Heat Pump Payback in Patchogue, NY
Will a heat pump pay off in Patchogue, NY?
In Patchogue, 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 $5,500 more up front here. Unfortunately the electric bill outweighs the gas bill it replaces by about $128 a year here, so the extra spend stays unrecovered. There's no spin on that: Patchogue's numbers say wait.
Checking a different city
Patchogue is one of 3206 cities covered here, each run through the same model. Search another below.
Why Patchogue's climate drives this number
Degree days tell the story here: Patchogue racks up 4509 heating degree days each year (base 65°F), and summers add a moderate cooling load, with 923 cooling degree days on the cooling side. Sizing runs off the design temperature, not the average day: 17.1°F here (coldest 2024 reading 10°F), which works out to a seasonal COP of 3.11 for the cold-climate class of unit this climate calls for. Below the 25°F line where a standard machine starts leaning on resistance backup, Patchogue sits firmly in cold-climate territory, so that's the class of unit priced here. These numbers come from Long Island Mac Arthur Airpor, the closest NOAA station, 4.8 miles out.
The yearly running costs in Patchogue
Modelled on a typical 2000-square-foot house, the heat pump draws about 3,671 kWh a year to keep it warm, plus cooling, for a combined electric bill near $1,303 a year. Patchogue's gas rate of $17.58 per Mcf, applied to the 47 Mcf a year the furnace burns, puts the current furnace-and-AC running cost near $1,175 a year, against 29.22¢ per kWh for electricity. With running costs higher every year, there is no payback at any purchase price; over 15 years, against a like-for-like replacement, a household here would end $7,414 behind.
What would change Patchogue's answer
The heat pump would become the cheaper option in Patchogue if electricity fell to 25.3¢/kWh (from 29.22¢) or gas rose above $20.30 per Mcf (from $17.58). At today's prices a cheaper quote cannot rescue the gas comparison in Patchogue, since there is no yearly saving to recover it from.
Electric resistance heat in Patchogue, compared
Gas isn't universal in Patchogue, many houses run on electric heat already. Swap the comparison to resistance heat instead of gas, and Patchogue's answer improves. The saving here runs about $2,383 a year, which recovers the extra $10,000 spent going electric in roughly 4.2 years.
Where Patchogue ranks in this dataset
Among 3206 cities, Patchogue's winter puts it at rank 1193 for severity, while its size puts it at rank 2738 for population, 1 in both cases being the extreme. That's the middle third for winter severity among the cities covered here.
Next step if you live in Patchogue
About 12,447 people live in Patchogue, New York, 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.
Line up a few local HVAC quotes before you decide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide walks through exactly how Patchogue's 3.11 seasonal COP and the rest of this page's numbers get built. Patchogue's 17.1°F design temperature falls on the cold side of the 25°F cutoff the cold-climate unit guide walks through.