Heat Pump Installation in Talladega, 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 Talladega County will get in touch.
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Ten months of work for a heat pump in Talladega
Your heat pump carries the house most of the year here. Heat from November through March, cooling from May through September, only two months off in between. Winter nights average 35°F, mild enough that a heat pump runs efficiently without much strain. Summer afternoons average 90°F, and that's the load it has to answer all season.
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. With this many months of run time, the unit you install is the one you'll live with through most of the year, so it's worth getting sized right for both the summer heat and the winter lows here.
- 5 months
- November through March, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 35°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 90°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 across the state. That license belongs to the contractor, not to any one job, so the same license that qualifies them to install a heat pump in Talladega County covers their work anywhere in Alabama.
Most cities and counties also require a permit from the local building office for a job like this, along with an inspection once the work is done. That inspection checks that the heat pump was set and connected the way it should be, separate from anything the state license covers.
Source: Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors
- Is a heat pump better than a furnace?
- It depends on what you're weighing. A heat pump handles both heating and cooling, so it can replace a furnace and an air conditioner with one system. Talladega winters average 35°F at night, well within the range a heat pump handles on its own, so most homes here don't need a furnace backing it up. Where a furnace still wins is raw heat output in extreme cold, but that's less of a factor with winters this mild.
- 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 too, but it can also run in reverse and pull heat from the outside air into your home in winter. The parts are nearly identical, the compressor, the coils, the refrigerant loop, but the heat pump has a reversing valve that lets it switch directions. That's why a heat pump can replace both your furnace and your air conditioner, while a straight air conditioner only ever cools.
- Does a heat pump work in cold weather?
- Yes, a heat pump pulls heat from outside air even when it's cold, though it works harder as the temperature drops. In Talladega, winter nights average 35°F, which is a range heat pumps handle well without losing much efficiency. Once outdoor air gets much colder than that, older heat pump models lean more on backup heat strips to keep up, but newer cold-climate models keep pulling heat efficiently well below freezing.