Heat Pump Installation in Hartsville, SC
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 Darlington County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Ten months of work a year for your heat pump
Your heat pump carries the house almost year round in Hartsville. Heat from November through March, cooling from May through September. Only two months off. Winter nights average 35°F, mild compared to a lot of the country, but that's also the range where a heat pump has to work to keep pulling warmth from the outside air. Summer afternoons average 90°F on the other side of the year, so the same system is leaning hard on the compressor in both directions.
Most homes here heat with electricity, so the heat pump usually isn't backup to something else. It's the main system. A new one installed today has to meet the federal minimums of 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating, and with the unit running most of the year, that efficiency rating is doing real work for as long as it's installed.
- 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
- Is a heat pump better than a furnace?
- A heat pump does something a furnace cannot, it cools the house in summer as well as heating it in winter. Hartsville needs heat November through March and cooling May through September, so one system covering both jobs is worth considering. A furnace only heats, so you would still need a separate air conditioner alongside it. Winters here average a 35°F low, mild enough for a heat pump to handle the heating side without much strain.
- What's the difference between a heat pump and an air conditioner?
- An air conditioner only moves heat out of your house. A heat pump does the same thing in summer, but it can also run in reverse and pull heat from the outside air into your house in winter. That reversing valve is the whole difference between the two. Since Hartsville homes need cooling for five months and heat for five months, a heat pump handles both instead of pairing an air conditioner with a separate heating system.
- 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 and moves less heat as the temperature drops. Hartsville's winter nights average 35°F, which is well within the range a heat pump handles without trouble. On the coldest nights, some systems bring on backup heat to help. A contractor sizing the system for your house will account for how it performs on the coldest nights you actually get.