Check Your Heat Pump’s Certified Specs and Running Cost
Enter the outdoor unit's model number to see every efficiency rating the EPA has certified for it, narrow it to the indoor pairing on your quote, and see what heat costs at your electricity rate.
Open the running cost calculatorBrowse 194 brandsConvert HSPF to HSPF2
- Running cost calculatorFind your outdoor unit, narrow it to the exact certified pairing, compare two systems, and see what heat costs at your electricity rate.
- Heat pump directoryBrowse 194 brands and 5,521 outdoor models, with the HSPF2 ratings each one actually carries.
- GuidesHow to find your AHRI certificate, why one unit has several ratings, and what to check on a quote.
- Method and sourcesWhere every figure comes from, how it is calculated, and what it cannot tell you.
Your quote names the outdoor unit. The efficiency depends on the indoor one.
The EPA does not certify a heat pump. It certifies a pairing — an outdoor unit matched with a specific indoor coil. Change the indoor half and the rating changes with it.
The EPA publishes one row per certified pairing: an outdoor unit with a specific indoor model. We group those 266,456 rows into 5,521 outdoor models by brand and outdoor model number, merging different spellings of the same brand and duplicate filings of the same model by two ENERGY STAR partners. For each model we count the distinct certified HSPF2 values and how many certificates carry each one. The grouping rules in full.
2,444 of 5,521 outdoor models (44.3%) are certified at more than one HSPF2 — a median of 3 distinct ratings, and in one case 19. Not because anything is wrong with them, but because each is sold into many different indoor pairings.
What the catalogue can and cannot tell you
It is tempting to quote a model's best and worst certified rating and call the difference your risk. That overstates it: on a typical well-sampled model, about 50% of the distance between the highest and lowest rating sits in the tails — ratings carried by one or two certificates out of hundreds.
It is equally tempting to read the most-certified rating as the one you are likely to get. It is not. Counting certificates tells you what the EPA has certified, not what manufacturers sell or installers fit — those numbers are not published anywhere we can check. A rating can dominate a model's paperwork and still not be the one in your quote.
And on a good number of models there is no leading rating to read at all. Of the 2,444 models that carry several ratings, 519 (21.2%) have two or more ratings tied for most frequent, and on 427 of those no rating appears more often than any other. On the 1,925 models that do have a single most-frequent rating, it accounts for a median of 66.7% of that model's certificates.
Which is why the useful answer is not a statistic. It is the indoor model number and AHRI certificate on your own quote.
The same outdoor model number, under several brands
A second thing falls out of the same data. Of the 3,026 distinct outdoor model numbers on the certified list, 846(28%) appear under more than one brand name, and one model number carries 17 brands. Those shared numbers account for 75% of the certified pairings in the list.
Every brand files its own AHRI certificate — not one certificate number is shared — so the paperwork looks different even when the model number on the outdoor unit is identical. If you are weighing up three quotes from three brands, it is worth checking. A shared model number is strong evidence of shared equipment; on its own it does not prove identical manufacture, components, warranty or performance. How to tell, and what it does not prove.
Models where the indoor coil costs you the most
These are the 16 models where the choice of indoor coil moves the running cost furthest, among those with at least 50 certified pairings. The annual difference is between the lowest and highest certified HSPF2, for 40 million BTU of delivered heat at 17.11¢/kWh — a reference scenario for ranking, not a bill. How these were chosen.
| Outdoor model | Pairings | Ratings | HSPF2 range | Annual difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trane 5TWX7024A1 | 241 | 8 | 8.0–11.0 | $233 |
| Lennox SL22KLV-036-230A** | 80 | 10 | 7.8–10.5 | $226 |
| American Standard 5A6H7024A1 | 245 | 8 | 8.1–11.0 | $223 |
| Midea MO1HE-H30B-2A | 114 | 17 | 8.1–10.8 | $211 |
| MDV MOD30-30HFN10-M3X | 65 | 19 | 8.1–10.8 | $211 |
| AIREASE A7CP21V24P-**A | 136 | 10 | 7.8–10.2 | $206 |
| BRYANT HEATING AND COOLING SYSTEMS 291VAN054**AA* | 155 | 7 | 8.0–10.5 | $204 |
| Carrier 27VNA154A*030* | 155 | 7 | 8.0–10.5 | $204 |
| Lennox SL22KLV-024-230A** | 106 | 9 | 8.2–10.5 | $183 |
| Carrier 27VPA924A*030* | 1,222 | 7 | 8.0–10.0 | $171 |
| BRYANT HEATING AND COOLING SYSTEMS 249VAN024**AA* | 1,147 | 7 | 8.0–10.0 | $171 |
| Airquest N5H9V24*K*AAA* | 1,093 | 7 | 8.0–10.0 | $171 |
| AIREASE A7CP21V48P-**A | 141 | 9 | 7.8–9.6 | $165 |
| GE NS21H48MA5-**A | 67 | 9 | 7.8–9.6 | $165 |
| GE NS21H24MA5-**A | 91 | 9 | 8.2–10.2 | $164 |
| Friedrich RD18AY36AJVC | 376 | 3 | 8.1–10.0 | $161 |
What to ask before you sign
- Which indoor coil and air handler are in this quote? Get the model numbers in writing. Without them the efficiency is not yet determined.
- What is the AHRI certificate number for that exact pairing? That certificate carries the certified HSPF2 and SEER2 — the outdoor unit alone does not.
- Is a higher-rated pairing available for this outdoor unit, and what does it cost? Sometimes it is a small line item. Sometimes the better coil will not fit your ductwork, and the answer is a legitimate no.
A lower-rated certified pairing is not a botched installation. It is a different certified product, often cheaper, occasionally the only one that fits. The problem is not that installers offer them — it is that the quote rarely says which one you are getting.
Method, and what it does not tell you
The EPA publishes one row per certified pairing: an outdoor unit with a specific indoor model. We group those 266,456 rows into 5,521 outdoor models by brand and outdoor model number, merging different spellings of the same brand and duplicate filings of the same model by two ENERGY STAR partners. For each model we count the distinct certified HSPF2 values and how many certificates carry each one. The grouping rules in full.
Electricity for heating is heat in MMBtu × 1,000 ÷ HSPF2 kilowatt-hours. That part is exact — it is the definition of HSPF2. What it is not is a prediction: HSPF2 is a seasonal rating measured under a standardised test procedure at reference conditions, and real performance depends on your climate, how the system is sized, how it is installed and how it is run.
The catalogue is the EPA's ENERGY STAR list of ducted heat pumps. It does not cover the whole U.S. market: non-certified equipment and other categories sit outside it.
Sources and dates
- EPA ENERGY STAR Certified Ducted Heat Pumps— 266,456 combinations. Most recent certification date in the set: 2026-09-23. Retrieved 2026-09-26.
- EIA Form EIA-861M — residential electricity prices, period 2026-07, for the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.