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Heat pump vs furnace in Broomfield County, Colorado

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Which costs less to run in Broomfield County?

A gray outdoor condenser unit with a top-mounted fan grille sits on a concrete pad beside a dark blue horizontal lap-siding wall at night, with a disconnect box and conduit on the wall above it.

Heat pump

To heat your home here$1.99per 100,000 Btu

A beige residential furnace with louvered front panels stands in a basement corner with dark blue painted walls, connected to a galvanized metal flue pipe and flanked by vertical pipes, lit by a bare ceiling bulb.

Furnace

To heat your home here$1.26per 100,000 Btu

At Colorado's gas and electricity prices, a gas furnace makes the same heat as a heat pump for at least 36% less.

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

Where does a heat pump shine?

  • No gas line, nothing burning in the house

    A heat pump runs on electricity alone. Nothing burns inside the house.

    A kitchen with a navy blue island topped by a white marble-look counter holding a black induction cooktop, a light blue kettle and a glass vase of hydrangeas, with white cabinets and a stainless wall oven in the background.

  • 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 living room with a beige sofa holding navy and light blue cushions and a blue throw, a wooden coffee table with a mug, bowl, books and white hydrangeas, flanked by table lamps and a bookshelf, in front of a large window overlooking a green garden.

  • Steady, even comfort

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

    A light-colored dog sleeps on a woven rug in a dimly lit living room with a navy armchair holding an open book and a knit blanket, a lit floor lamp, built-in shelves, and a window showing snow-covered trees at dusk.

Where does a furnace shine?

  • Strong, steady heat in hard cold

    Winter nights here average 20°F for December through February. A furnace burns gas to make heat, so it keeps putting out the same hot air no matter how cold it gets outside.

    A dark blue two-story house with a white-trimmed covered porch at dusk, with lit windows, a small lit tree, lanterns along a shoveled walkway, and deep snow on the roof and yard.

  • Runs on the gas most homes here already use

    Most homes in Broomfield County already have a gas line run for the furnace, since 71% of occupied homes here heat with utility gas. A new furnace just hooks into what's already there.

    A row of attached houses with porches, columns and painted railings along a sidewalk, with concrete front steps, exterior gas meters and piping, and snow on the ground.

  • 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 in front of a furnace and shelving unit in an indoor utility space.

What winter here does to a heat pump

The heat runs about eight months a year in this county, October through May. That's the season a heat pump has to get through, and this county gives it real cold to do it in. The overnight low averages 20°F across December, January and February. That's below the point where a standard heat pump starts to struggle.

Two different things happen to a standard heat pump in the cold, and both happen here. Below 40°F it stops putting out as much heat as its rating says. Below about 35°F it often needs backup heat to make up the difference. At 20°F, the average winter night here, a standard heat pump is past both marks. And it isn't a few nights a year. About 150 nights a year here drop to freezing or below, over half the nights across the eight months the heat runs.

That doesn't mean a heat pump can't heat your house. Cold climate models exist for this. One built to the ENERGY STAR Cold Climate mark has to keep making real heat, not just running, down to 5°F, and still hold onto most of its rated capacity at that temperature. That's a different machine than the federal-minimum unit priced in the running-cost comparison above. If you're pricing a heat pump for this county, that rating is what to ask for, not the minimum.

The nights that reach 0°F or below are rare here, about 5 a year. That's the extreme case, not the normal one. The normal case is 20°F, and a cold climate heat pump is built to work there. Field testing on prototype cold climate heat pumps found backup heat covered only a small share of the load between 0°F and 35°F, and the units rarely ran on backup alone even at 0°F. That's the case for a cold climate unit specifically. A standard one, the kind priced at the federal minimum, is a different bet in this climate.

A blue single-story house with a snow-covered roof, white front door and railed steps, behind a plowed snowbank, with pine trees and snow-capped mountains in the background under a clear sky.

What that means for your bill and your choice

On running cost alone, gas wins here. The band above puts a heat pump at $1.99 per 100,000 Btu and a furnace at $1.26, both at Colorado's average fuel prices and both machines built to the federal minimum. A furnace makes the same heat for at least 36% less. That gap doesn't close in a house that heats for eight months a year. It's also why gas heats 71% of homes in this county and electricity heats 27%. Most of your neighbors already made this call.

A furnace only does one job. It has nothing to do during the three months cooling runs here, June through August, or on the 45 days a year that reach 90°F or hotter. A heat pump heats and cools with the same equipment. If your air conditioner is old enough to think about replacing on its own schedule, that's worth weighing against the running-cost gap above, since a heat pump would replace two purchases with one.

If your house already has a gas line and a furnace, the case for switching is weak. You'd pay more to run a heat pump through the longer, colder season this county actually has, and you'd give up a furnace that's simple to get serviced on a fuel most of this county already uses. If you're choosing for a new system or a house without gas, a cold climate heat pump is worth pricing against a furnace directly, since the running-cost comparison above doesn't include one. Either way, the number to ask for is the heat pump's capacity and efficiency at 5°F, not at 47°F, because 47°F is not the winter this county has.

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 navy-painted cabin entry with a light blue door, covered porch, stacked firewood, snow-dusted wooden steps and railings, and snow-covered conifers in the background.

Common questions about heat pumps and furnaces

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

    It can, but a standard heat pump won't do it alone in Broomfield County. Below 40°F it puts out less than its rated capacity, and below about 35°F it often needs a backup heat source, and the overnight low here averages 20°F across December, January and February. An ENERGY STAR Cold Climate model holds onto more of its capacity down to 5°F, but either way most homes here pair the heat pump with backup for the coldest nights.

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

    Most likely, yes. The average overnight low here, 20°F, sits below both the 40°F mark where a standard heat pump's output falls short of its rating and the 35°F mark where it often needs backup, and every one of the roughly 150 nights a year at or below freezing here is below both marks too. A furnace, a gas line, or electric resistance coils are the usual ways to cover those nights.

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

    Yes, and in Broomfield County it solves the one problem a heat pump has here. A heat pump loses capacity below 40°F and often needs backup below about 35°F, and the overnight low here averages 20°F across December, January and February. Paired with your furnace, the heat pump carries the milder months and the furnace takes over on the cold nights.

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

    No, a gas furnace costs less to run here. A furnace built to the federal minimum makes heat at $1.26 per 100,000 Btu at Colorado's gas prices, against $1.99 per 100,000 Btu for a heat pump built to the federal minimum at Colorado's electricity prices, and the heat pump's figure doesn't include what backup heat adds on the cold nights. Gas already heats 71% of homes in Broomfield County, close to three in four.

A man in a dark blue shirt and jeans kneels in a basement, working on white PVC pipes beside a furnace and sheet-metal ductwork, with an open tool bag on the floor nearby.

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