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Sizing a heat pump for this house is not a catalog exercise. Homes in Strafford County, NH run heat about eight months a year, from October through May. A heat pump loses heating capacity as outdoor temperatures drop, so a contractor working a quote here has to establish what the system will actually deliver on the coldest days, not just what it delivers in October. A unit that is too small cycles harder to keep up, and the compressor carries that strain across a long heating season with little idle time to recover. Back-up heat provisions and the condition of the home's envelope both factor into that calculation before a price can mean anything.
Ductwork laid out for a furnace or a boiler follows a different logic than what a heat pump needs: supply locations, return sizing, and trunk routing were all decided by a system that is no longer in the house. Half the homes in Strafford County, New Hampshire were built in 1979 or earlier (2020-2024 ACS 5-year). That is the generation of construction a contractor is working inside when a homeowner in this county schedules a heat pump installation, and what the existing ducts actually allow determines how far the job runs. A panel that was wired for the original system may also need an upgrade before the new unit can run at full capacity. The electrical question and the ductwork question together set the job's scope, and both answers come from what is already in the house.
What Gets Installed With a New Heat Pump
The outdoor unit is the piece most homeowners see first. It sits on a pad beside the house and holds the compressor and the coil that exchanges heat with outside air. Inside, an air handler mounts in a mechanical room, closet, or attic and moves conditioned air through the home.
A refrigerant line set runs between the two units, carrying the working fluid that ties the system together. A thermostat goes on an interior wall and gives the homeowner control over the whole system. Some installations also include a supplemental heat strip inside the air handler for the coldest days.
The drawing shows a typical layout, and a licensed contractor determines exactly what applies to your house.
Get matched in Strafford CountyStrafford County, by the numbers
97 severe weather events were recorded in Strafford County, New Hampshire between 2015 and 2024.
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, bulk CSV export, events 2015-01-01 through 2024-12-31.Half the homes in Strafford County, New Hampshire were built in 1979 or earlier (2020-2024 ACS 5-year).
U.S. Census Bureau, 2020-2024 American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesStrafford County, New Hampshire holds 56,609 housing units (2020-2024 ACS 5-year).
U.S. Census Bureau, 2020-2024 American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesOwners occupy 67.1% of the occupied homes in Strafford County, New Hampshire (2020-2024 ACS 5-year).
U.S. Census Bureau, 2020-2024 American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesRules & Standards for Heat Pump Installation in Strafford County, New Hampshire2 sourced rules and standards
Licensing Rules for Strafford County, New Hampshire
New Hampshire's mechanical licensing board issues nine credentials — hearth system, four fuel gas endorsements, domestic appliance technician, and master, journeyman and apprentice plumber — and a licensee may not work outside the specialty their licence names. None of the nine is an HVAC licence.
New Hampshire does not license HVAC as a trade, and says so where it matters: the plumbing licence expressly does not reach a person installing heating, cooling, air conditioning or domestic water heating systems, whether solar, oil, gas or electric. The gas piping on a gas-fired system is a separate matter and needs a fuel gas fitter licence.
Severe Weather Events in Strafford County
New Hampshire's climate puts real demands on heating and cooling equipment, and Strafford County gets its share of the weather that drives those demands. A heat pump sized and installed for local conditions handles that workload differently than one spec'd for somewhere milder.
97 severe weather events, 2015–2024. Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database.