Should Port Townsend switch to a heat pump?
A heat pump earns back its extra cost in Port Townsend within a sensible timeframe. 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. Port Townsend's residents would see roughly $304 a year back in running costs, putting the payback around 3.3 years. The window here is reasonable, and it's specific to what Port Townsend actually pays for power and gas.
Port Townsend's weather, in the numbers that matter
Degree days tell the story here: Port Townsend racks up 4741 heating degree days each year (base 65°F), and summers rarely ask much of an air conditioner, with 16 cooling degree days on the cooling side. The 99% winter design temperature here — the cold snap equipment must be sized for, not the seasonal average — is 27.5°F, against a record low of 16°F. That puts the seasonal coefficient of performance at 3.02 for the recommended standard unit. Port Townsend's winters don't get cold enough to need the cold-climate premium — a standard unit holds up fine. Source: NOAA station PORT TOWNSEND, 1.5 miles from Port Townsend — the closest one on record.
Port Townsend's running-cost comparison, in dollars
Electricity use for heating alone comes out to about 3,975 kWh a year on the 2000-square-foot reference house; folding in cooling puts the electric bill near $569 a year. Port Townsend's gas rate of 17.62 per Mcf, applied to the 49 Mcf a year the furnace burns, puts its running cost near $873 a year, against 14.27¢ per kWh for electricity. Buy it outright, not incrementally, and payback stretches to 36.2 years; over 15 years the net position sits $3,556 ahead.
If your home heats with electric baseboard instead of gas
Plenty of homes in Port Townsend heat with electricity alone, no gas line involved. Compared with baseboard or electric-furnace resistance heat, the numbers shift in the heat pump’s favor. The saving here runs about $1,147 a year, which recovers the extra $5,500 spent going electric in roughly 4.8 years.
Where Port Townsend ranks in this dataset
Among 3206 cities, Port Townsend's winter puts it at rank 995 for severity, while its size puts it at rank 3057 for population — 1 in both cases being the extreme. That's the coldest third of the dataset, where climate does most of the work behind this figure.
Deciding what's next in Port Townsend, WA
Port Townsend, Washington is home to about 10,649 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, Port Townsend 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
Every constant behind this page — the 3.02 seasonal COP, the degree-day corrections, the equipment costs — is documented in the methodology guide. The $2,000 federal credit baked into Port Townsend's number is explained, with the before-and-after math, in the tax credit guide.