Heat Pump Installation in Brownsville, TX
A new system here will heat from December through January and cool from February through November every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Cameron County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Cooling is the main job here, almost all year
In Brownsville, a heat pump spends most of its life cooling, not heating. Homes here need cooling from February through November, ten months a year, with summer afternoons averaging 94°F. Winter only asks for heat in December and January, on nights that average 53°F. The compressor spends its year working against the heat, with only a short stretch running in reverse to keep a home warm.
Cameron County has seen 95 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and a third of Texas households went at least 24 hours without power in 2024. Any split-system heat pump made since January 2023 has to meet a federal minimum of 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating. In a place that leans on cooling almost all year, that cooling number is the one doing the real work.
- 2 months
- December through January, your system heats
- 10 months
- February through November, it cools
- 53°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 94°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Texas requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
That license belongs to the contractor, not the job. It means the state tested and recorded the person or company you hire, and that record exists whether they last worked in Cameron County or somewhere else in Texas.
What covers this specific installation is the permit. In most Texas cities and counties, putting in a heat pump needs a permit from the local building office and an inspection once the work is done. That inspection is what checks this job, in this house, was done right. The state license tells you who you hired. The permit and inspection tell you the heat pump itself was installed to code.
Source: Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation
- Is a heat pump better than a furnace?
- For Brownsville, yes, because a heat pump handles both sides of the job. Homes here only need heat in December and January, but cooling runs from February through November. A furnace only heats, so you would still need a separate air conditioner for the other ten months. A heat pump does both from one system, which makes more sense when winter is this short.
- 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. Inside, the two systems look almost the same and use the same kind of refrigerant cycle. The difference is the reversing valve that lets a heat pump switch directions.
- Does a heat pump work in cold weather?
- Yes, and Brownsville winters do not test that limit much. Winter nights here average 53°F, well within the range where a heat pump works efficiently without help from backup heat. Heat pumps lose capacity as the outdoor temperature drops toward freezing and below, but that is not the kind of cold this area sees. New split-system heat pumps also have to meet a federal minimum of 7.5 HSPF2 for heating efficiency, so any current model is built to perform through winters like this one.