Heat Pump Installation in Dothan, AL
A new system here will heat from November through March and cool from May through October every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Houston County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
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Eleven months of work for a heat pump in Dothan
Your heat pump runs eleven months out of the year here. Heat from November through March, cooling from May through October. Winter nights average 41°F, mild compared to a lot of the country, so the heating side isn't fighting deep cold. Summer afternoons average 91°F, and that's the load the compressor carries for six straight months.
Most homes here heat with electricity, so when the new system goes in, it's doing the full job of keeping the house warm, not backing up a furnace. Any split-system heat pump installed now has to meet 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating, the federal minimum as of 2023. Houston County also sees its share of storms, 205 damaging wind events across the region over the last ten years, and a heat pump needs to come back on and run correctly on its own once the power returns.
- 5 months
- November through March, your system heats
- 6 months
- May through October, it cools
- 41°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 91°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Alabama requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Contractors tests and licenses HVAC contractors before they can take on work like this. That license is tied to the contractor, not to the specific job, so the same license that qualifies someone to work in Mobile qualifies them to work in Houston County.
For a heat pump installation, the license is what stands behind the person doing the work, but it is not the only check on the job. Most cities and counties in Alabama require a permit for a heat pump installation and an inspection once it is done, which means someone from the local building office looks at the finished work before it is signed off.
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, but for most homes here a heat pump does the whole job well. Where a furnace only heats, a heat pump also cools your home in summer, so you get one system instead of two. Homes here need heat from November through March and cooling from May through October, so a system that does both is working nearly all year. The tradeoff is that a heat pump runs on electricity, and 92.3% of homes here already heat that way.
- 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, but it can also run in reverse and move heat into your home in winter. Mechanically they work the same way, using a compressor and refrigerant, which is why a heat pump can replace both your furnace and your air conditioner.
- Does a heat pump work in cold weather?
- Yes, a heat pump keeps pulling heat from the outside air even when it's cold. Winter nights here average 41°F from December through February, and a heat pump is built to work in that range. In much colder climates some heat pumps need backup heat for the coldest stretches, but a contractor can tell you whether a given system needs that here.