Should Clawson switch to a heat pump?
Clawson is a place where a heat pump genuinely costs more to operate than the alternative. 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). The heat pump would cost about $265 more a year to run than the furnace it replaces — a premium with no payback. There's no spin on that: Clawson's numbers say wait.
The climate behind Clawson's payback figure
4971 heating degree days pile up here every year, so Clawson has a real but manageable winter; the cooling side runs to 954 cooling degree days, where summers add a moderate cooling load. Sizing runs off the design temperature, not the average day: 5.9°F here (record low -2.4°F), which works out to a seasonal COP of 2.84 for the cold-climate class of unit this climate calls for. Clawson 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 OAKLAND/TROY AIRPORT, 1.5 miles from Clawson — the closest one on record.
What it actually costs to run, year to year
Modelled on a typical 2000-square-foot house, the heat pump draws about 4,432 kWh a year to keep it warm, plus cooling, for a combined electric bill near $1,087 a year. The gas furnace it replaces burns roughly 52 Mcf a year at 10.92 per Mcf here, for a running cost near $822 a year (electricity here runs 20.72¢/kWh). Looked at as a full purchase rather than an incremental one, payback here is longer than the 15-year equipment life, leaving the 15-year total $7,480 behind.
Electric resistance heat in Clawson, compared
Plenty of homes in Clawson heat with electricity alone, no gas line involved. Against electric-resistance heat — baseboard or an electric furnace, both 100% efficient but still just resistance — the case for switching gets stronger here. The saving here runs about $1,777 a year, which recovers the extra $8,000 spent going electric in roughly 4.5 years.
How Clawson compares nationally
Ranked against the other 3206 cities covered, Clawson comes in at 785 for heating severity — 1 would be the coldest place in the dataset — and 2906 by population, where 1 is largest. That's the coldest third of the dataset, where climate does most of the work behind this figure.
Next step for 11,440 people in Clawson
About 11,440 people live in Clawson, Michigan, 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.
Where Clawson's figure comes from
Every constant behind this page — the 2.84 seasonal COP, the degree-day corrections, the equipment costs — is documented in the methodology guide. Clawson's 5.9°F design temperature is below the 25°F line, which is why a cold-climate unit is the right call here — see what that changes in the cold-climate unit guide.