Heat Pump Installation in Chattanooga, TN
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 Hamilton County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Your heat pump works all year here
Hamilton County does not give a heat pump an off season. It heats the house from October through April, then switches over and cools it from May through September. Winter nights average 32°F through those cold months, and summer afternoons average 87°F, so the unit is working through both extremes, twelve months straight.
A new split-system heat pump installed today has to meet federal minimums of 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating. Those minimums carry more weight on a unit that never gets a season off.
- 7 months
- October through April, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 32°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 87°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
- 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 job a furnace does and cools the house too. A furnace only heats, so you would still need a separate air conditioner for the five months a year Chattanooga needs cooling. A heat pump handles both from one outdoor unit. Where a furnace has the edge is on the coldest nights, since it makes heat by burning gas instead of pulling it from outside air. Chattanooga winter lows average around 32°F, which a heat pump handles fine without backup heat kicking in constantly.
- What's the difference between a heat pump and an air conditioner?
- An air conditioner only cools. A heat pump does the same job in summer, moving heat out of your house, but it can also run in reverse to move heat into your house in winter. Mechanically they use the same kind of compressor and refrigerant cycle. The difference is the reversing valve that lets a heat pump switch direction, which is why it can replace both a furnace and an AC in one system.
- Does a heat pump work in cold weather?
- Yes. A heat pump keeps pulling heat from outside air even when it's cold out, it just has to work harder as the temperature drops. Chattanooga's winter nights average around 32°F, which is well within the range a heat pump handles without trouble. On the rare night it gets colder than that, most systems have backup heat that kicks in automatically to cover the difference.