Heat Pump Installation in Lancaster, 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 Lancaster 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
Lancaster asks a heat pump to run nearly year round. Winter nights average 33°F from December through February, mild enough that a heat pump handles it without much trouble. Summer afternoons average 89°F, and that heat runs from May through September. Add it up and the system is doing real work ten months of the year, with only a couple of months off.
A new split-system heat pump has to meet federal minimums of 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating. With winters this mild, the heating side rarely gets pushed hard. The cooling side does more of the work here, running through five full months of 89°F afternoons.
- 5 months
- November through March, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 33°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 89°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 can't. It cools your home in summer and heats it in winter, all from one system. A furnace only heats. Around here homes need cooling from May through September and heat from November through March, so a heat pump covers the full year instead of half of it. Whether it's the right call for your house depends on your ductwork and your current setup, which a contractor can look at directly.
- 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 can also run in reverse, pulling heat from the outside air and moving it inside, which is how it heats your home in winter. Mechanically the two share a lot of the same parts, like the compressor and the outdoor coil. The difference is the reversing valve that lets a heat pump switch directions.
- Does a heat pump work in cold weather?
- Yes, a heat pump keeps pulling heat from outside air even when it's cold, down to well below freezing. Winter nights here average 33°F, which is comfortably within the range a heat pump handles without trouble. As the outdoor temperature drops further, a heat pump has to work harder and moves less heat per hour. That's why some homes pair one with a backup heat source for the coldest stretches.