Heat Pump Installation in Breaux Bridge, LA
A new system here will heat from November through March and cool from April through October every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers St. Martin Parish will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
A heat pump here runs almost every month of the year
Breaux Bridge asks a lot of a heat pump. Summer afternoons average 91°F from April through October, seven months of cooling. Winters are mild by comparison, 44°F on average nights from November through March, but that five month stretch still means the same unit has to switch over and heat the house. Between the two seasons, there's almost no month when the system gets to rest.
Any split-system heat pump installed new has to meet 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating, so the efficiency floor is set. What matters more here is that most homes in Louisiana heat with electricity, and the power doesn't always stay on. Nearly half the state's households lost power for at least a day in 2024, and this parish has seen 24 damaging wind events over the past ten years. A new heat pump should go in with that in mind, not just the temperature it has to hit.
- 5 months
- November through March, your system heats
- 7 months
- April through October, it cools
- 44°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 91°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Louisiana requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors is the body that tests and licenses HVAC contractors in this state, and the license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job. That means the same license covers a heat pump install in St. Martin Parish today and a furnace repair somewhere else next year. It tells you the contractor was tested and is on record with the state, not that this particular job was checked by anyone.
That check comes from the local building office. A heat pump installation in most cities and counties needs a permit before the work starts and an inspection once it is done, and that inspection is what confirms the refrigerant lines, wiring and unit placement were done to code. The state license and the local permit are two different things, and this job depends on both.
Source: Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors
- Is a heat pump better than a furnace?
- A heat pump does both jobs a furnace can't, it heats in winter and cools in summer from one system. Homes here need heat November through March and cooling April through October, so the system is working nearly year round either way. A furnace only heats, so you'd still need a separate air conditioner for the other months. With a heat pump, one system covers both, which means less equipment installed and maintained.
- What's the difference between a heat pump and an air conditioner?
- An air conditioner only cools. A heat pump cools the same way but can also reverse itself and pump heat into the house when it's cold outside. Both use a compressor and refrigerant to move heat from one place to another, the heat pump just runs that process in both directions. That's why a heat pump can replace both your furnace and your air conditioner, while an air conditioner only replaces the cooling side.
- Does a heat pump work in cold weather?
- Yes, a heat pump pulls heat from outside air even when it's cold, well below freezing. Winter nights here average 44°F from December through February, which is mild enough that a heat pump isn't working near its limits. As outdoor air gets colder the heat pump has to work harder to draw heat from it, but with lows this mild, a heat pump is well within what it's built to handle here.