Heat Pump Installation in Shelton, WA
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Shelton asks a heat pump to work almost all year
Winter nights here average 33°F from December through February, and homes need heat from September through June, ten months of the year. Summer afternoons average 72°F, mild enough that cooling barely factors in. A heat pump installed here spends nearly all its time heating, so how well it holds up on cold nights matters more than how it handles a warm afternoon.
If the new unit is a split system built on or after January 1, 2023, federal rules set minimums of 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating. With ten months of heating ahead of it, the heating number is the one that decides how the house feels most of the year.
- 10 months
- September through June, your system heats
- 33°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 72°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
Washington requires contractors to register with the state.
That registration puts the contractor's business on file with the Department of Labor and Industries. It confirms the business exists and is on record. There is no trade exam behind it, so it does not test what the contractor knows about installing a heat pump.
For this job, the checking comes from the permit. In most cities and counties, replacing a heat pump needs a permit from the local building office, and an inspector looks at the finished work once it is done. That inspection is what stands behind the installation here, not the state registration.
Source: Washington State Legislature
- Is a heat pump better than a furnace?
- A heat pump does something a furnace cannot. It moves heat instead of burning fuel to make it, so it cools your home in summer and heats it in winter with one system. Shelton homes need heat September through June, so that heat pump has a long stretch of work ahead of it most years. Most homes here already heat with electricity, so a heat pump fits how the house is already set up. Whether it makes sense for your home depends on the ductwork and insulation you have, which a contractor can look at.
- 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 that too, but it can also run in reverse and move heat into your home, which is what heats the house in winter. Mechanically they are close cousins, same compressor, same refrigerant cycle, but the heat pump has a reversing valve that lets it switch directions. That is why a heat pump can replace both your furnace and your air conditioner, where an air conditioner only ever cools.
- Does a heat pump work in cold weather?
- Yes. A heat pump pulls heat from outside air even when that air feels cold, because there is still heat in cold air, just less of it than in warmer air. As the outdoor temperature drops, the heat pump has to work harder to move the same amount of heat, so its output and efficiency fall off some on the coldest nights. Winter nights in Shelton average 33°F, and a contractor sizing a system here will account for that when picking the right unit for your house.