Heat Pump Installation in Pensacola, FL
A new system here will heat from November through March and cool from April through October every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Escambia County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
A heat pump here works almost every month of the year
Pensacola homes need heat or cooling twelve months a year. Winter nights average 43°F from December through March, and heating runs those five months. Summer afternoons average 90°F, and cooling runs April through October, seven months. There is almost no season where the unit sits idle.
A heat pump here has to switch between both jobs without much rest. Any split-system heat pump built on or after January 1, 2023 has to meet federal minimums of 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating, and with seven months of cooling and five of heat, both numbers matter for how the house feels through the year.
- 5 months
- November through March, your system heats
- 7 months
- April through October, it cools
- 43°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 90°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Florida requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
That license comes from the Construction Industry Licensing Board, and it covers the contractor, not the job itself. The state tested this person before handing it out, and it keeps a record of who holds one. What it does not do is inspect this particular heat pump going into this particular house.
That part falls to the local building office. A heat pump installation in most cities and counties in Florida needs a permit before the work starts and an inspection once it is done, and that inspection is what checks the work itself rather than the person doing it. Between the two, the state's license tells you who is allowed to do the job, and the local permit and inspection tell you whether this installation was done right.
Sources: Florida Legislature · Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation
- Is a heat pump better than a furnace?
- It depends on what you need, but for most homes here a heat pump makes sense because it also cools the house. A furnace only heats. Homes here need cooling for seven months of the year against five months of heat, so a heat pump covers both jobs with one system instead of pairing a furnace with a separate air conditioner.
- What's the difference between a heat pump and an air conditioner?
- An air conditioner only moves heat out of your house. A heat pump does that too, but it can also run in reverse and pull heat from the outside air into your house. Both use the same kind of refrigerant cycle, so a heat pump looks almost identical to a central air conditioner on the outside. The difference is the reversing valve that lets it heat as well as cool.
- Does a heat pump work in cold weather?
- Yes, a heat pump pulls heat from outside air even when it's cold, though it loses some efficiency as the temperature drops. Winter nights here average 43°F from December through February, well within the range a heat pump handles without trouble. Homes here only need heat for about five months a year, so cold snaps that would strain a heat pump are not the norm.