Heat pump vs. gas furnace in Fort Myers, FL
In Fort Myers, a heat pump pays for itself within a reasonable window. Swap a failed furnace and AC for a heat pump rather than buying like-for-like, and the extra cost here runs $1,000 after a $2,000 federal tax credit. Fort Myers's residents would see roughly $312 a year back in running costs, putting the payback around 3.2 years. The window here is reasonable, and it's specific to what Fort Myers actually pays for power and gas.
How cold Fort Myers actually gets
Fort Myers barely has a winter to speak of — 197 heating degree days a year against a 65°F base — and summers are severe enough that cooling can dominate the annual bill, at 4123 cooling degree days. 44.1°F is the figure equipment gets sized against here — the 99th-percentile cold snap, not an average day — with a record low of 43°F on file. Worked through the model, that's a seasonal COP of 3.51 on the standard unit fit for this climate. Fort Myers's winters don't get cold enough to need the cold-climate premium — a standard unit holds up fine. Climate figures trace to the nearest NOAA station, PAGE FIELD AIRPORT, 2.9 miles from Fort Myers.
The month-to-month numbers for Fort Myers
A 2000-square-foot house here would pull roughly 142 heating kilowatt-hours annually on top of cooling, totalling about $564 a year on electricity. Fort Myers's gas rate of 25.48 per Mcf, applied to the 2 Mcf a year the furnace burns, puts its running cost near $877 a year, against 15.43¢ per kWh for electricity. Looked at as a full purchase rather than an incremental one, payback here is roughly 35.2 years, leaving the 15-year total $3,686 ahead.
If your home heats with electric baseboard instead of gas
Not every home in Fort Myers 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 $337 a year here — a heat pump moving heat rather than generating it needs far less electricity than resistance coils — so the extra $5,500 spent up front comes back in about 16.3 years.
Fort Myers against the rest of the country
Among 3206 cities, Fort Myers's winter puts it at rank 3132 for severity, while its size puts it at rank 343 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.
Next step for 99,918 people in Fort Myers
Fort Myers, Florida is home to about 99,918 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. Given the math above, Fort Myers is a place worth lining up quotes ahead of a breakdown, not waiting for one.
Get quotes from local HVAC contractors before deciding.
Reading further on this page's numbers
The methodology guide walks through exactly how Fort Myers's 3.51 seasonal COP and the rest of this page's numbers get built. The $2,000 federal credit baked into Fort Myers's number is explained, with the before-and-after math, in the tax credit guide.