Mini Split Installation in Allentown, PA
A new system here will heat from October through May and cool from June through August every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Lehigh County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eleven months of the year, your mini-split is working
Lehigh County only gets a real break from heating or cooling in one month. Winter nights average 22°F from December through February, and summer afternoons run 83°F. A new mini-split has to hold up on both ends, not just get through a mild shoulder season.
Any mini-split built since the start of 2023 has to meet 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating. Those are the floor, not a feature to look for. What matters more here is sizing it right for a place that leans on it eight months for heat and three for cooling, so it isn't straining on the coldest nights or the hottest afternoons.
- 8 months
- October through May, your system heats
- 3 months
- June through August, it cools
- 22°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 83°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Pennsylvania requires contractors to register with the state.
Registration puts the business on file with the state and nothing more. Nobody tested this contractor on how to size a line set or evacuate a system before charging it with refrigerant. It just means the state has a name and address on record if something goes wrong. Pennsylvania also does not let Lehigh County or its towns add their own HVAC license on top of that, so this registration is the only state record that exists for whoever does this job.
In most cities and counties, a mini-split installation like this needs a permit from the local building office and an inspection once the work is done. That inspection is what checks the wiring and the line set were done right, not the state registration.
Source: Pennsylvania General Assembly
- Is a mini split worth it?
- For most homes here, yes, especially if a room runs hot or cold without ductwork to fix it. Allentown winters drop to 22°F on average and homes need heat or cooling 11 months of the year, so a system that handles both jobs well earns its keep. Cold climate mini splits are built to perform at low temperatures, which matters here more than in milder places. A contractor can tell you whether your specific rooms and layout make sense for one.
- How many rooms can a mini split cover?
- A single outdoor unit can run anywhere from one indoor head to eight, depending on the system. Each indoor head handles one room or one open area, so the count comes down to how your house is laid out and how many separate zones you want to control. A contractor sizes the outdoor unit to match the total number of heads you need. More heads on one outdoor unit means each one gets a smaller share of its capacity, so a contractor will size it against the rooms you actually want covered.
- Can a mini split heat a whole house?
- It can, if there are enough indoor heads placed to reach every room. A single head warms the room it's in and whatever space is open to it, so a closed-off bedroom down a hallway won't get heat from a unit in the living room. Homes here need heat from October through May, so whole-house coverage means either a head in each main room or a ducted mini split system that distributes air the way a furnace would. A contractor can walk your floor plan and figure out how many heads it takes to cover the whole house.