Quick answer
In North Texas, both heat pumps and gas furnaces make sense, the right choice depends on your home's existing setup, your utility costs, and the rare hard freeze. Our mild winters and long cooling season make heat pumps an efficient, increasingly popular fit because one system handles both heating and cooling on electricity. Gas furnaces still win for homes with cheap natural gas and for the deepest cold snaps, often paired with a heat pump in a hybrid 'dual-fuel' setup.
- Heat pumps both heat and cool on electricity, efficient and a natural fit for our mild winters.
- Gas furnaces deliver strong, fast heat and shine during the rare hard freeze.
- Dual-fuel (heat pump + gas backup) gives you efficiency most days and brute-force heat when it's frigid.
- The right call depends on existing ductwork, gas availability, and utility rates, not a one-size answer.
- A load calculation and an honest cost comparison should drive the decision, not a sales script.
When this question matters
You're replacing an aging system and a contractor mentions a heat pump for the first time, or your old furnace finally died and you're deciding whether to stay with gas. This is a 15-year decision that affects every monthly bill and how comfortable the house feels in both seasons, so it's worth understanding the trade-offs rather than defaulting to 'whatever was there before.'
Why North Texas is good heat-pump country
Heat pumps work by moving heat rather than burning fuel, and they get more efficient the milder the winter. Collin County's relatively gentle cold and long, hot cooling season play to a heat pump's strengths: one efficient system earns its keep cooling all summer and heating most of the winter. The historic exception is a deep freeze like the region saw in February 2021, when temperatures plunged for days, which is exactly why backup heat matters here.
How it works
How a heat pump heats
A heat pump is essentially an air conditioner that can run in reverse. In summer it pulls heat out of your home; in winter it extracts heat from the outdoor air, even cold air holds usable heat, and brings it inside. It runs on electricity with no combustion, no gas line, and no flue, and it delivers steady, even warmth. As temperatures drop toward freezing its efficiency falls, which is where backup heat comes in.
How a gas furnace heats
A gas furnace burns natural gas to heat air directly, delivering hot, fast heat measured by its AFUE rating, a 96% AFUE furnace turns 96 cents of every gas dollar into heat. Furnaces don't care how cold it gets outside; they make the same heat at 10°F as at 40°F. The trade-off is they only heat, you still need a separate AC for our long summers, and they require a gas supply, venting, and combustion safety checks.
Why dual-fuel is popular here
A dual-fuel (hybrid) system pairs a heat pump with a gas furnace and lets a smart control pick the cheaper, more effective source for the conditions. The heat pump handles the mild majority of our winter efficiently, and the furnace takes over for the coldest stretches. For many Collin County homes that already have gas and ductwork, dual-fuel captures most of the heat pump's efficiency while keeping a furnace's muscle in reserve for a hard freeze.
What to watch for
If you size a heat pump without planning backup
A heat pump sized only for cooling can fall behind on the coldest days, and a system without properly configured backup heat will lean on inefficient emergency strips, or struggle, during a freeze. The fix is correct sizing plus a clear backup-heat plan, whether that's electric strips or a gas furnace in a dual-fuel setup.
If you choose on price alone
The cheapest equipment isn't the cheapest system once you factor in years of utility bills and our specific climate. A gas furnace can look cheaper up front but adds a separate AC and gas costs; a heat pump can cost more up front but does two jobs efficiently. The honest comparison runs the numbers for your home and your rates, that's the comparison worth asking for.
Why trust Burnside
- Burnside installs both high-efficiency heat pumps and gas furnaces and gives honest repair-vs-replace guidance.
- As a Lennox Premier Dealer, we size every system to the home with a load calculation, not a guess.
- Pricing is flat-rate, and 0% financing is available with approved credit through Wells Fargo.
Reviewed by the Burnside team, serving Collin County since 1958 · Last updated June 25, 2026
Common questions
Is a heat pump good for North Texas? +
Yes, our mild winters and long cooling season suit heat pumps well, since one efficient system handles both heating and cooling. The main consideration is backup heat for the occasional hard freeze, which is why many local homes choose a dual-fuel setup that pairs a heat pump with a gas furnace.
Will a heat pump keep up during a Texas freeze? +
A correctly sized heat pump with properly configured backup heat will. Its efficiency drops as it gets very cold, so it relies on backup, electric strips or, in a dual-fuel system, a gas furnace, during the coldest stretches like the 2021 freeze. Planning that backup is part of doing the install right.
Which is cheaper to run, a heat pump or a gas furnace? +
It depends on your electric and natural-gas rates and how cold the winter runs. Heat pumps are very efficient in mild weather; gas furnaces can be cheaper during deep cold or where gas is inexpensive. A dual-fuel system is designed to use whichever is cheaper at the moment. We'll run the comparison for your home.