Heat Pump Installation in Mobile, AL
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 Mobile County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
A heat pump in Mobile works almost the whole year
Winter nights here average 42°F, and summer afternoons run up to 91°F. That gives your heat pump two jobs, cooling from April through October and heat from November through March. There's no real season off, so the unit runs close to year round.
Any split-system heat pump installed new has to meet 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating, the federal minimum as of 2023. Mobile County has seen 155 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and close to a fifth of Alabama households went at least a day without power in 2024. Worth asking how the new unit comes back on once the power does.
- 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
Alabama requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Contractors tests contractors before issuing that license, and the license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job. It is a record of who they are and that they met the state's standard.
For the heat pump going in at your house, that license is what stands behind the person doing the work. In most cities and counties around Mobile, the installation still needs a permit from the local building office, with an inspection once the work is finished. That inspection checks the job itself. The license is what stands behind the contractor doing it.
Source: Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors
- Is a heat pump better than a furnace?
- A heat pump does both heating and cooling, where a furnace only heats, so it covers more of what a home here needs across the year. Mobile only needs heat from November through March, and summer afternoons average 91°F, so cooling matters for the other seven months. A furnace still makes sense in places with harsh winters, but here one system doing both jobs covers the year without a separate air conditioner.
- 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 home in winter. Both use a compressor and refrigerant to move heat rather than generate it, and the outdoor unit looks about the same for either one. The difference is a reversing valve inside the heat pump, which lets it pull warmth from outside air and bring it indoors when the temperature drops.
- Does a heat pump work in cold weather?
- Yes, a heat pump keeps working in cold weather, and it pulls warmth from outside air even when that air feels cold to a person. Mobile winter nights average 42°F from December through February, which is mild compared to the temperatures where a heat pump's capacity starts to drop. A contractor sizing the system for a specific house will account for the coldest nights it needs to handle.