Heat Pump Installation in Orangeburg, 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 Orangeburg County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Ten months a year, your heat pump is working
Orangeburg County asks a heat pump to run almost year round. Heat from November through March, cooling from May through September, with only two months off. Winter nights average 37°F and summer afternoons average 91°F, so the same system has to cover both ends.
Any split-system heat pump installed new has to meet 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating. That is the federal floor, not a special upgrade. Almost eight in ten homes here heat with electricity, so the heat pump usually is not a backup to something else. It is the system the house depends on. Orangeburg County has also seen 177 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and statewide, close to half of households went at least 24 hours without power in 2024. Worth asking your contractor what happens to the system you choose when the power drops.
- 5 months
- November through March, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 37°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 91°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. A heat pump moves heat instead of burning fuel to make it, so it can also cool your home in summer, which a furnace can't do. Here winters average 37°F at night, well within the range a heat pump handles on its own, and summers run hot enough that most homes need real cooling too. If you already have a furnace and central air, a heat pump replaces both jobs with one system.
- What's the difference between a heat pump and an air conditioner?
- An air conditioner only cools. A heat pump cools the same way in summer, then reverses itself in winter to pull heat from outside air and bring it indoors. The outdoor units look alike and both rely on refrigerant and a compressor, but only the heat pump gives you heat as well as cooling.
- Does a heat pump work in cold weather?
- Yes, a heat pump keeps pulling heat from outside air even when it's cold out. Winter nights here average 37°F, which is mild enough that a properly sized heat pump can carry the full heating load without backup. Its output does drop as the outdoor temperature drops, so a contractor will size the unit and any backup heat around the coldest nights your home actually sees.