Heat Pump Installation in Lake Charles, 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 Calcasieu Parish will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
A heat pump here works almost the entire year
Lake Charles asks a heat pump to run in both directions almost every month. Cooling season runs April through October, seven months of afternoons averaging 91°F. Heat is only needed November through March, and winter nights average 44°F, mild compared to a lot of the country. That means the compressor spends far more of its year cooling than heating, and it barely gets a real break in between.
Any split-system heat pump installed new has to meet 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating, the federal minimum since January 2023. With most homes here heating on electricity, and storms knocking out power often enough that half of Louisiana households lost it for a full day or more in 2024, it's worth asking your contractor how the unit you choose holds up when the grid doesn't.
- 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 tested and vetted the contractor, not the specific crew or the specific job. That license stays tied to the business, so it covers the person you hire, not a per-project sign-off from the state.
For a heat pump installation, the license is what stands behind the contractor's qualifications, but the local building office is what checks the actual work. In most cities and parishes here, this job needs a permit and an inspection once the installation is done. That inspection is where someone confirms the unit was set and connected the way it should be.
Source: Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors
- Is a heat pump better than a furnace?
- It depends on what you need it to do. A furnace only heats. A heat pump heats and cools, so it takes the place of both your furnace and your air conditioner. Here winters average 44°F and summers average 91°F, so a house needs both jobs done well, and a heat pump handles that with one system instead of two.
- 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 too, but it can also run in reverse and pull heat from the outside air into your house. The parts inside are similar, the difference is a valve that lets the heat pump switch direction, which is what gives it a heating mode an air conditioner does not have.
- Does a heat pump work in cold weather?
- Yes. A heat pump pulls heat from the outside air even when that air feels cold, since there is still heat in air well below freezing. Winter nights here average 44°F, which is well within the range a heat pump handles without trouble. Heat pumps lose capacity as the outdoor temperature drops further, which matters more in places with harder freezes than it does here.