Is a heat pump worth it in Beaverton?
Beaverton sits right on the fence — how long you'll own the house decides this one. $3,500 is what Beaverton would pay extra to go electric rather than replace the furnace and AC with the same again, once the $2,000 federal credit is applied. Beaverton's residents would see roughly $251 a year back in running costs, putting the payback around 13.9 years. Whether that's worth it in Beaverton depends on how many years you expect to own the place.
Why Beaverton's climate drives this number
4589 heating degree days pile up here every year, so Beaverton has a real but manageable winter; the cooling side runs to 411 cooling degree days, where summers add a moderate cooling load. The 99% winter design temperature here — the cold snap equipment must be sized for, not the seasonal average — is 15.1°F, against a record low of 12.9°F. That puts the seasonal coefficient of performance at 3.06 for the recommended cold-climate unit. Beaverton 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. Climate figures trace to the nearest NOAA station, PORTLAND-HILLSBORO AIRPORT, 7.7 miles from Beaverton.
The month-to-month numbers for Beaverton
Electricity use for heating alone comes out to about 3,797 kWh a year on the 2000-square-foot reference house; folding in cooling puts the electric bill near $628 a year. Beaverton's gas rate of 16.71 per Mcf, applied to the 48 Mcf a year the furnace burns, puts its running cost near $879 a year, against 15.14¢ per kWh for electricity. Buy it outright, not incrementally, and payback stretches to 53.7 years; over 15 years the net position sits $269 ahead.
Electric resistance heat in Beaverton, compared
Plenty of homes in Beaverton heat with electricity alone, no gas line involved. Swap the comparison to resistance heat instead of gas, and Beaverton's answer improves. About $1,212 a year comes back this way, enough that the 6.6-year payback clears the $8,000 premium comfortably within the equipment's life.
How Beaverton compares nationally
Beaverton lands at position 1098 out of 3206 cities on heating severity (coldest is 1), and 348 out of 3206 by population size (biggest is 1). That's the middle third for winter severity among the cities covered here.
Next step for 98,302 people in Beaverton
About 98,302 people live in Beaverton, Oregon, and every number on this page is what a contractor would actually work from when quoting a system here — the point isn't to replace that quote, it's to tell you whether to bother asking for one. Here, there's no cost penalty to waiting until your current furnace or AC actually needs replacing.
Get quotes from local HVAC contractors before deciding.
Where Beaverton's figure comes from
The methodology guide walks through exactly how Beaverton's 3.06 seasonal COP and the rest of this page's numbers get built. At a 15.1°F design temperature, Beaverton sits in cold-climate territory; the guide to that class of unit explains why.