If you’ve been thinking about getting a heat pump, or keep hearing your friends and neighbors rave about theirs, you probably have a few questions, like, how much will it cost me? Will it really save me money in the long run and what is a heat pump anyway?
The energy-efficient, eco-friendly units have seen a surge of improvements in the last 10 years.
“Heat pumps a decade ago were not really something people talked about,” said Kenneth Gillingham, professor of energy and environmental economics at Yale School of the Environment. “And now it seems to be a normal thing.”
More than 17 million homes in the United States use heat pumps as their main heating fuel, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In Connecticut, more than 90,000 heat pumps have been installed by Eversource and United Illuminating since 2017.
How do heat pumps work?
Heat pumps work a lot like air conditioners, with the key exception that they can cool and heat your home — even though the name “heat pump” doesn’t exactly imply that.
“It’s called a heat pump because fundamentally what it's doing is pumping heat from one location to another,” Gillingham said.
Instead of burning fossil fuels to create heat, like a furnace or boiler, heat pumps use electricity to move heat around.
It’s 95 degrees out and you want cool air? A heat pump takes the warm air that’s already in your house and moves it outside – just like an air conditioner.
It’s freezing cold out and you want to feel nice and cozy inside?
“All they do is they flip which direction they're pumping the heat,” Gillingham said.
That’s because air on even the coldest winter days contains some heat. So heat pumps leverage the science of refrigeration and compression to extract those traces of warm air and bring it inside your house.
“They're effectively the same as a good air conditioner… but they also work in the winter,” Gillingham said.
How to know which heat pump is right for you
There are several different kinds of heat pumps but the two main categories are “air source heat pumps” and “ground source heat pumps.”
Air source heat pumps are more common because they’re cheaper and easier to install. Ground source heat pumps, also known as geothermal heat pumps, are more efficient because they take heat from the ground, which is often warmer and more stable than outside temperatures. But they also require extensive digging, making them more expensive.
Like air conditioners, air source heat pumps and geothermals are measured in BTUs. The higher the BTU number, the more powerful the appliance.
But before you start shopping for heat pumps, it’s a good idea to conduct a home energy audit. A better insulated home with fewer air leaks around doors and windows could require a different unit or smaller heat pump, according to Ugur Pasaogullari, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Connecticut.
What costs are involved?
Heat pumps may save you money in the long run, but they require a significant investment upfront.
The average heat pump can cost $10,000 to $15,000 to buy and install, according to Lorant Sedenszki, who oversees install crews at Aiello Home Services, a plumbing and HVAC company that primarily serves central Connecticut.
If you’re looking to add enough heat pumps to heat and cool an entire home, you could be looking at $30,000 to $40,000, Sedenszki said.
But whether or not you’ll see a return on that investment, through lower utility bills, depends.
People using a heat pump to replace oil or propane are much more likely to see savings than those using natural gas.
According to a study by the National Laboratory of the Rockies, 74% of homes in the Northeast using oil or propane could see enough savings in their energy bills to outweigh the initial cost of the heat pump, even without incentives or subsidies. But only 5% of homes using natural gas would see the same amount of savings.
“Heat pumps are not cheaper than natural gas to operate, unfortunately, because of our higher electricity costs,” Pasaogullari said.
Connecticut has some of the highest electric rates in the country, according to data from US EIA.
“But if the electricity costs go down or if the gas prices or the fossil fuel prices continue to go up, I think that decision may change,” Pasaogullari said.
When do heat pumps work best?
A long-standing worry about heat pumps is whether they can warm a home in very cold weather.
“I think that misconception comes about because a decade ago they didn't,” Gillingham said.
“Today, they're becoming effective. They're used in the winter. They're used in Scandinavia, where it gets even colder than here and they really do work,” he said.
Newer heat pumps, known as cold weather heat pumps, have updated designs and can operate at temperatures well below freezing. But on very cold days, heat pumps will use more electricity, to the point where it may be less efficient than switching on a boiler or furnace.
But it is mild temperatures outside and the in-between season days when you might want heating one day and cooling the next, that are a heat pump’s sweet spot.
“There's definitely those times of the year where you wake up in the morning and you're putting your jacket on and by like 10 a.m. you're taking it off,” Sedenszki said.
“Those are the times where heat pumps really shine.”
The end of federal tax credits: What’s next?
An annual tax credit of up to $2,000 has seen heat pumps increase in popularity. But that credit is expiring at the end of 2025 due to President Donald Trump’s spending and tax package.
While that’s caused a temporary increase in sales for some businesses, it’s unclear how the credit’s end will play out in the long run.
“Hopefully it won’t affect us too much,” Sedenszki said.
“It’s still a great product. I don’t think people only put them in for the incentives.”
Connecticut residents can still take advantage of state-level incentives offered by Energize CT. The incentives are based on equipment size with ranges starting at $250 or $750 per ton depending on what fuel source the heat pump is replacing.
Áine Pennello is a Report for America corps member, covering the environment and climate change for Connecticut Public
