HVAC Installation in Raleigh, NC
A new system here will heat from October through April and cool from May through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Wake County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
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Wake County asks for heat and air almost year round
Your system works nearly twelve months here. Heat from October through April, seven months, then cooling from May through September, five more. There is barely a break between seasons for it to rest.
Winter nights average 32°F, so a new furnace or heat pump is not fighting extreme cold. Summer afternoons average 88°F, and that is the harder season for a system in this county. More than half of homes here heat with electricity, which is worth knowing when you size a new system and decide between a heat pump and a furnace. Power also goes out here. A quarter of North Carolina households lost power for at least 24 hours in 2024, and the region has seen 308 damaging wind events and 7 winter storms over the past ten years. Whatever gets installed, it is worth asking how it comes back on after an outage.
- 7 months
- October through April, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 32°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 88°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
North Carolina requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license covers the contractor, not this job. The State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors is the body that licenses HVAC contractors in North Carolina, and that license follows the contractor from one job to the next rather than getting issued fresh each time.
For an installation like this one, most cities and counties in North Carolina also require a permit from the local building office, with an inspection once the work is done. That permit and inspection are separate from the state license. They look at this furnace or air conditioner or heat pump, in this house, and check that the installation itself was done right.
Sources: North Carolina General Assembly · North Carolina State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors
- When should I replace my HVAC system?
- Replace it when repairs get more frequent, the system is old, or it can't keep the house comfortable through a Raleigh winter or summer. A furnace or air conditioner nearing the end of its life tends to break down at the worst time, usually during a cold snap or a stretch of 88 degree afternoons. If a contractor is quoting a major repair on an older unit, ask what a new system would cost instead. Homes here run heat or cooling every month of the year, so there's no real off season to put it off.
- Should I replace my furnace and air conditioner at the same time?
- If both are old, yes, it usually makes sense to replace them together. They're often matched to work as a pair, and putting a new air conditioner on an old furnace, or the other way around, can mean the two don't perform the way either one is rated to. A contractor can look at the age and condition of both and tell you whether one is close enough behind the other to justify replacing them at once. If one unit is much newer, there's no reason to replace it early just to match the other.
- What happens during an HVAC installation?
- A contractor removes the old furnace, air conditioner, or heat pump and sets the new equipment in its place, then connects it to the ductwork, refrigerant lines, gas line or electrical circuit it needs. They check the ducts for leaks or sizing problems, since a new system connected to bad ductwork won't heat or cool the way it should. Replacing a furnace, air conditioner or heat pump in most Raleigh area cities and counties requires a permit from the local building office, and the work gets inspected once it's done. The contractor pulls that permit and schedules the inspection as part of the job.