Most Reliable Heat Pump Brands of 2026
Heat pumps aren't trouble-free, but our newest survey data on brands like Coleman and Trane can help thwart long-term headaches
Using heat pumps can be one of the most efficient ways to cool and heat your home. Compared with other heating and cooling devices, they are eco-friendly and could save you money. In cooling mode, they work like air conditioners, extracting heat from the air inside and releasing it outside. In heating mode, they do the opposite, extracting whatever heat is present in outside air (even cold outside air) and moving it inside to heat your home.
Though they use electricity, heat pumps use it more efficiently than electric baseboard heat and don’t require direct consumption of fossil fuels like oil or natural gas. Depending on factors such as where you live and the cost of electricity, a heat pump may also save you money compared with other heating and air conditioning systems. But heat pumps aren’t trouble-free, as we learned from surveys of our members who installed 13,753 of them between 2009 and 2025.
CR's Guide to Home Improvement
Find top-rated products and expert tips to help you save energy and money—and protect your home from extreme weather.
Most and Least Reliable Heat Pump Brands
We analyzed data from our members who own heat pumps to find the most reliable ones and those they would recommend to others. The 22 brands we rated include well-known companies like Carrier, Lennox, and Trane, which account for more than half of the heat pumps chosen by members, as well as lesser-known companies like Heil and Payne. In all, 13 brands earned favorable marks for predicted reliability in our most recent analysis, which estimates how likely a particular brand’s heat pump is to experience problems by the eighth year of ownership.
