Should Centerton switch to a heat pump?

Centerton sits right on the fence — how long you'll own the house decides this one. $3,500 is what Centerton 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. Lower bills claw that back: about $322 saved annually, for a payback of roughly 10.9 years. Whether that's worth it in Centerton depends on how many years you expect to own the place.

The climate behind Centerton's payback figure

Centerton has a real but manageable winter — 3067 heating degree days a year against a 65°F base — and summers are hot enough that cooling matters as much as heating, at 1296 cooling degree days. Sizing runs off the design temperature, not the average day: 3.9°F here (record low -6°F), which works out to a seasonal COP of 2.79 for the cold-climate class of unit this climate calls for. Below the 25°F line where a standard machine starts leaning on resistance backup, Centerton sits firmly in cold-climate territory, so that's the class of unit priced here. Climate figures trace to the nearest NOAA station, BENTONVILLE MUNI/LOUIS M THAD, 4.5 miles from Centerton.

The month-to-month numbers for Centerton

A 2000-square-foot house here would pull roughly 2,784 heating kilowatt-hours annually on top of cooling, totalling about $516 a year on electricity. Centerton's gas rate of 19.25 per Mcf, applied to the 32 Mcf a year the furnace burns, puts its running cost near $838 a year, against 13.28¢ per kWh for electricity. Looked at as a full purchase rather than an incremental one, payback here is roughly 42 years, leaving the 15-year total $1,323 ahead.

The other scenario: no gas furnace to begin with

Not every home in Centerton has gas service. Against electric-resistance heat — baseboard or an electric furnace, both 100% efficient but still just resistance — the case for switching gets stronger here. Switching saves about $738 a year here — a heat pump moving heat rather than generating it needs far less electricity than resistance coils — so the extra $8,000 spent up front comes back in about 10.8 years.

How Centerton compares nationally

Centerton lands at position 1895 out of 3206 cities on heating severity (coldest is 1), and 1561 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 25,745 people in Centerton

About 25,745 people live in Centerton, Arkansas, 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 Centerton's figure comes from

The methodology guide walks through exactly how Centerton's 2.79 seasonal COP and the rest of this page's numbers get built. At a 3.9°F design temperature, Centerton sits in cold-climate territory; the guide to that class of unit explains why.