Heat pump vs. gas furnace in Andrews, TX
Andrews sits right on the fence — how long you'll own the house decides this one. Against a like-for-like gas furnace and AC swap, going electric costs $3,500 more up front here (already netting out a $2,000 tax credit). Andrews's residents would see roughly $355 a year back in running costs, putting the payback around 9.9 years. It's a genuine toss-up here — Andrews's numbers don't point clearly either way.
How cold Andrews actually gets
Degree days tell the story here: Andrews racks up 2494 heating degree days each year (base 65°F), and summers are severe enough that cooling can dominate the annual bill, with 2504 cooling degree days on the cooling side. The 99% winter design temperature here — the cold snap equipment must be sized for, not the seasonal average — is 16.7°F, against a record low of 8.6°F. That puts the seasonal coefficient of performance at 3.1 for the recommended cold-climate unit. Andrews needs the cold-climate class of unit: past a 25°F design temperature a standard heat pump falls back on resistance backup often enough to eat the savings. Source: NOAA station GAINES COUNTY AIRPORT, 25.2 miles from Andrews — the closest one on record.
Andrews's running-cost comparison, in dollars
Modelled on a typical 2000-square-foot house, the heat pump draws about 2,037 kWh a year to keep it warm, plus cooling, for a combined electric bill near $674 a year. Andrews's gas rate of 19.42 per Mcf, applied to the 26 Mcf a year the furnace burns, puts its running cost near $1,029 a year, against 16.15¢ per kWh for electricity. Buy it outright, not incrementally, and payback stretches to 38.1 years; over 15 years the net position sits $1,821 ahead.
Electric resistance heat in Andrews, compared
Gas isn't universal in Andrews — many houses run on electric heat already. Compared with baseboard or electric-furnace resistance heat, the numbers shift in the heat pump’s favor. The saving here runs about $870 a year, which recovers the extra $8,000 spent going electric in roughly 9.2 years.
Where Andrews ranks in this dataset
Ranked against the other 3206 cities covered, Andrews comes in at 2187 for heating severity — 1 would be the coldest place in the dataset — and 2561 by population, where 1 is largest. That's the mildest third of cities covered, where utility rates carry more of the answer than climate does.
What to do with this number in Andrews
Andrews, Texas is home to about 13,677 people, and the figures above are the same ones a local HVAC contractor uses to size and quote a system — this site doesn't guess where a real quote would land, it just tells you whether it's worth asking for one. In Andrews, nothing is lost by holding off until the current equipment genuinely fails.
Ask a local HVAC contractor for a quote before committing either way.
Reading further on this page's numbers
The methodology guide walks through exactly how Andrews's 3.1 seasonal COP and the rest of this page's numbers get built. Andrews's 16.7°F design temperature falls on the cold side of the 25°F cutoff the cold-climate unit guide walks through.