Heat Pump Repair in Cumming, GA
Homes here need heat from October through April and cooling from May through September. If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Forsyth County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Cumming asks a heat pump to run all year
Your heat pump works from October through April to keep the house warm, then switches over and runs May through September to cool it. There's no season where it sits idle. That's twelve months of the reversing valve switching back and forth and the outdoor unit cycling on and off.
Winter nights here average 33°F, cold enough that the unit has to run defrost cycles to clear frost off the outdoor coil. Do that enough times over a winter and the defrost control board or the sensor that tells it when to defrost is what tends to fail. Summer afternoons average 86°F, and on the hottest days the outdoor unit runs longer to keep up, which is hard on the compressor and the run capacitor that helps start it. Forsyth County has also seen 48 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and wind-driven debris around the outdoor unit can bend the fan or foul the coil. When any of this catches up with the system, you'll notice the air coming from the vents isn't as warm or as cool as it should be, or the outdoor unit is running but not doing much.
- 7 months
- October through April, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 33°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 86°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Georgia requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
Georgia licenses HVAC contractors through the State Construction Industry Licensing Board. The license covers the contractor, not each job, so the same license applies whether the work is a repair, an installation, or a service call.
A heat pump repair means opening the refrigerant side of the system, and federal law requires anyone who does that to hold EPA Section 608 certification, in Georgia and every other state. On this job, the state license accounts for who is allowed to work in the trade, and the federal certification accounts for who is allowed to handle the refrigerant itself.
Source: Georgia Secretary of State
- Why is my heat pump blowing cold air?
- In heating mode, a heat pump moves warm air through the vents at a lower temperature than a furnace would, so it can feel cool even when it's working right. If the air feels truly cold, check that your thermostat is set to heat, not fan only. A dirty filter or a low refrigerant charge can also cut the heat output enough that the air coming out feels cold. If the outdoor unit is caked in ice or the air stays cold for more than a few minutes, a contractor needs to look at it.
- Why is there ice on my heat pump?
- Some frost on the outdoor unit during winter is normal. Your heat pump runs a defrost cycle on its own, warming the coil for a few minutes every so often to melt that frost off. A heavy buildup that doesn't clear, or ice that covers the whole unit, points to a problem with the defrost control, a fan motor that isn't turning, or low refrigerant. With winter nights here averaging 33°F, the unit is cycling through defrost often, so if the ice keeps building instead of melting off, it needs a contractor's attention.
- Why is my heat pump running but not cooling?
- The unit running without cooling the house usually means air isn't moving through it or refrigerant isn't doing its job. Start with the filter. A clogged one starves the system of airflow and the house won't cool even though the unit runs constantly. If the filter is clean, the outdoor coil could be blocked with leaves or dirt, or the system could be low on refrigerant, and neither of those is something to fix yourself. On a hot afternoon here near 86°F, a system that can't cool properly will run nonstop trying to catch up, so it's worth having a contractor check it before it strains the compressor.