Northwest Panhandle: energy calcs & Manual J.
27°F at Bob Sikes: the coldest heating design in Florida.
Okaloosa and Walton counties take the Bob Sikes airport's limits, 93°F cooling and 27°F heating, the coldest heating design anywhere in Florida. Santa Rosa uses 93°F and 31°F, Escambia 92°F and 32°F. All four are climate zone 2A, and the Northwest Panhandle issued over 5,700 single-family permits in 2025.
- Counties
- 4 countiesEscambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton
- Departments
- Each county’s ownSeveral cities run their own · what we publish
- Code edition
- FBC Energy Conservation, 8th Ed. (2023)9th Ed. (2026) scheduled for Dec 31, 2026 · what changes
- Price
- $195 · $445 · $595Energy calc from · full package · sealed. Same in all 67 counties · price list
- Ready by
- 2–3 business daysExpedited: within 24 business hours, +$150. Clock starts when complete plans pass intake (3:00 PM ET cutoff) · how it works
Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton
Per-county table4 counties · zone, design °F, permits, housing
| County · stations | Zone | Design °F | Permits | Median built | Single-family | Mobile | Electric heat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santa RosaWhiting Field NAS North (ASHRAE) · Milton Whiting Field Naval Air Station (Manual J) | 2A | 93° / 31° | 1,929 #23 | 1998 | 80.2% | 8.4% | 88.9% |
| WaltonBob Sikes (ASHRAE) | 2A | 93° / 27° | 1,427 #26 | 2001 | 56.9% | 12.3% | 86.0% |
| EscambiaPensacola Regional Airport (Manual J) · Pensacola Forest Sherman Naval Air Station (Manual J) | 2A | 92° / 32° | 1,366 #28 | 1984 | 67.9% | 5.6% | 77.6% |
| OkaloosaBob Sikes (ASHRAE) | 2A | 93° / 27° | 987 #30 | 1990 | 64.4% | 4.5% | 73.0% |
What it means for sizing
2 paragraphs · design temperatures, housing stock, equipment
Bob Sikes, near Crestview, supplies Okaloosa and Walton with a 27°F heating limit, colder than any other value assigned to a Florida county.2 Santa Rosa's comes from Whiting Field (93°F, 31°F) and Escambia's from Pensacola (92°F, 32°F).2 Zone 2A, warm-humid, throughout.1 Our take: this is the one corner of Florida where the heating load can rival the cooling load on a well-glazed house, and Manual S has to be read that way.
Santa Rosa issued 1,929 one-unit permits in 2025, Walton 1,427, Escambia 1,366 and Okaloosa 987.3 Escambia's stock is old, a 1984 median with 43.7% pre-1980, while Walton's is new, a 2001 median.4 Electric heat is relatively low in Okaloosa (73.0%) and Escambia (77.6%), so gas furnaces appear on more jobs here than in South Florida.4
Worked example
2,100 sq ft house in Okaloosa County → 25,990 Btu/h, 2.17 tons · illustrative
Illustrative · not a Manual J
A 2,100 sq ft four-bedroom frame house at Okaloosa's 93°F and 27°F limits. At 27°F, heating is the line we'd check first.
| House | new single-storey frame home, Crestview area |
|---|---|
| Conditioned area | 2,100 sq ft, 1 storey, 9 ft ceilings |
| Bedrooms / occupants | 4 / 5 |
| Glazing | 14% of floor area (294 sq ft), U 0.3, SHGC 0.25 |
| Walls / ceiling | R-13 walls, R-38 ceiling under a vented attic |
| Air leakage | 5 ACH50 |
| Ducts | in the attic, 8% gain allowance |
| Outdoor design | 93°F cooling / 27°F heating (Okaloosa County, sourced) |
| Indoor design | 75°F cooling / 70°F heating |
| Design grains difference | 40 gr/lb (assumption) |
Illustrative only. A simplified block-load estimate with the inputs shown, not an ACCA Manual J, and not for permitting. A real calc goes room by room with your plans, orientation and equipment data.
Building departments
How we publish department checklists
Every county here has its own building department, and several cities run their own. We publish a department's checklist, contacts and quirks only after reading them on its official page, and each county here gets its own page once that's done. Until then, check with the county building department before you submit. Ordering works statewide today.
Northwest Panhandle questions
3 answers · What is the coldest heating design temperature in Florida?
What is the coldest heating design temperature in Florida?
27°F at 99% heating, assigned to Okaloosa and Walton counties from the Bob Sikes airport station in RESNET's county design-temperature table. Santa Rosa's is 31°F and Escambia's 32°F. Every peninsula county is warmer, and Monroe's 55°F is the mildest in the state.
Do Panhandle homes still need a Manual J for cooling?
Yes. Cooling limits here are 92–93°F, as hot as Orlando's, and the 1.15 ceiling on cooling equipment size still applies. What changes is that heating can be a comparable load, so the Manual S selection has to satisfy both the cooling ceiling and the heating requirement at once.
How many new homes are permitted in Santa Rosa County?
Santa Rosa issued 1,929 permits for new single-family units in 2025, according to the Census Bureau's Building Permits Survey, ranking 23rd among Florida's 67 counties. Walton issued 1,427, Escambia 1,366 and Okaloosa 987, so the four counties together exceeded 5,700.
Nearby and related
Price
One statewide price in all 67 counties. Building departments decide what they accept; we don’t guarantee approval. Revisions for plan-review comments on the same design are free.
Sources
4 primary references · numbered to match the citations
- 012023 Florida Building Code, Energy Conservation (8th Ed.), Table R301.1, climate zones by countyup.codes
- 02RESNET / ENERGY STAR, Appendix A: HVAC Design Temperature Limits by State and County (v4, 2019)resnet.us
- 03U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey, 2025 annual county data (new privately-owned 1-unit housing units)www2.census.gov
- 04U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates (B25001, B25003, B25018, B25024, B25034, B25035, B25040), via Census Reportercensusreporter.org