Heat Pump Installation in Anniston, AL
A new system here will heat from November through March and cool from May through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Calhoun County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Ten months of work a year in Calhoun County
A heat pump here runs most of the year. Heat from November through March, cooling from May through September. Only two months where it can rest.
Winter nights average 34°F, mild enough that a heat pump can carry the heat load without much help. Summer afternoons average 89°F, and the same unit switches over to cooling and runs through five months of that heat. Any split-system heat pump installed new has to meet 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating, the federal minimum for units built since January 2023.
Most homes here heat with electricity, so when the power goes out, the heat goes with it. Calhoun County sees its share of damaging wind, 57 events over the last ten years, and statewide almost one household in five lost power for a full day or more in 2024. A heat pump that comes back on by itself once the power is restored matters here.
- 5 months
- November through March, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 34°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 89°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Alabama requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license is held by the contractor, not issued per job. Alabama's Board of Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Contractors is the body that tested and records that contractor, and that record covers every job they take on, not just this one.
Because Alabama licenses at the contractor level, the license itself is what stands behind the work here. On top of that, most cities and counties in the state require a permit for a heat pump installation and an inspection once the work is done. That inspection is a separate check from the license, carried out by the local building office rather than the state board.
Source: Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors
- Is a heat pump better than a furnace?
- It depends on what you're comparing it to and what you want it to do. A heat pump handles both heating and cooling from one system, where a furnace only heats and you'd still need a separate air conditioner for summer. Anniston winters average 34°F at night, mild enough that a heat pump can carry the heating load without much strain. Where a furnace still wins is on the coldest nights, since a furnace burns fuel to make heat while a heat pump moves heat from outside air, and that gets harder as the temperature drops.
- What's the difference between a heat pump and an air conditioner?
- An air conditioner only cools. A heat pump does the same job in summer, pulling heat out of your house and sending it outside, but it can also run in reverse and pull heat from outside air into your house in winter. Mechanically they're close cousins, but the heat pump has a reversing valve that lets it switch directions. That's what makes it a year-round system instead of a warm-weather one.
- Does a heat pump work in cold weather?
- Yes, though it works harder as it gets colder. A heat pump pulls heat out of the outside air, and there's less heat to pull the lower the temperature drops. Anniston's winter nights average 34°F, which a heat pump handles fine. New units sold now also have to meet a federal minimum of 7.5 HSPF2 for heating efficiency, so current models are built to perform through a normal winter here.