Heat Pump Repair

One system that both cools and heats. In summer it moves heat from inside the building to outside, exactly like an air conditioner does.

In winter it reverses the refrigerant cycle and moves heat from outdoor air to inside. That reversal is handled by a component called the reversing valve, which is unique to heat pumps and is one of the first things we check.

Because it never gets an off season. A heat pump in East Central Florida cools through long summers and heats during cold fronts, so its compressor, electrical components and refrigerant circuit accumulate close to year-round runtime.

More operating hours in the same number of calendar years means more accumulated wear. It is also why twice-yearly service pays off more on this equipment than on anything else in the building.

Usually one, and usually the reversing valve or the auxiliary heat side. Because the refrigerant cycle runs in opposite directions depending on mode, a fault can be completely invisible in cooling and obvious in heating.

The fact that cooling still works is useful information rather than a contradiction, since it tells us the compressor and charge are broadly sound. That is why we verify operation in both modes rather than only the one that prompted the call.

They are temperature measurements taken alongside refrigerant pressures that reveal whether the charge is genuinely correct and the system is transferring heat properly.

Pressure on its own can look acceptable on a system that is performing poorly, so verifying superheat and subcool is what separates a real diagnosis from a gauge reading. It is a reasonable thing to ask whether they were taken.

Some frost during heating operation is normal, and the defrost board is supposed to clear it automatically on a cycle. Persistent ice means the defrost board, its sensor, or the reversing valve is not doing its job, or that airflow and charge problems are involved.

Switch the system off and let it thaw rather than running it through the ice. Running it that way risks the compressor, and turning it off costs you nothing.

Twice a year, and more genuinely than for any other equipment in the building. A spring visit checks the cooling side before summer load arrives.

A fall visit checks heating mode, heat strips under load, the reversing valve and the defrost board before the first cold front. Each visit inspects things the other cannot, because half the system is idle in each season.