are just comfier. No gusts starting and stopping. Heat pumps provide much more even thermal comfort, and temperature control.

Heat pumps reduce your home’s carbon emissions. Home heating and cooling is the single-largest source of emissions in your home. Fight climate change and create a healthier environment by purchasing a heat pump.

Heat pumps are the best way to heat and cool your home, lower your electric bill, and get gas out of your home. Electrify your home with Rewiring America's free heat pump guide. Check it out.