HVAC Installation in Huntsville, 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 Madison County will get in touch.
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A system that works almost every month here
Madison County asks for heat from October through April and cooling from May through September. That leaves only a handful of weeks when a new system gets a break. Winter nights average 33°F, cold enough that a furnace or heat pump runs often but not the hardest cold a system sees elsewhere. Summer afternoons average 88°F, so the compressor is working most days from late spring into fall.
Most homes here heat with electricity, so a new system has to handle both jobs well. Storms are part of the picture too. Madison County has seen 431 damaging wind events and 9 winter storms over the past ten years, and statewide, close to one in five households lost power for at least a day in 2024. Any new installation should be sized and set up for a place that runs its heating and cooling nearly year round, with the outages that come with Alabama weather factored in.
- 7 months
- October through April, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 33°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 88°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 it licenses them and keeps a record of who holds one. The license belongs to the contractor, not the job, so it does not expire when this installation is finished and it does not need to be renewed for the next one.
For a heating and cooling system installation in Madison County, the license is what stands behind the contractor doing the work. It does not replace the permit and inspection this job will need from the local building office. In most cities and counties a furnace, air conditioner or heat pump installation gets both, and the inspection is what confirms the finished work meets code, separate from anything the state license covers.
Source: Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors
- When should I replace my HVAC system?
- Replace it when repairs keep coming back or the system can no longer keep up on the coldest and hottest days. A furnace or air conditioner that needs a service call every year is telling you something, and so is one that runs constantly all summer but still can't hold the house at the temperature you set. Age matters too. A system pushing past its expected lifespan is more likely to fail at the worst time, and here that means a winter night near freezing or a stretch of summer afternoons near 88 degrees. If a contractor tells you a repair costs a large share of what a new system would, that is usually the point where replacement makes more sense than another fix.
- Should I replace my furnace and air conditioner at the same time?
- If both are old, yes, and here is why. A furnace and air conditioner installed together are matched to work as one system, sharing the same blower and coil sizing. Pairing a new air conditioner with an old furnace, or the other way around, can mean the new equipment never runs at the efficiency it was built for. Homes here need heat from October through April and cooling from May through September, so both halves of the system get real use and wear at a similar pace. A contractor can look at the age and condition of each unit and tell you whether replacing one now and planning the other for later makes sense, or whether doing both together is worth it.
- What happens during an HVAC installation?
- A contractor first sizes the equipment to the house, since a furnace or air conditioner that is too big or too small will not heat or cool evenly. The old equipment comes out, and the new furnace, air conditioner, or heat pump goes in along with any changes needed to the ductwork, refrigerant lines, or venting. The system gets connected to power and, for gas furnaces, to the gas line, then charged with refrigerant if it is an air conditioner or heat pump. Once it is running, the contractor tests it, checks airflow at the vents, and confirms the thermostat is controlling it correctly. A licensed contractor is required for this work in Alabama, and the Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Contractors issues that license.