Heat Pump Installation in Oxford, MS
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 Lafayette County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Ten months of work a year, in both directions
Your heat pump carries the house from November through March, then turns around and cools it from May through September. Ten months out of the year, it's doing one job or the other. Winter nights average 34°F here, mild enough that a heat pump isn't straining against deep cold, and summer afternoons hit 90°F, so the cooling side gets worked hard too.
A new split-system heat pump has to meet 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating, the federal minimum as of 2023. With 57.9% of homes here heating with electricity, the unit you install is often doing the whole job, not backing up a furnace, so it earns its keep on both ends of the year.
- 5 months
- November through March, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 34°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 90°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Mississippi requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The State Board of Contractors tests contractors before issuing a license and keeps a record of who holds one. That license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job, so the same license that qualifies someone to install a heat pump in Lafayette County qualifies them to do the same work anywhere else in Mississippi.
For this installation, that license is what stands behind the person doing the work. In most cities and counties, a heat pump installation like this one also needs a permit from the local building office and an inspection once the work is done. That permit and inspection are separate from the state license and check the installation itself, not the contractor's standing.
Source: Mississippi State Board of Contractors
- Is a heat pump better than a furnace?
- It depends on what you're weighing it against and what fuel that furnace burns. A heat pump handles both heating and cooling from one system, where a furnace only heats, so you'd still need a separate air conditioner to get through summer afternoons here that average 90°F. Winter nights average 34°F here, well within the range a heat pump handles on its own. A contractor can walk through your specific house and tell you which setup makes more sense for it.
- 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 that same job in summer, then reverses in winter and moves heat into your house instead. Both use a compressor and refrigerant to do it, and both are direct-drive with no belts. The difference is that reversing valve, which is what lets a heat pump heat your home from November through March instead of just cooling it.
- Does a heat pump work in cold weather?
- Yes. A heat pump pulls heat from the outside air even when it's cold, and it keeps working as the temperature drops. Winter nights here average 34°F, which is well above the point where a heat pump struggles to keep up. Split-system heat pumps installed new now have to meet a federal minimum of 7.5 HSPF2 for heating, so any new unit put in is built to perform through a winter like the ones here.