Is a heat pump worth it in DeForest?

In DeForest, a heat pump would cost more to run each year than what you have now. 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). Running costs here land $403 a year HIGHER than the furnace it replaces, so that premium is never recovered. That's DeForest's own climate and rates talking, not a hedge or a caveat.

DeForest's weather, in the numbers that matter

DeForest has a cold winter that leans hard on heating equipment — 5775 heating degree days a year against a 65°F base — and summers add a moderate cooling load, at 761 cooling degree days. Sizing runs off the design temperature, not the average day: -9°F here (record low -11°F), which works out to a seasonal COP of 2.48 for the cold-climate class of unit this climate calls for. A cold-climate unit is the right call in DeForest — below 25°F design temperature, a standard heat pump leans hard on electric-resistance backup, which erases most of the savings. These numbers come from DANE CO REGIONAL-TRUAX FIELD, the closest NOAA station, 6.1 miles out.

DeForest's running-cost comparison, in dollars

Electricity use for heating alone comes out to about 5,896 kWh a year on the 2000-square-foot reference house; folding in cooling puts the electric bill near $1,235 a year. That compares with roughly 60 Mcf a year of gas at DeForest's 10.74 per-Mcf rate — about $832 a year — against a local electricity rate of 18.87¢/kWh. Priced as a standalone purchase rather than against a like-for-like replacement, equipment payback runs past the 15-year equipment life, for a 15-year net position $9,545 behind.

The other scenario: no gas furnace to begin with

Gas isn't universal in DeForest — many houses run on electric heat already. Swap the comparison to resistance heat instead of gas, and DeForest's answer improves. About $1,710 a year comes back this way, enough that the 4.7-year payback clears the $8,000 premium comfortably within the equipment's life.

How DeForest compares nationally

Among 3206 cities, DeForest's winter puts it at rank 291 for severity, while its size puts it at rank 2775 for population — 1 in both cases being the extreme. That's the coldest third of the dataset, where climate does most of the work behind this figure.

What to do with this number in DeForest

DeForest, Wisconsin is home to about 12,260 people, and the figures above are the same ones a local HVAC contractor uses to size and quote a system — this site doesn't guess where a real quote would land, it just tells you whether it's worth asking for one. In DeForest, nothing is lost by holding off until the current equipment genuinely fails.

Ask a local HVAC contractor for a quote before committing either way.

Where DeForest's figure comes from

Every constant behind this page — the 2.48 seasonal COP, the degree-day corrections, the equipment costs — is documented in the methodology guide. DeForest's -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.