HVAC Service in Whitehall Township, PA
Heat pump conversions where electricity is the majority heating fuel
Whitehall Township has 29,317 residents and a median home built in 1967. The 1960s alone account for 21.3 percent of the housing, and about seven in ten homes were standing before 1970. That decade shapes most of the work here.
Unity Heating & Air Conditioning is owner-run out of Macungie. Tyler Furbacher looks at the house himself and installs what he quotes, which matters most on a conversion.
One number separates Whitehall from every other town nearby: 54.4 percent of households heat with electricity. Gas is a distant 26.5 percent and fuel oil 15.5 percent.
Cement, the 1960s, and a township that heats on electricity
Whitehall is a collection of villages, among them Cementon, Egypt, Fullerton, Hokendauqua, Mickleys, Stiles, West Catasauqua and Eagle Point, all inside our service area. The names come from the industry that built the place. By 1914 the Lehigh District produced 70 percent of the cement made in the United States, and the housing that followed the plants is postwar and 1960s.
Much of it went in with electric resistance heat: baseboard along the walls, a wall unit in the bathroom, an electric furnace in the basement. That heat has not changed since. It still turns one unit of electricity into one unit of heat, through a winter of about 5,800 heating degree days.
What a heat pump changes for an electric-heat house
A heat pump does not make heat, it moves heat, delivering several units of it for each unit of electricity drawn. Across a winter at the temperatures this region sees, a well-selected heat pump typically cuts the electricity used for heat by roughly two thirds to three quarters against resistance heat. Nothing else moves that number as far.
Selection still decides the outcome. Equipment here is chosen against a winter design temperature near 8 F, meaning capacity rated at low outdoor temperatures and a deliberate plan for backup heat, not a unit picked off floor area. The same system covers air conditioning against a 91 F summer design temperature, which in a house on window units counts as a second change.
Ducts, no ducts, and what that decides
What the house already has settles the equipment. Four situations cover most of the township.
- An electric furnace with ducts already run: the cleanest conversion, an outdoor unit paired with a new air handler and coil in the same closet.
- Baseboard heat and no ducts anywhere: ductless mini splits, one head per zone, with existing baseboard often left in place as backup.
- Ducts sized around a small electric furnace: static pressure gets measured on the running system, and duct rework sometimes belongs in the quote.
- A finished attic, converted porch or addition on its own thermostat: usually one ductless head rather than stretching a system already at its limit.
The panel, the rebates and the households still on oil
Electric heat means the house already carries a large electrical load, and a conversion reshapes that load rather than adding to it. Even so, panel capacity, breaker space and where the disconnect will sit get checked before anything is ordered. PPL Electric currently lists rebates for heat pumps; terms change between program years, so check the current program before committing.
Fuel oil still heats 15.5 percent of the township, and those oil furnaces and oil boilers keep getting serviced. For households leaving oil, being in UGI’s territory and having a main at the curb are two different things. The no-cost extension reaches 150 feet from an existing main, one reason a heat pump is so often the practical answer.
Frequently asked questions about HVAC work in Whitehall
I heat with electric baseboard. Will a heat pump really lower the bill?
Typically by a lot. Resistance heat gives one unit of heat per unit of electricity; a heat pump gives several. At the temperatures we run through here that generally works out to roughly two thirds to three quarters less electricity used for heat over a season.
My house has no ductwork. Do I have to add it?
No. Ductless heads are the normal route in a baseboard house, mounted one per zone, each needing only a small wall penetration and no chase. Where an attic, basement or stacked closet offers a clean path, a compact ducted system can serve several rooms instead.
Will my electrical panel handle a heat pump?
Often yes, since baseboard circuits already represent real capacity, but it gets verified rather than assumed. We look at the service size, the breaker space left, and the circuit the new equipment needs. Any electrical work belongs in the plan well before installation day.
Who handles permits and inspections in Whitehall Township?
Keycodes Inspection Agency, at 610-866-9663, performs the mechanical inspections for the township, and the Township Bureau of Planning, Zoning and Development sits at 3219 MacArthur Road, 610-437-5524. Pennsylvania moved to the 2021 IRC and 2021 IECC on January 1, 2026, so installations are judged against that code now.
Book HVAC service in Whitehall
Call Unity Heating & Air Conditioning at (267) 644-9516 to get on the schedule, or send the details through the contact page. Cleanings, repairs, conversions and full replacements run out of Macungie. Emergency calls go on the schedule day or night.
