Is a heat pump worth it in Guymon?
In Guymon, the extra upfront cost technically comes back, just not before the equipment wears out. $3,500 is what Guymon would pay extra to go electric rather than replace the furnace and AC with the same again, once the $2,000 federal credit is applied. Guymon's residents would see roughly $194 a year back in running costs, putting the payback around 18 years. Guymon's own numbers say this pencils out only in theory, not in practice.
The climate behind Guymon's payback figure
3931 heating degree days pile up here every year, so Guymon has a real but manageable winter; the cooling side runs to 1646 cooling degree days, where summers are hot enough that cooling matters as much as heating. The 99% winter design temperature here — the cold snap equipment must be sized for, not the seasonal average — is 1.9°F, against a record low of -0.9°F. That puts the seasonal coefficient of performance at 2.75 for the recommended cold-climate unit. Below the 25°F line where a standard machine starts leaning on resistance backup, Guymon sits firmly in cold-climate territory, so that's the class of unit priced here. Source: NOAA station GUYMON MUNICIPAL AIRPORT, 1.6 miles from Guymon — the closest one on record.
The month-to-month numbers for Guymon
Modelled on a typical 2000-square-foot house, the heat pump draws about 3,620 kWh a year to keep it warm, plus cooling, for a combined electric bill near $658 a year. That compares with roughly 41 Mcf a year of gas at Guymon's 13.99 per-Mcf rate — about $852 a year — against a local electricity rate of 13.10¢/kWh. Looked at as a full purchase rather than an incremental one, payback here is roughly 69.5 years, leaving the 15-year total $587 behind.
Electric resistance heat in Guymon, compared
Plenty of homes in Guymon heat with electricity alone, no gas line involved. Swap the comparison to resistance heat instead of gas, and Guymon's answer improves. Switching saves about $925 a year here — a heat pump moving heat rather than generating it needs far less electricity than resistance coils — so the extra $8,000 spent up front comes back in about 8.6 years.
Guymon against the rest of the country
Among 3206 cities, Guymon's winter puts it at rank 1562 for severity, while its size puts it at rank 2747 for population — 1 in both cases being the extreme. That's the middle third for winter severity among the cities covered here.
Deciding what's next in Guymon, OK
About 12,397 people live in Guymon, Oklahoma, 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 Guymon's 2.75 seasonal COP and payback figure. At a 1.9°F design temperature, Guymon sits in cold-climate territory; the guide to that class of unit explains why.