Lehigh County · Borough
Coopersburg has the oldest housing profile of any borough nearby. The median house dates to 1961, 32.7 percent predates 1940, and 61.1 percent of the stock went up before 1970.
Unity Heating & Air Conditioning is based in Macungie and covers Coopersburg regularly. Tyler Furbacher owns the company, walks the job and installs it, which matters where the tank, the flue and the equipment get decided together.
About 20 minutes from Macungie
Fuel oil heats 40.3 percent of households here, the heaviest oil dependence in the region. Electricity accounts for 35.0 percent and utility gas for only 20.7 percent, the lowest gas share of any town nearby. Counting propane, 41.4 percent of the borough heats with delivered fuel.
Coopersburg leans on delivered fuel harder than anywhere else nearby: 40.3 percent of households heat with oil and another 1.1 percent with propane. If yours is one of them, put your own gallons into the oil savings estimator and see what a heat pump, a hybrid or a new high-efficiency oil system would actually cost to run instead.
Start with gallons, not with a brochure
Where two households in five burn oil, the first question is rarely which brand of equipment. It is whether leaving oil pays at your house, and that depends on the gallons you go through in a normal winter. The oil savings estimator works from that number.
Two honest routes lead off oil. A natural gas or propane system keeps a familiar fuel and a familiar install. A heat pump ends deliveries and shifts the load onto the electric service. Neither is automatically cheaper, and either can be right on the same street.
Macungie, where the van is based, is the mirror image of Coopersburg: seven in ten homes heat with electricity and roughly one in nine with oil. The page on HVAC service in Macungie covers the electric-heat side of the same arithmetic, and our Upper Macungie page covers a township where gas has the majority but about 1,450 households still heat by delivery.
Whether gas is even on your block
Only about one household in five here heats with utility gas. Being inside UGI’s territory is not the same as having a main on your street. UGI extends a service line at no cost within 150 feet of an existing main, and past that the run becomes a homeowner expense that can dwarf the equipment.
When the main is out of reach, propane is the realistic alternative rather than a consolation prize. It installs much like gas equipment and uses a tank you already understand from oil, but it costs more per BTU than natural gas.
What leaving oil actually involves
The equipment decision is the easy part. These details take the thought and the budget.
- Tank age and condition, plus the supply line, which decides whether oil heat stays live through the changeover
- Tank location: basement, crawlspace, outside on a pad or underground, each changing access, removal and where equipment can sit
- The flue left behind when an oil appliance comes out, since the chimney is then oversized for whatever remains and often needs lining
- Whether the old boiler also made domestic hot water, because that load has to land somewhere in the new plan
- Where the ducts and piping actually run, which separates a one-day full system replacement from a three-day one
A heat pump on a 1950s or 1960s house
Equipment here is sized against a winter design temperature near 8 F and roughly 5,800 heating degree days, with cooling selected for a summer design temperature around 91 F. On a house built before 1970 the envelope decides the outcome, so the load calculation has to come from your house, not a newer one nearby.
The borough was settled around 1730 as Freyburg and later renamed for Judge Peter Cooper. It sits about seven miles southeast of Allentown, PA Route 309 runs through along Third Street, and the Coopersburg Historic District is on the National Register. In the oldest houses there is no duct chase at all, and ductless mini splits cover heating and cooling room by room. Where oil stays, oil furnaces and oil boilers get cleaned and serviced as usual.
Frequently asked questions about HVAC work in Coopersburg
Do I have to remove the oil tank when I convert?
Not always in the same step, but it has to be decided up front. An outside or underground tank is a different job from one in the basement, and an aging tank and supply line change the sequencing. Keeping oil live until the new system runs is sometimes the safer plan.
What happens to the chimney after the oil appliance comes out?
It usually ends up oversized for whatever is left on it, which is often just the water heater. An oversized flue drafts poorly and condenses, so relining or reworking the venting is a normal part of a conversion. It is a real line item and should be priced with the equipment.
Does the borough require a permit for heating or air conditioning work?
Yes. Coopersburg requires permits for heating and air conditioning work, Barry Isett & Associates serves as the borough’s code agency, and contractors must show current Workers’ Comp coverage. Pennsylvania moved to the 2021 IRC and 2021 IECC on January 1, 2026, so the work is reviewed against that code.
Can a heat pump carry an older house here by itself?
Sometimes, and sometimes the better setup keeps a fuel-fired furnace as backup while the heat pump handles the milder two-thirds of the season. With a design temperature near 8 F, that decision comes down to measured heat loss, capacity at low outdoor temperatures and what the electric service can carry.
Reference: housing, climate and permits
- Housing
- Population 2,495. 1,102 housing units, 69.3 percent owner-occupied. Median year built 1961. 32.7 percent built before 1940, 61.1 percent before 1970, and 6.4 percent in 2000 or later. ACS 2020–2024 five-year estimates.
- Heating fuel
- Electricity 35.0 percent, utility gas 20.7 percent, fuel oil 40.3 percent, bottled gas 1.1 percent. ACS 2020–2024, table B25040.
- Design conditions
- Winter 99 percent design temperature near 8 °F; summer 1 percent near 91 °F. About 5,800 heating degree days base 65 at Allentown ABE, NOAA 1991–2020 normals.
- Utilities
- Electricity PPL Electric Utilities. Gas UGI Utilities where a main reaches the street. PPL heat pump rebates apply.
- Permits
- Borough of Coopersburg; code agency Barry Isett & Associates. Permits required for heating and air conditioning work.
- Code
- Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code moved to the 2021 IRC and 2021 IECC effective 1 January 2026.
Nearby areas Unity also covers
Same van, same owner. Each town has its own page because the housing and the fuel genuinely differ.
Every town Unity serves is listed on the service areas page.
Book HVAC service in Coopersburg
Call Unity Heating & Air Conditioning at (267) 644-9516 to get on the schedule, or send details through the contact page. Repairs, cleanings, installations and replacements run out of Macungie. Emergency calls are taken at any hour.
