Heat pump vs. gas furnace in Rome, GA

This one's marginal in Rome: it only clears if you stay long enough. $3,500 is what Rome 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. Rome's residents would see roughly $346 a year back in running costs, putting the payback around 10.1 years. Whether that's worth it in Rome depends on how many years you expect to own the place.

The climate behind Rome's payback figure

Rome has a mild winter by US standards — 2604 heating degree days a year against a 65°F base — and summers are hot enough that cooling matters as much as heating, at 1878 cooling degree days. 10.9°F is the figure equipment gets sized against here — the 99th-percentile cold snap, not an average day — with a record low of 10°F on file. Worked through the model, that's a seasonal COP of 2.96 on the cold-climate unit fit for this climate. Rome 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 RICHARD B RUSSELL AIRPORT, 5.8 miles from Rome — the closest one on record.

The month-to-month numbers for Rome

Modelled on a typical 2000-square-foot house, the heat pump draws about 2,228 kWh a year to keep it warm, plus cooling, for a combined electric bill near $570 a year. The gas furnace it replaces burns roughly 27 Mcf a year at 20.42 per Mcf here, for a running cost near $916 a year (electricity here runs 14.90¢/kWh). Looked at as a full purchase rather than an incremental one, payback here is roughly 39 years, leaving the 15-year total $1,689 ahead.

The other scenario: no gas furnace to begin with

Plenty of homes in Rome heat with electricity alone, no gas line involved. Swap the comparison to resistance heat instead of gas, and Rome's answer improves. The saving here runs about $775 a year, which recovers the extra $8,000 spent going electric in roughly 10.3 years.

Where Rome ranks in this dataset

Among 3206 cities, Rome's winter puts it at rank 2098 for severity, while its size puts it at rank 1066 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 Rome, GA

About 38,747 people live in Rome, Georgia, 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.

Where Rome's figure comes from

Every constant behind this page — the 2.96 seasonal COP, the degree-day corrections, the equipment costs — is documented in the methodology guide. Rome's 10.9°F design temperature falls on the cold side of the 25°F cutoff the cold-climate unit guide walks through.