Colorado Heating Pros

Heat pump vs furnace in Douglas County, Colorado

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Which costs less to run in Douglas County?

An outdoor air conditioning condenser unit with a top-mounted fan grille sits on a concrete pad surrounded by gravel, in front of dark horizontal lap siding with a wall-mounted disconnect box and conduit.

Heat pump

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

A beige furnace with a louvered upper panel stands against a dark blue painted block wall in a basement, with a metal flue pipe rising from its top, flexible conduit and copper gas piping at its side, and a bare light bulb glowing overhead.

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?

  • 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.

    A living room with a light blue sofa and navy cushion in front of a large three-pane window overlooking green trees, with a rustic wood coffee table, woven rug, navy cabinetry and bookshelves, a wall lamp, and potted plants.

  • 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 a white stone-topped island over navy cabinetry, a stainless kettle on a black cooktop, a wooden open shelf holding bowls, mugs and a potted plant, and a ceramic vase of green flowers beside a woven stool.

  • 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 lamp, a gray armchair holding an open book and navy pillow, a beige sofa, built-in shelves, and a yellow Labrador sleeping on a woven rug beside a wooden table with candles.

Where does a furnace shine?

  • Strong, steady heat in hard cold

    Winter nights here average 17°F, and a furnace keeps putting out hot air no matter how far the temperature drops. You won't notice a difference between a mild night and a brutal one.

    A dark navy two-story house with white trim, lit windows, a covered porch and brick chimney, surrounded by deep snow with a cleared paved walkway leading to the front steps at dusk.

  • Runs on the gas most homes here already use

    Most homes in Douglas County already have a gas line run for heat, 73.4% of them. If yours is one of them, a new furnace just hooks into what's already there.

    A row of attached houses along a snowy sidewalk, with concrete front steps, navy and white porch railings, brick and painted siding facades, and an exterior gas meter with piping at right.

  • 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 white pleated air filter in front of a furnace and ductwork, next to wooden shelves holding bins, folded blankets, and a blue mug.

Does a heat pump keep up on a Douglas County winter night

Your heat runs nine months a year here, September through May, so this is mostly a winter question. The average overnight low across December, January and February is 17°F. That matters because a standard heat pump has two different weak points, and 17°F is past both of them. Below 40°F it puts out less heat than its rating says. Below about 35°F it often needs backup heat to make up the difference. Every one of the roughly 165 nights a year here that drop to freezing or below is past both marks.

That doesn't mean a heat pump leaves you cold. It means a standard one is leaning on backup heat for more of the winter than it would in a milder place, and that backup heat is usually electric resistance, the most expensive way to heat a house. A heat pump built to the ENERGY STAR Cold Climate spec is a different machine at that point: it's tested to hold at least 70 percent of its rated output and still make 1.75 units of heat per unit of electricity at 5°F, which is below every one of the roughly 7 nights a year here that reach 0°F. Field tests of cold climate models back this up. Backup heat covered only a small share of the heat needed between 0°F and 35°F, and running on backup alone was rare even above 0°F.

So the honest answer splits on which heat pump you mean. A standard heat pump is working below its rating on more than half the nights of a Douglas County winter. A cold climate one is built for exactly this range and tested to prove it.

Snow-covered wooden porch and steps leading to a light blue front door on a dark navy board-and-batten cabin, with a lit lantern sconce, stacked firewood, a small barrel, and snowy conifers behind.

What it costs to run, and what's already in the house

Even a cold climate heat pump doesn't win on running cost. At Colorado's average fuel prices, a gas furnace makes the same heat for $1.26 per 100,000 Btu against $1.99 for a heat pump, so the furnace costs at least 36 percent less to run. That $1.99 figure is the heat pump at its federal minimum rating with nothing added for backup heat, so a cold climate model closes part of that gap by needing less backup. It doesn't change the fact that electricity costs more per unit of heat delivered than gas does here.

Most homes in Douglas County are already set up for one of these. Utility gas heats 73.4 percent of homes here, electricity 22.8 percent. If your house came with a gas line and a furnace, another furnace means no new fuel source and no rewiring for electric heat. A heat pump asks you to take on a new system in exchange for something a furnace can't do: it cools the house too, which counts for something on the roughly 30 days a year here that hit 90°F or above.

That's the actual tradeoff. A furnace costs less to run and is simple to replace with the same thing. A heat pump costs more to run, even the cold climate kind, but it heats and cools from one system and keeps burning fuel out of the house. Which one is right depends on whether that's worth paying more per Btu for, all nine months the heat is on.

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

A dark blue wood-sided cabin entry with a light blue door, timber-framed porch roof, stacked firewood, and snow-covered railings and steps, with snowy conifers behind.

Common questions about heat pumps and furnaces

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

    A standard heat pump struggles on the coldest Douglas County nights without help. Its output falls short of its rated capacity below 40°F, and the overnight low here averages 17°F across December, January and February, with about 165 nights a year at or below freezing. A cold-climate model does better, but most homes pair a heat pump with a backup heat source for the handful of nights that hit 0°F, about 7 a year.

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

    Most likely, yes. A standard heat pump's output falls short of its rating below 40°F and it often needs backup heat below about 35°F. The average overnight low here is 17°F, and about 165 nights a year sit at or below freezing, so both marks get crossed on most winter nights. An ENERGY STAR Cold Climate model holds up better in deep cold, but check what's rated before you count on it alone.

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

    Yes, and it is how most heat pumps get installed in cold places. The heat pump handles the milder nights and the furnace takes over once it gets too cold for the heat pump to keep up or run efficiently, somewhere in the 30s. You get a gas line already in the house either way: 73.4% of homes here heat with utility gas.

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

    No, a gas furnace costs less to run here. A furnace makes heat at $1.26 per 100,000 Btu against $1.99 for a heat pump built to the federal minimum, so the furnace runs at least 36% cheaper at Colorado's gas and electricity prices. That gap doesn't include what a heat pump spends on backup heat on the coldest nights, which would widen it further.

A person in a light blue shirt adjusts a round white thermostat on a blue wall, with a living room containing a sofa, coffee table, rug and fireplace visible through a doorway and a tool bag on the wood floor.

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