Heat pump vs. gas furnace in Conyers, GA
In Conyers, the math is close enough that it comes down to how long you plan to stay. 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). Conyers's residents would see roughly $348 a year back in running costs, putting the payback around 10.1 years. Whether that's worth it in Conyers depends on how many years you expect to own the place.
Why Conyers's climate drives this number
2550 heating degree days pile up here every year, so Conyers has a mild winter by US standards; the cooling side runs to 1711 cooling degree days, where summers are hot enough that cooling matters as much as heating. Sizing runs off the design temperature, not the average day: 17.8°F here (record low 10.4°F), which works out to a seasonal COP of 3.13 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, Conyers sits firmly in cold-climate territory, so that's the class of unit priced here. Climate figures trace to the nearest NOAA station, MONROE WALTON CO, 18.8 miles from Conyers.
Conyers's running-cost comparison, in dollars
Modelled on a typical 2000-square-foot house, the heat pump draws about 2,063 kWh a year to keep it warm, plus cooling, for a combined electric bill near $525 a year. Conyers's gas rate of 20.42 per Mcf, applied to the 27 Mcf a year the furnace burns, puts its running cost near $873 a year, against 14.90¢ per kWh for electricity. Buy it outright, not incrementally, and payback stretches to 38.8 years; over 15 years the net position sits $1,719 ahead.
If your home heats with electric baseboard instead of gas
Plenty of homes in Conyers heat with electricity alone, no gas line involved. Swap the comparison to resistance heat instead of gas, and Conyers's answer improves. The saving here runs about $768 a year, which recovers the extra $8,000 spent going electric in roughly 10.4 years.
How Conyers compares nationally
Ranked against the other 3206 cities covered, Conyers comes in at 2124 for heating severity — 1 would be the coldest place in the dataset — and 1914 by population, where 1 is largest. That's the middle third for winter severity among the cities covered here.
What to do with this number in Conyers
About 20,111 people live in Conyers, Georgia, 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.
Reading further on this page's numbers
The methodology guide walks through exactly how Conyers's 3.13 seasonal COP and the rest of this page's numbers get built. At a 17.8°F design temperature, Conyers sits in cold-climate territory; the guide to that class of unit explains why.