Heat Pump Installation in Atlanta, GA
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 Fulton County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
A heat pump that works nearly all year here
In Fulton County a heat pump heats from November through April and cools from May through September, 11 months of work out of the year. Winter nights average 35°F, mild enough that a heat pump can carry the heating load on its own most days. Summer afternoons average 88°F, so the cooling side carries just as much of the load as the heating side does.
Any split-system heat pump installed new has to meet the federal minimum of 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating. Georgia sees far more damaging wind events than winter storms, and in 2024, 31% of households in the state went at least 24 hours without power. A heat pump that restarts on its own once power returns matters here.
- 6 months
- November through April, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 35°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 88°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Georgia requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license is issued to the contractor, not to this specific job. It tells you the state has tested the business and keeps a record of it, not that the state signed off on your installation.
For the heat pump itself, most cities and counties require a permit from the local building office before the work starts, and an inspection once it's done. That inspection is what checks the installation itself, separate from the license the contractor holds.
Source: Georgia Secretary of State
- Is a heat pump better than a furnace?
- It depends on what you're weighing. A heat pump handles both heating and cooling, so it replaces two systems with one. Atlanta winters average 35°F at night, which is mild enough for a heat pump to keep up without much trouble. A furnace only heats, and it burns gas or runs on electric resistance to do it, so pairing it with a heat pump doesn't make sense here the way it might somewhere with harsher winters.
- 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 move heat into your house, which is what heats your home in winter. Mechanically they're close cousins. The heat pump just has a reversing valve that lets it switch directions depending on the season.
- Does a heat pump work in cold weather?
- Yes, and in Atlanta it doesn't have to work very hard at it. Winter nights here average 35°F, which is well within the range a heat pump handles efficiently. Heat pumps lose efficiency as temperatures drop much further, into the teens and single digits, but that's not the kind of cold Atlanta sees on a regular basis.