Heat Pump Installation in Tallahassee, 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 Leon County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
A heat pump here works both sides of the year
In Leon County a heat pump cools from April through October, seven months, then switches over to heat from November through March. That is 12 months of the year with a load on it one way or the other. Winter nights average 42°F, and summer afternoons average 91°F, so neither side is extreme, but neither one gets a rest either.
Any split-system heat pump installed today has to meet federal minimums of 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating. With cooling running the longer season here, that cooling rating carries at least as much weight as the heating side.
- 5 months
- November through March, your system heats
- 7 months
- April through October, it cools
- 42°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 91°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 and records the contractor, not the job. The license tells you the person or company doing the work passed that state exam and is on file with the board. It does not mean the board looks at your heat pump before or after it goes in.
That part usually falls to the local building office. In most cities and counties, a heat pump installation needs a permit, and the work gets inspected once it is done. That inspection is what catches a bad refrigerant line or a wiring mistake on this particular job, separate from whatever the state license already says about the contractor.
Sources: Florida Legislature · Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation
- Is a heat pump better than a furnace?
- A heat pump does what a furnace does and also cools your home, so you get both from one system instead of two. Your winters here only get down to around 42°F at night on average, which is mild enough that a heat pump can carry the heating load without much strain. A furnace only burns fuel or heats with resistance elements, so it sits idle all summer while a separate AC unit does the cooling. With most homes in this area already heating with electricity, a heat pump uses that same electricity more efficiently than straight electric resistance heat.
- What's the difference between a heat pump and an air conditioner?
- An air conditioner only moves heat out of your home. A heat pump does that same job in summer, then reverses and moves heat into your home in winter. The parts are nearly the same, the compressor, the coils, the refrigerant lines, but a heat pump has a reversing valve that lets it run backward. That's what lets one system cover your 7 months of cooling and your 5 months of heat instead of needing a furnace for winter.
- Does a heat pump work in cold weather?
- Yes, and in this area that's rarely a question worth worrying about. Winter nights here average 42°F, well within the range a heat pump handles without help. Heat pumps do lose efficiency as the outdoor temperature drops toward freezing and below, but that kind of cold is not the pattern here. A contractor can size the unit to match how your house holds heat on the coldest nights you actually get.