Heat Pump Installation in Benton, AR
A new system here will heat from November through March and cool from May through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Saline County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Ten months of work a year for one machine
A heat pump installed in Benton runs heat from November through March and cooling from May through September. That is ten months a year with almost no rest between seasons. Winter nights average 33°F, mild enough that a heat pump can carry the heating load without much strain. Summer afternoons average 90°F, so the same unit switches over and works through the day for five straight months.
56.6% of homes here heat with electricity, so for most the heat pump is what stands between the house and the cold. Any new split system has to meet a federal minimum of 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating, and with this many months of run time, that efficiency is not just a number on a label.
- 5 months
- November through March, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 33°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 90°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Arkansas requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
Arkansas tests HVAC contractors before it licenses them, and the license belongs to the contractor, not to any one job. Cities and counties in Saline County cannot layer their own HVAC license on top of it, so the state license is the credential that applies here no matter where in the county the work happens.
For a heat pump installation, that license is what stands behind the person doing the work, but the local building office still has a role. Most cities and counties require a permit for a heat pump replacement and an inspection once it is installed, and that inspection is what checks the work itself, not just who did it.
Source: Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing
- Is a heat pump better than a furnace?
- It depends on what you're weighing. A heat pump handles both heating and cooling from one system, so you're not paying to install and maintain two separate units. With winter lows here averaging 33°F, a heat pump still has plenty of capacity to keep a home warm, since that's mild compared to what the equipment is built to handle. A furnace paired with a separate air conditioner can put out more heat on the coldest nights, but most homes in this area don't see temperatures extreme enough to need that. A contractor can look at your home and tell you which setup fits it best.
- What's the difference between a heat pump and an air conditioner?
- An air conditioner only moves heat out of your home. A heat pump does the same thing in summer, but it can also run in reverse, pulling heat from the outside air and moving it inside during winter. That's what lets one system handle both your cooling and your heating, instead of needing a furnace for the cold months. Mechanically the two share a lot of the same parts, the compressor and the coils work the same way, but the heat pump has a reversing valve that switches the direction of that flow.
- Does a heat pump work in cold weather?
- Yes, a heat pump pulls heat from outside air even when it's cold, since air still holds usable heat well below freezing. Winter nights here average 33°F, which is well within the range a heat pump is designed to handle. As outdoor temperatures drop further, a heat pump has to work harder to pull the same amount of heat, and some systems add a backup heat source for the coldest stretches. A contractor can tell you whether the model you're considering needs that backup for this area.