Heat Pump Installation in Hammond, 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 Tangipahoa Parish will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
A heat pump here works almost every month of the year
Hammond needs heat or cooling all twelve months, five months of heat and seven months of cooling. Winter nights average 42°F, mild enough that a heat pump can carry the heating load without much strain. Summer afternoons average 91°F, and that side of the year is the longer one, so the cooling capacity matters as much as the heating side does.
A new split-system heat pump has to meet federal minimums of 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating. With 48 damaging wind events recorded here over the past ten years and about half of Louisiana households losing power for a day or more in 2024, it's worth asking an installer how the unit and its outdoor pad hold up in wind, and what happens to the system when the power goes out and comes back.
- 5 months
- November through March, your system heats
- 7 months
- April through October, it cools
- 42°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 tested this contractor before handing out that license, and it keeps a record of them on file. The license covers the contractor as a whole, not this particular heat pump once it's sitting outside the house.
That part falls to the local building office. In most cities and parishes, installing a heat pump needs a permit before the work starts and an inspection once it's done, and that inspection is what checks the wiring and the unit itself. The state license tells you this contractor was tested and is on record. The permit and inspection are what checks the job in front of you.
Source: Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors
- Is a heat pump better than a furnace?
- It depends on what you're comparing it to and how you heat now. A heat pump moves heat instead of burning fuel to create it, so it can also run in reverse and cool your home in summer, which a furnace can't do. Here winters are mild, with nights averaging 42°F, so a heat pump doesn't have to work against extreme cold the way it would farther north. Most homes in Hammond already heat with electricity, so a heat pump often fits into that setup without adding a gas line or separate cooling system.
- 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 the cycle in winter to pull heat from the outside air and move it into your home. Both use a compressor and refrigerant to move heat rather than create it, and both need to meet the same federal efficiency minimums, 14.3 SEER2 for cooling. The difference is the reversing valve that lets a heat pump run backward, which is what lets it heat as well as cool.
- Does a heat pump work in cold weather?
- Yes, a heat pump still pulls heat from outside air even when it's cold, down to well below freezing. It just works harder as the temperature drops, since there's less heat in the air to move. In Hammond, winter nights average 42°F, which is well within the range a heat pump handles without trouble.