Heat pump replacement in Herndon.
Heat pump replacement in Herndon runs $8,499 to $21,650 installed. Inside the town, electric heat, mostly heat pumps, warms 6 of every 10 owner homes.
- The installed range, published
- Sized to the house, not the old label
- Dedicated HVAC team
Get your heat pump priced
Herndon’s heat pumps: most of the town, Dranesville, half of Franklin Farm.
On Census forms a heat pump shows up as electric heat, and Herndon has a lot of it. Inside the town it’s 6 of every 10 owner homes. Dranesville, nearly all single-family houses, most from the 1970s and 80s, matches that, and Hutchison, a smaller Census area of mostly townhouses and condos, tops it at about 7 in 10. Franklin Farm sits near half; Floris and McNair, where gas leads, fall under 4 in 10.
In the town’s 1970s and 80s townhouses, about a quarter of its homes, the indoor half usually hides in a hall closet or the attic: an air handler with electric backup strips, its condenser on a concrete pad behind the house. The two halves are rated as a pair, so a replacement swaps both; an old air handler on a new outdoor unit rarely delivers what the new one was bought for.
Dranesville is nearly all detached houses, and many from that era carry two systems, one for the bedrooms and one for the main floors, each on its own clock. When one fails, check the other’s date; if they went in together, have both priced while the tech is measuring.
Floris, McNair and about half of Franklin Farm have gas, and there the usual move is dual fuel: the outdoor unit that was an air conditioner becomes a heat pump, and the furnace stays on for the coldest nights. Washington Gas puts money toward that, with a strict rule: the heat pump must take out a central air conditioner, and a heat pump traded for a newer heat pump gets nothing. It pays its own customers only, and Fairfax County says some Herndon homes are on Columbia Gas of Virginia. Our guide to dual fuel carries the amounts.
How the houses across Herndon are heated.
Census figures for the owner-occupied homes in each place, and what that usually means for a heat pump.
| Place | Median home built | Most homes are | Heated with | What a heat pump job usually looks like |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Franklin Farm | 1985 | single-family houses, about 9 in 10 | electricity, about 5 in 10 | Electric heat leads, which here means heat pumps: often a like-for-like swap. |
| Herndon | 1981 | single-family houses, about 4 in 10 | electricity, about 6 in 10 | Electric heat leads, which here means heat pumps: often a like-for-like swap. |
| Dranesville | 1984 | single-family houses, nearly all | electricity, about 6 in 10 | Electric heat leads, which here means heat pumps: often a like-for-like swap. |
| McNair | 2003 | condo and apartment buildings, about 6 in 10 | gas, about 7 in 10 | Condo and apartment buildings: compact closet systems, and the association decides where an outdoor unit goes. |
| Floris | 1990 | single-family houses, about 8 in 10 | gas, about 6 in 10 | 1980s and 90s gas houses, most on a second air conditioner, the part a heat pump would replace. |
| Hutchison | 1979 | townhouses, about 5 in 10 | electricity, about 7 in 10 | Electric heat leads, which here means heat pumps: often a like-for-like swap. |
| Sully Square | 2015 | condo and apartment buildings, about 6 in 10 | gas, about 6 in 10 | Condo and apartment buildings: compact closet systems, and the association decides where an outdoor unit goes. |
Herndon houses, by the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey, owner-occupied homes unless it says otherwise. A heat pump counts as electric heat.
The Town of Herndon
Inside the town limits. Floris, Franklin Farm, McNair and Dranesville, on the Fairfax County side, are counted by the Census as places of their own.
- Median home built1981 Census
- Built before 1980about 4 in 10 Census
- Built since 2000about 2 in 10 Census
- Most homes aresingle-family houses, about 4 in 10 Census
- Heated withelectricity, about 6 in 10 Census
- Rentedabout 4 in 10 Census
- Electric heat this common mostly means heat pumps, so the usual job here is a heat pump and air handler for the old pair.
What heat pump replacement costs in Herndon.
The same price book as our heating page and the HVAC estimator, for a heat pump and air handler, 2 to 5 ton.
- A heat pump system, outdoor unit and air handler, installed$8,499 to $21,650
- A gas furnace and air conditioner together, installed$8,898 to $23,000
- Diagnostic visit, when a repair may do$99
Might it be a repair? The diagnostic visit is $99, and the tech prices the repair and the replacement side by side. Financing is available, subject to approval.
With Comfort+ membership at $199 a year, the diagnostic visit is included, and half of each repair bill is banked toward replacing that system, up to $1,500.
When a heat pump in Herndon is worth replacing.
It quit in a January cold snap
Virginia’s building code lets an emergency replacement start before the permit, with the application due by the end of the next working day, and the Town of Herndon takes an emergency application for heat ahead of its usual tax and business license checks.
Aux heat is on all day
When the heat pump can’t keep up, the electric strips take over, and they cost far more to run. Aux heat on for hours is the sign.
It’s past 15 years old
It heats all winter and cools all summer, so it piles up hours an air conditioner never sees. Past 15 years, price the replacement beside any big repair.
The paperwork behind a new heat pump in Herndon.
How to pick the best heat pump installer in Herndon.
Questions to ask anybody who quotes you, us included.
Did they ask whose ground the outdoor unit stands on?
In a Herndon townhouse or condo community the condenser may stand on common ground, and a bigger or differently shaped unit can need the association’s approval. Ask before the quote is final.
Did they size it, or copy the old label?
Copying the old nameplate repeats whatever guess was made when the house was built. The wrong size runs worse in both seasons.
Is the air handler in the price?
A heat pump system is the outdoor unit plus the air handler inside. Ask whether the quote covers both, matched, in writing.
Who sets up the backup heat?
Set wrong, the electric strips run on mild days. Ask who programs the thermostat and at what outdoor temperature the strips may come on.
What our customers say.
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Heat pump replacement questions from Herndon.
Who handles the permit for a new heat pump in Herndon?
That follows the town line. Inside it, the Town of Herndon’s Building Inspections office, which wants the contractor’s state license with a mechanical application. Outside it, Fairfax County, which counts a replaced heating or cooling system as mechanical work and adds an A2L certification for the newer refrigerants. The HVAC estimator narrows $8,499 to $21,650 to your house.
Can the outdoor unit move on a historic district house in the Town?
Back on the old pad, nothing outside changes. A new spot, or a new line set up a wall, does, and in the Town’s historic district most such changes need the Historic District Review Board’s Certificate of Appropriateness first, with applications usually due about 30 days before its hearing.
How much does heat pump replacement cost in Herndon?
$8,499 to $21,650 installed for a heat pump system, the outdoor unit and the air handler, 2 to 5 ton. A small single-stage system lands near the bottom, a big variable-speed one near the top. The HVAC estimator narrows it to your house.
Should I get a heat pump, or a furnace and air conditioner?
A heat pump system runs $8,499 to $21,650 installed; a gas furnace and air conditioner together, $8,898 to $23,000. No gas line usually means a heat pump. With gas, you can keep the furnace and add one; our heat pump vs gas furnace guide runs the numbers.
More from SwiftPro in Herndon.
More from SwiftPro in Herndon
See the range first, then your number.
Call, or book online and pick a window. The price is in writing before the old unit comes out, and if a repair makes more sense, you’ll hear that first.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing is a licensed, BBB Accredited (A rating), independently owned heating, cooling and plumbing company in Chantilly, serving Herndon and the rest of Northern Virginia. Virginia contractor license #2705192276. 5.0 stars across 884 Google reviews. SwiftPro maintains a dedicated HVAC team and a dedicated plumbing team.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing, 4230 Lafayette Center Dr, Suite N, Chantilly, VA 20151, (703) 997-9757. Book online, read our reviews, or see every town we serve.