Heat Pump Repair in Gainesville, 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 Hall County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Gainesville asks a heat pump to work all year
Your heat pump runs from October through April to keep the house warm, then switches over and runs May through September to keep it cool. There is no season off. Twelve months a year, it is either heating or cooling, and the switch itself is a moving part that wears.
Winter nights here average 34°F, cold enough that the heat pump leans on its reversing valve and defrost cycle more nights than not. Summer afternoons average 87°F, and the compressor runs hard to keep up. Two thirds of homes in Georgia heat with electricity, which means the heat pump is doing that job alone, with no backup furnace to lean on when a part starts to fail. When the reversing valve sticks or the compressor weakens, you feel it as a house that will not quite warm up or will not quite cool down, not as a sudden breakdown.
- 7 months
- October through April, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 34°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 87°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Georgia requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The State Construction Industry Licensing Board issues that license. It covers the contractor, not each individual job, so the board has tested and keeps a record of the person or company doing the work rather than signing off on this particular repair.
A heat pump repair means working on the refrigerant side of the system, and that falls under a separate federal rule. Any technician who opens the refrigerant side has to hold EPA Section 608 certification, in Georgia and in every other state. On this job, the state license accounts for the contractor, and the EPA certification accounts for whoever handles the refrigerant.
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 does, so air that feels cool can still be warming the house. Hold your hand near the vent for a few seconds. If it feels close to room temperature or barely warm, that is normal operation. If the air feels truly cold, the system may have switched into defrost mode, dropped into backup heat that isn't kicking in, or lost refrigerant. A contractor can check the refrigerant charge and the reversing valve to find out which it is.
- Why is there ice on my heat pump?
- Some frost on the outdoor unit during cold weather is normal. Your heat pump runs a defrost cycle on its own, melting that frost off every so often through the winter. Ice becomes a problem when it builds up thick and stays, covering the coil or blocking airflow through it. That points to a fan that has stopped turning, a refrigerant leak, or a defrost control that has failed. With nights here averaging 34°F from December through February, the outdoor coil is working through frost conditions most of the winter, so a defrost system that isn't cycling right shows up fast. Turn the system off and let a contractor look at it rather than trying to chip the ice away yourself.
- Why is my heat pump running but not cooling?
- If the outdoor unit and indoor blower are both running but the air coming out isn't cold, the most common cause is low refrigerant from a leak. It can also mean the outdoor coil is caked with dirt and can't release heat, or the reversing valve is stuck in the wrong position. With summer afternoons here averaging 87°F, a system that's lost even part of its refrigerant charge will struggle to keep up on the hottest days. A contractor needs to check the refrigerant pressure and the coil to know which one it is.