Heat Pump Repair in Alabaster, AL
Homes here need heat from November through March and cooling from May through September. If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Shelby County will get in touch.
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Ten months of run time wears on your heat pump
Your heat pump runs nearly year round in Alabaster. Heat from November through March, cooling from May through September, with only two months where it sits idle. The compressor and the outdoor fan almost never get a real break.
On winter nights that average 35°F, the heat pump is what keeps the house warm. 55.7% of homes here heat with electricity, so there is often no furnace backing it up if it fails. This area has also seen 94 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and in 2024, 18% of Alabama households lost power for at least 24 hours. When the power drops and comes back, a heat pump already working this much has less room to absorb the strain.
- 5 months
- November through March, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 35°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 90°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Alabama requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license is held by the contractor, not issued job by job. It means the Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Contractors has tested this contractor and keeps a record of them, separate from any single repair on your property.
For heat pump work specifically, the license is what stands behind the whole job, but the refrigerant side has its own layer under it. Repairing a heat pump means opening a sealed system that holds refrigerant, and the technician doing that has to hold EPA Section 608 certification, the same federal requirement that applies in every state. That certification is separate from the Alabama license and covers a different part of the job, the handling of refrigerant itself.
Source: Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors
- Why is my heat pump blowing cold air?
- In heating mode, the air coming out of the vents is warmer than the room but still cooler than what a furnace puts out, so it can feel cold even when it is working right. If the air feels truly cold, not just cool, check that the outdoor unit is running and that the filter is not clogged. A heat pump that has switched into defrost mode will also blow cool air for a few minutes while it clears frost off the outdoor coil, and that is normal. If the air stays cold for a long stretch or never warms up, a contractor needs to check the refrigerant charge and the reversing valve.
- Why is there ice on my heat pump?
- Some frost on the outdoor coil during winter is normal, and the unit should clear it on its own by going into defrost mode every so often. You will see the outdoor fan stop and steam rise off the coil as it melts the frost. If ice is building up faster than it clears, or if it covers the whole unit and stays there, the defrost control or a fan motor may not be working. Thick ice that does not go away on its own needs a contractor to look at it before it damages the coil.
- Why is my heat pump running but not cooling?
- If the outdoor unit is running but the air inside is not getting cooler, the most common cause is low refrigerant from a leak. A dirty filter or blocked outdoor coil can also cut off airflow enough that the system runs without cooling the house. Check the filter first, since that is the one thing worth trying before calling anyone. If the filter is clean and the vents still are not putting out cool air, a contractor needs to check the refrigerant charge and the coils.