Heat Pump Repair in Fort Payne, AL
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 DeKalb County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Your heat pump works every month of the year here
In Fort Payne there's no season off. Your heat pump heats from October through April, then switches over and cools from May through September. Winter nights averaging 33°F ask it to pull heat out of cold air, and summer afternoons averaging 86°F ask it to push heat back out, and it does both jobs with the same compressor and the same reversing valve.
That reversing valve is what switches the system between heating and cooling, and it takes the wear from every changeover. When it starts sticking, the system blows air that doesn't match what you asked for, cool air when you set it to heat or the other way around. DeKalb County has also logged 203 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and with 68.5% of homes here heating on electricity, a power interruption on a cold night is when a struggling system tends to show it can't keep up.
- 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
Alabama requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Contractors tests and licenses HVAC contractors before they can take on work like this. The license belongs to the contractor, not to the individual job, so it stands behind everything they do in your home, not just this one repair.
A heat pump repair usually means opening the refrigerant side of the system, and federal law requires the technician doing that work to hold EPA Section 608 certification, no matter what state they work in. In Alabama, that certification sits alongside the state license rather than replacing it, so the same contractor answering for the repair under state law is also the one required to hold the federal credential for handling the refrigerant itself.
Source: Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors
- Why is my heat pump blowing cold air?
- In heating mode, air from the vents is warm compared to the room but cooler than what a furnace puts out, so it can feel cold even when the system is working right. If the air is truly cold with no warmth to it at all, the unit may have iced up outside, lost refrigerant, or dropped into backup heat that isn't kicking in. Check the outdoor unit for a solid coat of ice or frost first. If it's iced over or the air stays cold for more than a few minutes, a contractor should look at it.
- Why is there ice on my heat pump?
- A thin layer of frost on the outdoor unit during cold weather is normal, and the system defrosts itself on a regular cycle. Thick ice that builds up and doesn't melt off points to a problem, usually low refrigerant, a failed defrost control, or restricted airflow from a dirty coil or blocked fan. With nights here averaging 33°F from December through February, the defrost cycle runs often, so a unit that can't complete it will ice up fast. If the ice keeps building instead of clearing, have a contractor check it before the coil damage gets worse.
- Why is my heat pump running but not cooling?
- If the outdoor unit and indoor blower are both running but the air isn't cold, the most common causes are low refrigerant, a dirty outdoor coil, or a reversing valve stuck in the wrong position. A dirty air filter can also choke off airflow enough that the house never cools down even though the system is working. Start with the filter, since that's the one thing worth checking yourself. On a hot summer afternoon here, a system that runs constantly without cooling needs a contractor to find out which of these it is.