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Heat pump vs furnace in Grand County, Colorado

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Replacement quotes in Grand County

Which costs less to run in Grand County?

A gray outdoor condenser unit with a top-mounted fan sits on a concrete pad beside a dark blue horizontal lap-sided wall, lit from above at night.

Heat pump

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

A beige gas furnace standing on a concrete basement floor against a dark blue wall, with galvanized metal flue ductwork above it and gas piping and a flexible conduit at its right side.

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

    One machine handles the heat in winter and the cooling in summer. There's no second system to buy or keep up.

    A living room with a cream sofa and blue, white, and textured cushions beneath a large window overlooking a green garden, with a rustic wooden coffee table holding a woven tray, ceramic vase with foliage, stacked books and a wooden bowl, and a dark blue built-in shelving unit at left.

  • Steady, even comfort

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

    A dimly lit living room at night with a light blue armchair holding an open book and a navy cushion, a lit tripod floor lamp, a low wooden bookshelf with baskets and framed photos, and a curly brown dog sleeping on a patterned rug.

  • No gas line, nothing burning in the house

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

    A navy blue whistling kettle sits on a black induction cooktop set into a light stone island with navy cabinets, with wooden open shelves holding bowls and plants, a stainless steel refrigerator, and a window with green trees behind.

Where does a furnace shine?

  • Strong, steady heat in hard cold

    Nights here average 8°F through December, January and February. A furnace burns gas to make heat, so it keeps putting out the same hot air at the register no matter how cold it gets outside.

    A two-story dark blue clapboard house with a white covered porch and lit windows at dusk, surrounded by deep snow, bare trees and small lit evergreens.

  • Runs on the gas most homes here already use

    Just over half the homes in Grand County already heat with gas, so the line running to your house is likely there. A furnace uses that same gas, no new fuel source to set up.

    A row of wood-sided houses with covered porches, concrete steps and metal railings along a snow-covered sidewalk in winter sunlight.

  • Pairs with any central AC

    The ductwork that delivers heat in winter delivers cool air in summer once an AC coil is added.

    A metal floor vent set into hardwood flooring near a window with sheer leaf-patterned curtains, with sunlight casting leaf shadows and a gray rug at lower right.

Cold is the whole question here

Your winter low averages 8°F, and that is the number that decides this, not the running cost. A standard heat pump starts putting out less than its rated heat below 40°F, and often needs backup heat below about 35°F. Here, every single night that drops to freezing or below, about 255 of them a year, is already colder than both of those marks.

That doesn't rule out a heat pump. It rules out a standard one. The ones built for cold, sold under the ENERGY STAR Cold Climate label, are tested to hold at least 70 percent of their rated heat at 5°F and still make 1.75 units of heat for every unit of electricity at that temperature. A field test of prototype cold-climate models 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 above 0°F. So the question is not heat pump or furnace in the abstract. It's whether the unit in front of you carries that Cold Climate rating, or is a standard model that will lean on backup heat most nights from December through February.

A furnace doesn't have this problem. Gas heat output doesn't fall off as it gets colder outside, so on the 50 nights a year here that hit 0°F or below, it is putting out the same heat it does on a night at freezing.

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.

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

A furnace is also cheaper to run at today's prices: $1.26 per 100,000 Btu against $1.99 for a heat pump, using Colorado's average gas and electricity rates. That gap is priced off a heat pump built to the federal minimum. A cold-climate model, the one this county's winters call for, is a different machine, and nothing here says what it costs to run against a furnace.

Half the homes in Grand County already heat with gas. Just under a third heat with electricity. If your house already has a gas line run to it, that favors the furnace on cost of installation too, though nothing here says what your house has.

One more point if you're also thinking about summer. There is essentially no cooling season here, no month warm enough to call for air conditioning. A heat pump heats and cools from one system, but in a place that barely needs cooling, that second function is worth less than it would be somewhere hot. A furnace heats only, and pairs with a central AC if you ever want one, bought and run separately.

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 small navy-blue house with white trim, light blue door and shutters, and a snow-covered roof, surrounded by deep snow, snow-laden evergreens, and snowy mountains under a clear blue sky.

Common questions about heat pumps and furnaces

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

    It can, but not at full strength on the coldest nights. A conventional heat pump puts out less than its rated capacity once it drops below 40°F outside, and only a fraction of that rating in the teens. The overnight low here averages 8°F across winter, and falls to 0°F or below on about 50 nights a year, so a heat pump alone would be working below its rating most of the winter.

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

    Most homeowners here will want it. A standard heat pump's heating efficiency drops below about 35°F outside, and nights at or below freezing happen about 255 times a year in Grand County, over half the nights in the year. A cold-climate model built to the ENERGY STAR spec holds onto more of its capacity at 5°F, but even those are commonly paired with backup heat for nights this cold.

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

    Yes, and in a place this cold it's worth asking a contractor about. The furnace stays as backup for the nights the heat pump can't keep up, and the heat pump carries the milder days on its own. Below about 35°F a standard heat pump often needs backup heat, and the overnight low here averages 8°F in December, January and February, so the furnace would still be doing real work most winter nights.

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

    No, a gas furnace costs less to run here. A furnace built to the federal minimum makes the same heat for $1.26 per 100,000 Btu against $1.99 for a heat pump at the same minimum, using Colorado's average fuel prices for each. That gap doesn't include any backup heat the heat pump would need on the coldest nights, which would add to its cost further.

A person in a navy hooded sweatshirt, tan work pants and a knit cap kneels beside a furnace in a basement utility area, with sheet metal ductwork, PVC and copper piping overhead and a black tool bag on the concrete floor nearby.

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