Heat Pump Payback in Dyersburg, TN
Is a heat pump worth it in Dyersburg?
Dyersburg technically pencils out, but only past the point the equipment would need replacing anyway. Swap a failed furnace and AC for a heat pump rather than buying like-for-like, and the extra cost here runs $5,500. Dyersburg's residents would see roughly $120 a year back in running costs, putting the payback around 45.9 years. Dyersburg's own numbers say this pencils out only in theory, not in practice.
Checking a different city
Dyersburg is one of 3206 cities covered here, each run through the same model. Search another below.
Why Dyersburg's climate drives this number
Degree days tell the story here: Dyersburg racks up 2295 heating degree days each year (base 65°F), and summers are hot enough that cooling matters as much as heating, with 1913 cooling degree days on the cooling side. 7°F is the figure equipment gets sized against here, the 99th-percentile cold snap, not an average day, with a low of -0.9°F in the 2024 station record. Worked through the model, that's a seasonal COP of 2.87 on the cold-climate unit fit for this climate. The average winter here is gentle, but sizing follows the cold snaps, and 7°F is below the 25°F point where a standard unit leans on resistance backup, so a cold-climate unit is what gets priced for Dyersburg. Source: NOAA station Dyersburg Municipal Airport, 3.7 miles from Dyersburg, the closest one on record.
Dyersburg's running-cost comparison, in dollars
Electricity use for heating alone comes out to about 2,025 kWh a year on the 2000-square-foot reference house; folding in cooling puts the electric bill near $507 a year. The gas furnace it replaces burns roughly 24 Mcf a year at $11.84 per Mcf here, for a running cost near $627 a year including the old AC (electricity here runs 13.87¢/kWh). Buying outright rather than at replacement time stretches payback to longer than the 15-year equipment life. Over 15 years, compared with a like-for-like replacement, the heat pump leaves you $3,703 behind.
What would change Dyersburg's answer
This result holds unless electricity climbs above 24.1¢/kWh (it is 13.87¢ now) or gas drops below $6.83 per Mcf (now $11.84); past either point, gas becomes the cheaper fuel in Dyersburg. When quotes arrive, compare the heat pump price with a like-for-like furnace and AC replacement: at $120 a year saved, a difference under $840 pays back within 7 years here, and under $1,200 within 10.
The other scenario: no gas furnace to begin with
Not every home in Dyersburg has gas service. Compared with baseboard or electric-furnace resistance heat, the numbers shift in the heat pump’s favor. Even against resistance heat, the running-cost gap here isn't enough to clear the $10,000 incremental cost within the equipment's 15-year life.
Dyersburg against the rest of the country
Among 3206 cities, Dyersburg's winter puts it at rank 2278 for severity, while its size puts it at rank 2305 for population, 1 in both cases being the extreme. That's the mildest third of cities covered, where utility rates carry more of the answer than climate does.
Deciding what's next in Dyersburg, TN
About 15,915 people live in Dyersburg, Tennessee, 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.
Reading further on this page's numbers
Nothing above is a black box: the methodology guide shows the full arithmetic behind Dyersburg's 2.87 seasonal COP and payback figure. Dyersburg's 7°F design temperature falls on the cold side of the 25°F cutoff the cold-climate unit guide walks through.