Heat pump vs. gas furnace in Morristown, TN
The payback math works in Morristown on paper, past the equipment's own working life. 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). That premium is recovered through $79 of lower running costs every year, landing the payback clock at roughly 44.1 years. That's a technicality, not a recommendation, for anyone actually living in Morristown.
Morristown's weather, in the numbers that matter
Degree days tell the story here: Morristown racks up 2456 heating degree days each year (base 65°F), and summers add a moderate cooling load, with 981 cooling degree days on the cooling side. Sizing runs off the design temperature, not the average day: 14°F here (record low 12.2°F), which works out to a seasonal COP of 3.04 for the cold-climate class of unit this climate calls for. Morristown needs the cold-climate class of unit: past a 25°F design temperature a standard heat pump falls back on resistance backup often enough to eat the savings. Source: NOAA station LEE COUNTY AIRPORT, 31.4 miles from Morristown — the closest one on record.
Morristown's running-cost comparison, in dollars
Electricity use for heating alone comes out to about 2,046 kWh a year on the 2000-square-foot reference house; folding in cooling puts the electric bill near $400 a year. The gas furnace it replaces burns roughly 26 Mcf a year at 11.84 per Mcf here, for a running cost near $479 a year (electricity here runs 13.87¢/kWh). Looked at as a full purchase rather than an incremental one, payback here is roughly 169.9 years, leaving the 15-year total $2,308 behind.
Electric resistance heat in Morristown, compared
Gas isn't universal in Morristown — many houses run on electric heat already. Compared with baseboard or electric-furnace resistance heat, the numbers shift in the heat pump’s favor. About $639 a year comes back this way, enough that the 12.5-year payback clears the $8,000 premium comfortably within the equipment's life.
Morristown against the rest of the country
Morristown lands at position 2203 out of 3206 cities on heating severity (coldest is 1), and 1247 out of 3206 by population size (biggest is 1). That's the mildest third of cities covered, where utility rates carry more of the answer than climate does.
Next step for 32,994 people in Morristown
Morristown, Tennessee is home to about 32,994 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 Morristown, nothing is lost by holding off until the current equipment genuinely fails.
Line up a few local HVAC quotes before you decide.
Reading further on this page's numbers
The methodology guide walks through exactly how Morristown's 3.04 seasonal COP and the rest of this page's numbers get built. At a 14°F design temperature, Morristown sits in cold-climate territory; the guide to that class of unit explains why.