Heat Pump Installation in Cabot, 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 Lonoke County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Cabot asks a heat pump to work most of the year
Ten months out of twelve, a heat pump in Cabot is either heating the house or cooling it. Winter nights average 34°F from December through February, mild enough that a heat pump can carry the heating load on its own most days. Summer afternoons average 90°F, and that heat runs from May through September, so the same unit is doing the cooling work for five months straight.
Most homes here already heat with electricity, so a new heat pump has to be sized for both jobs, not just one. If it was manufactured this year or later, it has to meet a federal minimum of 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating. Lonoke County has also seen 12 winter storms and 80 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and close to a quarter of Arkansas households lost power for a day or more in 2024, so how the system handles a power interruption is worth asking about before it goes in.
- 5 months
- November through March, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 34°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.
The license is issued by the state and it covers the contractor, not each individual job. It stays attached to them everywhere they work. Cities and counties in Arkansas cannot add their own HVAC license on top of it, so the same state license applies no matter where in Lonoke County the work happens.
For a heat pump install, that license is what stands behind the contractor doing the work. It is not the only check on this particular job. Most cities and counties require a permit for a heat pump installation, and an inspection once the work is done, so the local building office looks at the finished install beyond the license the contractor already holds.
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, and it moves heat rather than burning fuel to make it, so it costs less to run in most conditions. Cabot winters average 34°F at night, which is well within the range a modern heat pump handles on its own. Some homeowners pair a heat pump with a furnace or backup heat strips for the coldest nights, but plenty of homes here run on a heat pump alone.
- 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, but it can also run in reverse to heat the house in winter. Mechanically the two are close cousins, both using a compressor and refrigerant to move heat, but the heat pump has a reversing valve that lets it pull heat from outside air and bring it in. That's what makes it useful in Cabot, where homes need heat five months a year and cooling for another five.
- Does a heat pump work in cold weather?
- Yes, a heat pump keeps working in cold weather, though it works harder as the temperature drops. Cabot's winter nights average 34°F, which a heat pump handles without trouble. It pulls heat from the outside air even when that air feels cold, since there's still heat in air well below freezing. A contractor can size the system, or add backup heat if needed, based on the specific house.