Guide
Heat pump or gas furnace in Texas after the 2021 freeze
Updated
For decades the Texas heating conversation was a shrug and a set of heat strips. The February 2021 winter storm ended that, and it now changes what you should buy.
The three realistic options
- Heat pump (single system)
- The same equipment cools in summer and heats in winter by running in reverse, with electric backup for the coldest hours. One outdoor unit, one indoor unit, no gas appliance. Rated for heating by HSPF2, with a national minimum of 7.5 HSPF2 alongside 14.3 SEER2 for split systems.
- Dual fuel (heat pump plus gas furnace)
- A heat pump does the mild heating, a gas furnace takes over below a changeover temperature. Highest capital cost of the three, best behavior in a genuine freeze, and the option most Texans have never been offered.
- Air conditioner plus gas furnace
- The traditional Texas pairing. Simple, familiar, and dependent on both gas supply and electricity for the blower and controls.
What February 2021 actually taught
- Electric resistance backup is a load, not a plan. Heat strips draw heavily exactly when everyone else is drawing heavily. If your system leans on them, know how many kilowatts they are.
- Gas furnaces still need electricity for the blower, igniter and controls. "I have gas heat" is not the same as "I have heat in an outage".
- Design temperature is a real number, and your contractor should size the heating side to it rather than assuming Texas winters are decorative.
- Pipes and equipment freeze together. Whatever you install, the winterization conversation about the condensate line and the outdoor unit belongs in the same visit.
- Backup power changes the calculus. If you have or plan a generator, the electrical demand of your heating choice is part of that sizing conversation.
How to compare them honestly
- Ask for heating capacity at your design low temperature, not just at 47 degrees F. A heat pump's output falls as it gets colder, and the honest number is the one at the cold end.
- Ask what the backup is and what it costs to run, in kilowatts for strips or in therms for gas, using your own utility rates.
- Ask for the changeover temperature on a dual fuel proposal and how it is controlled. A badly set changeover point wastes the whole point of the system.
- Price all three on the same visit. Contractors default to what they install most, which is not necessarily what suits your house.
- Factor the cooling side, because in Texas the cooling season dominates. A heat pump is an air conditioner that also heats, so its summer performance is not a compromise.
Where each one tends to win
In the Gulf coast and south Texas, where hard freezes are rare and short, a straight heat pump is usually the cleanest answer and removes a gas appliance from the house. In north Texas and the Panhandle, where the heating season is real, dual fuel earns its extra capital cost, and a well-specified gas furnace remains defensible. In central Texas the honest answer is that it depends on your rates and on how much you value freeze resilience, which is a conversation to have with a contractor holding your load calculation, not a conclusion to reach from a web page.
We publish no equipment prices here. What we can tell you is which questions produce comparable numbers from three contractors, which is the part that actually saves money. Get quotes.