Heat Pump Repair in Stonecrest, GA
Homes here need heat from November through April and cooling from May through September. If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers DeKalb County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eleven months of runtime wears a heat pump down
Your heat pump works almost year round in Stonecrest, heating from November through April and cooling May through September. That leaves it only a few weeks of rest, and the parts that cycle it on and off get little break either.
Winter nights averaging 35°F mean the system has to pull heat from cold air, which asks more of the compressor and the defrost cycle than mild weather does. Summer afternoons near 88°F push the same compressor hard from the other direction. Stonecrest also sees its share of damaging wind, and with 31% of Georgia households losing power for a day or more last year, a heat pump that will not restart after an outage is a common complaint. If yours is short cycling, running long without warming or cooling the house, or blowing air that never reaches a comfortable temperature, that is the wear showing.
- 6 months
- November through April, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 35°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 88°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, and it covers the contractor, not each individual job. Georgia tested that contractor before issuing it and keeps a record of who holds one, so the license travels with the business rather than getting renewed for every repair call.
A heat pump repair usually means opening the refrigerant side of the system, and federal law requires anyone who does that, in Georgia or any other state, to hold EPA Section 608 certification. That certification is separate from the state license. The state license says Georgia has tested and tracks this contractor. The federal certification says the technician handling the refrigerant is trained to do it without releasing it into the air.
Source: Georgia Secretary of State
- Why is my heat pump blowing cold air?
- In heating mode, air from the vents is naturally cooler than your skin, so it can feel cold even when the system is working right. If the air feels truly cold and the house is not warming up, the problem is usually the reversing valve stuck in the wrong position, a refrigerant leak, or ice built up on the outdoor unit blocking airflow. A frozen outdoor coil in winter often points to a defrost control problem. A licensed contractor can check the refrigerant charge and the reversing valve to find out which one it is.
- Why is there ice on my heat pump?
- Some frost on the outdoor unit during a cold snap is normal, and the system should melt it off on its own through a defrost cycle every so often. Heavy ice that does not clear means the defrost cycle is not kicking in, or airflow across the outdoor coil is blocked by a dirty coil, a failed fan motor, or snow packed around the unit. Ice can also mean the refrigerant charge is low. Since winter lows here average 35°F, the outdoor unit works through a lot of cold hours each season, so a defrost problem that goes unfixed will keep coming back. A contractor can test the defrost board and the fan motor to find the cause.
- Why is my heat pump running but not cooling?
- If the outdoor unit and indoor blower are both running but the air is not cold, the most common causes are a dirty air filter restricting airflow, a low refrigerant charge, or a failing compressor. A clogged filter is worth checking first since it is the easiest to fix yourself. With summer afternoons here reaching 88°F, a system that is not cooling right will fall further behind fast, so it is worth having it looked at before the next hot stretch. A contractor can check refrigerant levels and compressor operation to pin down the cause.