Mini Split Installation in Slidell, 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. Tammany Parish will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Slidell asks a mini-split to run almost every month of the year
Cooling season here runs April through October, seven months of summer afternoons near 91°F. Heat is only needed November through March, and even then winter nights average 43°F, mild by most standards. That leaves a mini-split idling in the mild months but working hard in the long stretch of heat, and a new one needs to be sized for that load, not just for a average day.
Any mini-split installed now has to meet the federal minimum for split-system heat pumps, 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating. In St. Tammany Parish, cooling efficiency matters more than the number on the label. It is what the unit leans on for seven months a year.
- 5 months
- November through March, your system heats
- 7 months
- April through October, it cools
- 43°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 tests HVAC contractors before they can hold this license, and it keeps a record of who holds one. That license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job, so it tells you the person or company has been vetted once, not that this particular installation has been checked.
That check comes from your local building office. In most cities and counties, a mini-split installation needs a permit there, and an inspector looks at the finished work once it is in. The contractor's license tells you who is allowed to do the work. The permit and inspection tell you whether this installation was done right.
Source: Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors
- Is a mini split worth it?
- For most homes it is, especially if a room runs hot or cold no matter what the rest of the house does. A mini split heats and cools that one space directly, with its own thermostat, so you are not fighting the ductwork to fix a single room. Slidell needs heat or cooling every month of the year, so a system that runs efficiently in both directions gets used here far more than a few weeks a year. A contractor can look at the room and tell you what size unit it needs.
- How many rooms can a mini split cover?
- A single outdoor unit can run one indoor head or several, depending on the system. Single-zone systems cover one room. Multi-zone systems run several indoor heads off one outdoor unit, each with its own thermostat, so a bedroom and a living room can be set to different temperatures at the same time. The right number for a given house depends on the square footage and layout of each room, which a contractor needs to measure rather than guess at.
- Can a mini split heat a whole house?
- It can, if enough zones are installed to reach every room, but most homes use a mini split for the rooms that need help rather than the whole house at once. Slidell winters are mild, with nights averaging 43°F, so a mini split heat pump can carry the heating load in the rooms it serves without much trouble. Whether it makes sense for the entire house comes down to how many zones the layout needs and how the rooms connect, which a contractor should walk through in person.