Heat Pump Repair

Typical indicators of heat pump problems include strange sounds, insufficient heating or cooling, and uncharacteristic electrical consumption. Those telltale signs can point to trouble with the compressor, motor, or key parts of the system. But you might notice some other red flags as well. If you're getting an ice buildup in your outdoor unit during those chillier months, or if you're feeling warm air coming from your vents when you should be getting the cool stuff, those are not normal and shouldn't be ignored. Addressing figural problems like these in a timely manner can mean the difference between a simple repair and a more complex, more expensive system fix.

It is generally advised by the professionals of the HVAC industry that heat pumps be serviced at least once every twelve months and, if possible, twice a year. The ideal time to have the service done is right before the system is supposed to come on and run for an extended period of time—meaning right before the heat pump is used in heating mode during the winter or right before it switches into cooling mode in the spring. One of the crucial benefits of having your heat pump serviced on a regular basis is that it allows the technician to find potentially troublesome issues and make repairs before those issues require the kind of major repairs that can cost a homeowner serious money.

Usually, a heat pump lasts 10 to 15 years, and a lot of that depends on how you use it, how well you maintain it, and your environmental conditions. If you have a well-installed, trouble-free heat pump that just goes about its business, you should expect it to pump heat somewhere around upper end of this range. A well-maintained heat pump that has no operational upsets over that decade should be expected to last. But what should you expect when it reaches that upper end? Some of us may be reaching the point where we expect our heat pumps to be reaching high mileage.

There are several reasons a heat pump may freeze, such as low refrigerant levels, dirty air filters, control-board problems, or troubles with the outdoor unit. When the heat pump cannot effectively transfer heat, ice can form on the coils. The system should have a defrost cycle that works correctly and periodically causes the ice to melt. If the defrost cycle does not work correctly (and not all of them do), however, significant amounts of ice can form on the unit and impede its operation.

There is a vast array of possible repair costs for a heat pump, depending on the necessary repair's nature and complexity. You could have a $100 problem or a $1,500 problem, or an issue somewhere in between. Your issue might be solved with a simple and inexpensive fix (more on that in a minute) or with a complex and costly repair to a major system component. And of course, the cost is also influenced by the system's age, how long it takes the repair person to actually make the repair, and your locale's labor rates. The fixes that we found to be the most common were also the cheapest, thankfully.

Though homeowners can perform some simple upkeep—like changing air filters—most repairs to heat pumps call for a particular kind of knowledge that you wouldn't find in the average household. When you try to fix something without really knowing what you're doing, you risk two things that we think are pretty important to avoid: voiding your warranty and creating additional damage that ups the ante on what's already been a bad situation with your heat pump. Even if you're tight on cash, don't try to substitute anything here for the professional repairs that we think are imperative to the proper and safe functioning of your heat pump.

When a heat pump frequently switches on and off, it is short cycling, and it can be caused by a number of different issues. An oversized system can cause short cycling, as can low refrigerant levels, a thermostat that doesn't work right, and, of course, a dirty air filter. Whatever the cause, this problem can lead to increased energy consumption, reduced comfort, and potential damage to key components of the system. In particular, short cycling puts a lot of strain on the compressor, and it can significantly reduce the life and the efficiency of the heat pump. A professional technician can diagnose and repair the problem.

If your heat pump is more than a decade old, needs to be repaired often, or is working far below its normal efficiency, think about replacing it. Compare how much it costs to fix the pump versus how much you'd pay for a new one. Also consider how much it might save you in energy costs over the next few years. If it seems like the pump would save you less than the new model would earn you, then "The thing that makes the decision simple," says Nate Adams, an Ohio heat pump specialist, "is that if repair costs exceed about half of what a new pump would cost, it's a good time to pull the trigger on the new one."

The refrigerant is a crucial part of the heat pump system. Problems such as