Arkansas HVAC Guide
A tabby cat sleeps on a large bed in a dark, modern bedroom equipped with a wall-mounted air-conditioning unit.

Mini Split Installation in Searcy, AR

A new system here will heat from November through April and cool from May through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers White County will get in touch.

Tell us about the job

It takes about a minute.

Step 1 of 3: Equipment
An orange cat sleeps on a neatly made bed with dark grey bedding in a minimalist bedroom with wall sconces and a mounted air conditioner.

Eleven months of work, one system doing it all

In Searcy your mini-split covers heat from November through April and cooling from May through September. That's 11 months of the year it's running, with only a short break in between. Winter nights average 33°F, and summer afternoons average 90°F, so the system swings between both jobs and needs to be sized right for each one.

Any mini-split installed new has to meet the federal minimum for its size. That's 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating. White County also sees its share of winter storms and damaging wind, and most homes here heat with electricity. When the power goes out, a mini-split goes down with it until the power comes back.

6 months
November through April, 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
Isometric cutaway illustration of a small gray house showing two rooms, one with a sofa and one with a bed, each with a wall-mounted indoor air conditioning unit connected by line sets to an outdoor condenser unit on the ground outside.
Your system heats November through April and cools May through September.

NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals

Arkansas requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.

Arkansas issues the license to the contractor, not to the job, so it covers the person and business doing the work rather than expiring when this install is done. Counties and cities in Arkansas cannot require their own separate HVAC license, so this same state license is what applies no matter where in White County the home sits.

For this mini-split install, most cities and counties also require a permit from the local building office, with an inspection once the work is finished. That inspection is what checks the physical work on site, the line set, the mounting, the wiring. The state license is what stands behind the contractor doing it.

Source: Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing

Is a mini split worth it?
For the right room or setup, yes. A mini split heats and cools without ducts, so it works well for an addition, a garage conversion, or a house that never had ductwork put in. It also moves heat rather than generating it, so it can heat a room for less power than straight electric heat does. Whether it makes sense for your house depends on how many rooms need coverage and what's heating them now, so a contractor should look at the specific space before you decide.
How many rooms can a mini split cover?
One outdoor unit can run up to eight indoor heads, so a single system can cover several rooms at once. Each indoor head handles the room it's mounted in, and you set the temperature separately in each one. How many you need comes down to the size and layout of the rooms, not just the count, so a contractor sizing the job will look at each room before recommending how many heads to install.
Can a mini split heat a whole house?
It can, if it's sized and placed for that. A multi-zone system with a head in each main room can heat an entire house through winter nights here that average 33°F, since heat pumps are built to keep working in cold weather. What decides whether it's the right fit for a whole house is the layout, the number of rooms, and how the house is insulated, so a contractor needs to walk through the house before recommending it as a whole-house solution.
Find a contractor