Planning to Purchase a Heat Pump? Be Prepared for Sticker Shock!

One night in December 2024, I was awakened by cold temperature. I program the thermostats in our home to lower to 65 degrees Fahrenheit from 2300 (11:00 P.M.) until 0700 (7:00 A.M) during the colder months in an effort to reduce energy costs. I looked at the temperature on my alarm clock and it showed 63 degrees Fahrenheit. I got out of bed and I checked the thermostat in the master bedroom and it also showed a temperature of 63 degrees Fahrenheit.

I went downstairs, retrieved a flashlight, and then looked out one of the kitchen windows that is above the outdoor HVAC equipment. I wanted to see if there was ice on the freon line going to the heat pump. There was no visible ice, but the heat pump continually ran, which wasn’t right. I decided to set the thermostat in the master bedroom to emergency heat mode, which shuts down the heat pump mode. I actually liked the emergency heat mode because it was quieter than using the heat pump.

Unfortunately, emergency heat mode is basically a giant electric space heater. Our electric bill just about doubled. We had a few snow falls in January and the snow didn’t melt for awhile, so I held off calling an HVAC service company to diagnose the issue for two reasons: (1) they would have had to trudge through the snow in our yard to get to the heat pump, and (2) I didn’t want the HVAC tech tracking snow and possibly mud into the house.

In March 2025, I was finally able to call an HVAC service company and schedule a service call. A technician came three days later, checking the outdoor unit and the air handler in the attic. The HVAC technician’s diagnosis was a kinked copper tube in the outdoor unit limiting freon flow to the TXV (thermal expansion valve). He showed me pictures he had taken with his smartphone and he said he could hear a clicking noise coming from the TXV. The technician stated that due to the age of the system (almost 13 years old) and the cost to replace the TXV, he recommended system replacement. He did say when it got warmer out, the problem would go away because the system would reverse the freon direction.

April rolled around and we had a couple of days where the temperature reached 90 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer. The heat pump wasn’t able to maintain temperature. I set the thermostat at 78 degrees Fahrenheit for cooling mode during the warmer months and the best the heat pump could do was 80 – 82 degrees Fahrenheit.

I decided to check the small copper tube in the heat pump outdoor unit myself. There was no kink in the copper tube. I decided to get a second opinion about why our heat pump was having issues maintaining temperature.

A technician from another HVAC company came out and he also checked the outdoor unit and the air handler in the attic. The technician agreed with me that there was no kink in the small copper tube in the outdoor unit. However, the technician diagnosed the issue as a stuck TXV in the air handler in the attic. He said he would get me a quote to repair the issue as well as a quote to replace the heat pump. I never heard back from the technician or the company.

I was becoming a bit anxious because 90-degree+ Fahrenheit temps were forecast for a string of consecutive days in June. I researched other HVAC companies in my area that had good consumer ratings and I contacted three of them to get a quote for a replacement heat pump. The first company I called said they could have someone come out that day in the evening.

The guy who showed up to survey things in order to work up a quote told me that the cost of a new heat pump would be over $10,000. I couldn’t believe it. The guy told me that prices had gone up dramatically in the last ten years.

What the guy from the first company told me turned out to be true. The quote from the first company was $12,500 for a 2.5-ton Bryant heat pump. Another company gave me a quote for three different Lennox 2.5-ton heat pumps, with a price range of $11,948 to $20,826. A third company gave me a quote of $10,200 for a RUUD 2.5 ton heat pump, and $11,900 for a Bryant 2.5-ton heat pump.

I was still dumbfounded by the price increase for heat pumps. We had our Lennox heat pump installed in 2012 for just over $6,000 and I thought that was expensive. I wondered why prices had gone up so much. So I sat down one night and I did some Internet research. I came across a YouTube video posted by a guy who works in the HVAC industry. According to the video, federal government regulations have been the major driver of HVAC cost increases. I was furious.

I decided to go with the quote from the third company for the RUUD 2.5 ton heat pump, model #RP14AY30AJ2NA. In the quotes I received from the third company was a recommendation to have an electrician upgrade the breaker/wire size for either heat pump I decided on because my current electrical setup might not be good enough for the new heat pumps. In July 2025 I researched electricians based on consumer reviews, chose a couple, and called one. The guy who came out to work up a quote said I would need a breaker upgrade, but my wiring was more than adequate for the RUUD 2.5 ton heat pump that would be installed. The following week, an electrician showed up and upgraded the breaker well within thirty minutes. The breaker upgrade cost my wife and I an additional $325.

What are your thoughts about the price increases for HVAC equipment? Let me know in the comment area at the bottom of the page and thank you for visiting.

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