Heat Pump Installation in Chesapeake, VA
A new system here will heat from November through April and cool from May through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Chesapeake will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
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Eleven months of work a year
A heat pump in Chesapeake runs almost year round. Winter nights average 33°F from December through February, mild enough that the heat pump can handle it without much strain. Summer afternoons average 87°F, and that unit is what cools the house through those months too. Between the two, it's working 11 months out of the year.
Any split-system heat pump installed new has to meet federal minimums of 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating. With more than half of homes here heating with electricity, and the season split almost evenly between heat and cooling, a unit that holds those ratings through both jobs matters more than it would somewhere with a short winter or a mild summer.
- 6 months
- November through April, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 33°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 87°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Virginia requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Board for Contractors is the state agency that licenses HVAC contractors in Virginia. The license belongs to the contractor, not to the job, so it carries over from one house to the next rather than being issued fresh each time. Virginia does carve out an exception for small jobs. Work under $1,000 does not need a licensed contractor at all. A heat pump installation runs well past that line, so this is licensed work.
The license covers the contractor. It does not cover the installation itself. In most cities and counties, replacing a heat pump needs a permit from the local building office, and an inspection once the work is done.
Sources: Virginia General Assembly · Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation
- Is a heat pump better than a furnace?
- It depends on what you're trying to solve. 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 for the five months a year homes here need cooling. Winter nights average 33°F here, and a heat pump built to current federal minimums keeps up fine at that temperature. Where a furnace can still make sense is a home already set up for gas heat with ductwork built around it, since switching changes more than the equipment in the closet.
- What's the difference between a heat pump and an air conditioner?
- An air conditioner only cools. A heat pump does the same cooling job in summer, then reverses in winter and pulls heat from the outside air into your house instead of sending it out. The parts that make this possible are largely the same, which is why a heat pump can replace both a furnace and an air conditioner in one system. That matters here since homes need heat November through April and cooling May through September, eleven months of the year covered by one piece of equipment instead of two.
- Does a heat pump work in cold weather?
- Yes. A heat pump pulls heat out of outside air even when that air feels cold, and it keeps working well below freezing. Winter nights here average 33°F from December through February, which is well within the range a heat pump is built to handle. Every split-system heat pump made since January 2023 has to meet a federal minimum of 7.5 HSPF2 for heating, so the equipment installed today is built for this.