Heat Pump Installation in St. Augustine, FL
A new system here will heat from December through February and cool from April through October every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers St. Johns County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Ten months of work a year, either way
St. Johns County asks a heat pump to run almost year round. Cooling from April through October, seven months, with afternoons averaging 90°F. Heat from December through February, when nights average 48°F. Only two months sit outside that work.
A heat pump built after January 2023 has to meet 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating, so any new unit installed here already clears that bar. What matters more locally is what happens around it. Storms have brought damaging wind through the county 127 times over the last ten years, and more than a third of Florida households lost power for at least a day in 2024. A heat pump depends on that power to run at all, in either direction.
- 3 months
- December through February, your system heats
- 7 months
- April through October, it cools
- 48°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.
The Construction Industry Licensing Board tests contractors before they can hold this license, and the license is tied to the contractor, not to any single job. That board keeps the record, so the license traveled with the contractor before they ever showed up at a home in St. Johns County.
For a heat pump installation, that license is what stands behind the work. In most cities and counties, a heat pump replacement also needs a permit from the local building office, with an inspection once the work is done. The license says the contractor was tested. The permit and inspection say this particular job got checked.
Sources: Florida Legislature · Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation
- Is a heat pump better than a furnace?
- For St. Augustine, yes. Winters here are short and mild, averaging 48°F on winter nights from December through February, well within what a heat pump handles, and the same system covers the 7 months of cooling this area needs. A furnace only heats. A heat pump does both jobs with one system, which matters here since homes need heat or cooling 10 months of the year.
- What's the difference between a heat pump and an air conditioner?
- An air conditioner only cools. A heat pump cools the same way in summer, but it can also run in reverse to heat the house in winter. Inside, the two work almost identically. The difference is a reversing valve that lets the heat pump pull heat from the outside air and move it indoors instead of only sending heat outside.
- Does a heat pump work in cold weather?
- Yes, and in St. Augustine it works fine all winter. Winter nights here average 48°F from December through February, which is mild enough that a heat pump keeps up without strain. Heat pumps lose efficiency in much colder climates, but that isn't what winters look like here.