Heat Pump Installation in Fort Payne, AL
A new system here will heat from October through April and cool from May through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers DeKalb County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
A heat pump here works all year
Fort Payne needs heat or cooling all 12 months. Winters bring nights averaging 33°F from December through February, and the heat pump has to pull warmth out of that cold air for the full stretch from October through April. Then summer turns it around, with afternoons averaging 86°F from May through September asking it to cool the house instead.
A new split-system heat pump has to meet federal minimums of 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating. Most homes here heat with electricity, so the unit installed is the one doing the work on the coldest nights, not backup for something else.
- 7 months
- October through April, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 33°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 86°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Alabama requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
That license comes from the Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Contractors. The board tests contractors and keeps a record of who holds it. It belongs to the contractor, not to this particular heat pump. It tells you the person or business doing the work has been checked, not that every job they do is checked.
For this job, that license is what backs the contractor's qualifications. The installation itself gets checked separately. In most cities and counties, a heat pump replacement needs a permit from the local building office, and an inspection once the work is done. That permit and inspection cover the installation. The state license covers the contractor. Both apply here, and neither stands in for the other.
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 value. A heat pump moves heat instead of burning fuel to create it, so it handles both heating and cooling from one system, and it runs efficiently in a climate like Fort Payne's where winter lows average around 33°F. A furnace burns gas or uses electric resistance to make heat directly, which can output more heat in very cold conditions but does nothing for you in summer. Most homes here already heat with electricity, so a heat pump is worth asking a contractor about for your specific house.
- What's the difference between a heat pump and an air conditioner?
- An air conditioner only cools your home. A heat pump does the same thing an air conditioner does in summer, moving heat out of your house, but it can also run in reverse to pull heat from outside air and bring it in during winter. That reversing valve is the whole difference in how they work. In a place like this where homes need heat seven months a year and cooling five, a heat pump covers both jobs that would otherwise take two separate systems.
- Does a heat pump work in cold weather?
- Yes, a heat pump pulls heat from outside air even when it's cold, because air still holds heat down to well below freezing. Fort Payne winter nights average around 33°F, which is well within the range a heat pump is built to handle. As the outdoor temperature drops further, the heat pump has to work harder and its output drops, which is why some systems pair with a backup heat source for the coldest stretches. A contractor can tell you whether your home needs that backup based on the system and the house.