Will a heat pump pay off in Camas, WA?
Camas 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). Lower bills claw that back: about $305 saved annually, for a payback of roughly 11.5 years. Whether that's worth it in Camas depends on how many years you expect to own the place.
The climate behind Camas's payback figure
Degree days tell the story here: Camas racks up 3827 heating degree days each year (base 65°F), and summers add a moderate cooling load, with 635 cooling degree days on the cooling side. 19°F is the figure equipment gets sized against here — the 99th-percentile cold snap, not an average day — with a record low of 14°F on file. Worked through the model, that's a seasonal COP of 3.16 on the cold-climate unit fit for this climate. Camas 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-TROUTDALE AIRPORT, 3.7 miles from Camas.
What it actually costs to run, year to year
Electricity use for heating alone comes out to about 3,067 kWh a year on the 2000-square-foot reference house; folding in cooling puts the electric bill near $515 a year. Camas's gas rate of 17.62 per Mcf, applied to the 40 Mcf a year the furnace burns, puts its running cost near $820 a year, against 14.27¢ per kWh for electricity. Looked at as a full purchase rather than an incremental one, payback here is roughly 44.3 years, leaving the 15-year total $1,073 ahead.
The other scenario: no gas furnace to begin with
Gas isn't universal in Camas — 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 $985 a year, which recovers the extra $8,000 spent going electric in roughly 8.1 years.
Camas against the rest of the country
Camas lands at position 1632 out of 3206 cities on heating severity (coldest is 1), and 1462 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 27,313 people in Camas
About 27,313 people live in Camas, Washington, 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.
Ask a local HVAC contractor for a quote before committing either way.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide walks through exactly how Camas's 3.16 seasonal COP and the rest of this page's numbers get built. Camas's 19°F design temperature falls on the cold side of the 25°F cutoff the cold-climate unit guide walks through.