Three ways to heat and cool a Dallas house
Dallas averages just under 2,000 heating degree days and about 3,125 cooling degree days a year (NOAA normals; climate zone 3A). Cooling still dominates, but the winter is real enough that the heating side deserves an actual decision:
- Dual fuel
- A heat pump that carries the house down to a set outdoor temperature — typically 30–40°F — and a gas furnace that takes over below it. The heat pump does 90% of the winter cheaply; the furnace handles the Arctic week. Highest upfront cost, lowest running cost, and the best fit for a DFW house that already has Atmos gas.Best for: existing gas, 1,800+ sq ft, staying 8+ years
- Heat pump + strips
- One outdoor unit for both seasons, electric strips for the coldest nights. Cheapest to install as a whole system and what most all-electric Arlington, Grand Prairie and Garland homes already have. Strip heat is expensive during a hard freeze, which in Dallas happens.Best for: no gas service, smaller homes, Oncor incentives
- Furnace + AC
- The conventional DFW setup. Two pieces of equipment, the furnace idle nine months. Makes sense when the furnace is sound and only the AC is being replaced.Best for: replacing one half of a working pair
Sizing for a Dallas winter and a Dallas summer
A Manual J for a Frisco or McKinney two-story typically lands around 1 ton per 650–750 square feet for cooling, with attic-duct losses the largest single correction. The heating load is the number installers here skip: a heat pump sized purely for cooling can run out of capacity at 20°F, which is when the strips come on and the bill spikes. Ask for the balance point — the outdoor temperature at which the heat pump alone stops keeping up — and for a cold-climate or two-stage heat pump if the balance point is above about 30°F.
The other Dallas-specific line on a quote is hail. Condensers in Collin and Denton counties take hail most springs; a hail guard on the new unit is a $100–$300 add that pays for itself the first time.
Where in DFW
Installers in the network cover Dallas County — Dallas, Irving, Garland, Richardson, Carrollton, Grand Prairie — and run north through Plano, Frisco and McKinney and west through Arlington to Fort Worth. The current replacement wave is the 1998–2008 subdivisions in Frisco, McKinney, Plano and Grand Prairie: original systems on the original attic flex duct, twenty years old, usually a builder-grade furnace and 10-SEER condenser. Those homes get the biggest bill improvement from a two-stage heat pump or dual-fuel system with the ducts sealed, and they are exactly what Oncor's program was built for. Inside Dallas — Lakewood, Oak Cliff, the M Streets, the Park Cities — the project is often the ductwork and the return, because the house predates central air.
Oncor and Atmos: what is on the table
Oncor delivers electricity across DFW regardless of which retail provider sends the bill. Its incentives are paid to participating service providers and taken off your invoice, not mailed to you:
- Home Energy Efficiency ProgramHeating and cooling upgrades, duct sealing and insulation through approved participating providers. Homes must have Oncor as the delivery utility; homeowners and renters with permission may participate. Programs typically open early in the year and run until the budget is spent.
- Low-Income Weatherization ProgramThe same upgrades at low or no cost for households under the published income limits, which scale with household size.
- Smart thermostatsOncor has run instant rebates on common smart-thermostat brands through retail; amounts change year to year.
- Atmos Energy SmartChoiceRebates on qualifying natural gas appliances in North and Central Texas, applied for after installation. The qualifying-equipment list changes; confirm a furnace is on it before counting on it.
Oncor · Atmos Energy. Ask whether the installer is an Oncor participating provider before the quote is written; the incentive does not exist otherwise. The federal 25C credit ended for equipment placed in service after 2025 and is not available for a 2026 Dallas installation.
The Dallas mechanical permit
Replacing a furnace, condenser, air handler or full system inside the City of Dallas requires a mechanical permit under the Dallas Building Code, issued by Dallas Development Services, Permitting and Inspections, with a mechanical inspection. Gas-line and vent changes are part of the same permit. Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Arlington, Irving, Garland and Fort Worth each issue their own; the rule is the same.
The installer must hold a Texas contractor license from the TDLR Air Conditioning and Refrigeration program. It goes on the permit and should be on the quote.
Installed costs in Dallas
Dallas labor is at the low end of the five metros. Permitted, installed, typical single-family ranges before Oncor incentives:
| System | Notes | DFW range |
|---|---|---|
| Central AC, condenser + coil | Builder grade to variable-speed | $4,200–$14,500 |
| Gas furnace | 80% to 96% AFUE; 96% earns the Atmos rebate if listed | $3,300–$9,800 |
| Heat pump, split | Two-stage is the DFW sweet spot | $5,200–$18,000 |
| Dual-fuel system | Heat pump + gas furnace + air handler/coil | $10,500–$27,000 |
| Full system, furnace + AC | $7,500–$24,000 | |
| Ductless mini-split | Per zone | $2,800–$4,800 |
| Duct sealing or replacement | Attic system, before Oncor incentive | $1,800–$7,500 |
| Hail guard | On the new condenser | $100–$300 |
The duct line on the quote
Almost every DFW replacement quote should have one. The attic in a Plano two-story reaches 130°F in July and the flex duct in it was installed in 2003 at R-4 with tape that has long since let go. New equipment connected to it delivers 70–80% of what you paid for. A static-pressure test before the equipment is chosen, and sealing with mastic afterward, is the difference between a system that meets its rating and one that does not — and Oncor pays participating providers toward the sealing.
If a repair quote brought you here, the Dallas AC repair page has the repair numbers to put against these. The repair-or-replace calculator and the tier table for any metro are on the installation page.