Heat Pump Installation in West Palm Beach, FL
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Your heat pump runs every month of the year here
West Palm Beach doesn't give a heat pump a season off. Winter nights average 57°F, mild enough that the system barely works to warm the house. Summer afternoons average 91°F, and that's when the compressor runs hardest, month after month, all year.
A heat pump installed here needs to handle cooling as its main job, not a side one. Any split-system unit made now has to meet 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating, but in this climate the cooling side is what gets tested day in and day out. Palm Beach County has also seen 95 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and much of the state loses power for a stretch when storms hit, so how a system handles a restart after an outage matters as much as how it runs on an ordinary afternoon.
- 57°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 91°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
Florida requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Construction Industry Licensing Board tests and records the contractor, not the job. So the license tells you the person or business behind the work has met the state's standard, but it does not follow the heat pump into your home once the work starts.
That is where the permit comes in. Installing a heat pump in most cities and counties in Florida needs a permit from the local building office, and an inspection once the work is done. The inspector checks the installation itself, the license checks who did it.
Sources: Florida Legislature · Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation
- Is a heat pump better than a furnace?
- For West Palm Beach, yes, because a furnace burns gas or runs on resistance heat while a heat pump moves heat and does both heating and cooling from one system. Winter nights here average 57°F, which is well within the range a heat pump handles without trouble. You also don't need a separate cooling system since the same unit covers both jobs.
- 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, using a reversing valve to switch direction. In a climate like this one, where cooling runs nearly all year and heat is only needed on cooler nights, that reversing valve is the whole reason to choose a heat pump over a straight air conditioner.
- Does a heat pump work in cold weather?
- Yes. A heat pump pulls heat from the outside air even when it's cold, though it works harder and puts out less heat as the temperature drops. Winter nights in West Palm Beach average 57°F, which is mild enough that a heat pump keeps up without needing backup heat strips the way it might in a colder climate.