Heat Pump Installation in San Diego, CA
A new system here will heat from November through April and cool from June through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers San Diego County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
What San Diego asks of a heat pump
A heat pump here works most of the year. Homes need heat from November through April and cooling from June through September, ten months of the year in all. Winter nights average 41°F, mild enough that the heat pump rarely has to work hard to pull warmth from the outside air. Summer afternoons average 89°F, well within what a properly sized system handles without strain.
Any split-system heat pump installed new has to meet federal minimums of 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating. Storms do pass through the county, and outages happen, so it is worth asking your contractor how the system you choose starts back up once power returns.
- 6 months
- November through April, your system heats
- 4 months
- June through September, it cools
- 41°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 89°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
California requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license comes from the Contractors State License Board, and it covers the contractor, not the job in front of you. The state tested that contractor and keeps a record of them before they ever pick up a wrench, but nothing about your specific install gets a separate state sign-off just because the license exists.
For the heat pump itself, most cities and counties require a permit before the work starts and an inspection once it's done. That inspection is what checks the installation in front of you. The license tells you who the state has tested and put on record. The permit and inspection are what covers the work itself.
Sources: California Legislative Counsel · Contractors State License Board
- Is a heat pump better than a furnace?
- A heat pump does both jobs, heating and cooling, so it can replace a furnace and an air conditioner with one system. Here winters are mild, with nights averaging 41°F, so a heat pump does not have to work as hard as it would somewhere colder. A furnace only heats, and over half the homes here already heat with gas. Which one makes sense for a given house depends on the ductwork and equipment already there, so a contractor can walk through the options for that home.
- What's the difference between a heat pump and an air conditioner?
- An air conditioner only cools. A heat pump cools the same way in summer, then reverses the cycle in winter to bring heat into the house instead of taking it out. That matters here because homes need cooling for about 4 months a year but heat for 6, so a heat pump covers both seasons that an air conditioner alone would not.
- Does a heat pump work in cold weather?
- Yes, a heat pump pulls heat from outside air even when it is cold, though its output drops as the temperature falls. Winter nights here average 41°F, which is well within the range a heat pump handles without trouble. Homes in much colder climates sometimes need backup heat for the coldest nights, but that is less of a concern with winters this mild.