Heat Pump Repair in Millbrook, 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 Elmore County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Millbrook asks a lot of a heat pump
Your heat pump runs ten months out of the year here, heating from November through March and cooling from May through September. It barely gets a rest, and that kind of run time wears on the compressor and the outdoor fan faster than it would somewhere the system got a real break.
Winter nights average 37°F, cold enough that the heat pump has to work hard to pull warmth out of the air. Summer afternoons average 91°F, and the system runs long stretches to keep the house cool. Most homes here heat with electricity, so when the heat pump struggles on a cold night, there is no backup furnace to pick up the slack. Elmore County also sees its share of damaging wind, and if the power drops and comes back, you may find yourself checking the breaker before the heat pump will run again.
- 5 months
- November through March, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 37°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 91°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 issues that license, and it covers the contractor, not the individual job. That means the board has tested this contractor and keeps a record of them, rather than checking in on each repair they do.
A heat pump repair often means opening the refrigerant side of the system, and that work falls under a separate federal rule that applies no matter what state you're in. Any technician handling refrigerant has to hold EPA Section 608 certification. In Alabama, the state license is what backs the contractor doing the work, and the federal certification is what covers the refrigerant part of the job specifically.
Source: Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors
- Why is my heat pump blowing cold air?
- In heating mode, your heat pump moves warm air at a lower temperature than a furnace does, so vent air that feels cool can still be doing its job. If the air is truly cold with no warmth to it at all, the system may have dropped into defrost mode for a few minutes, which is normal, or it may have lost refrigerant, tripped its reversing valve, or lost power to the outdoor unit. 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 coil during cold weather is normal, and your heat pump should clear it on its own through a defrost cycle every so often. Thick ice that does not go away means something is stopping that cycle, often a fan motor that has stopped turning, a low refrigerant charge, or a sensor that is not telling the system to defrost. With winter nights here averaging 37°F, this coil works through a lot of defrost cycles each season, so a contractor should look at it before ice builds up enough to damage the coil or fan.
- Why is my heat pump running but not cooling?
- If the outdoor unit and indoor blower are both running but the air is not cool, check the filter first, since a clogged one starves the system of airflow. If the filter is clean, the coil may be frozen, the refrigerant charge may be low, or the compressor may not be pulling its full load. On a 91°F afternoon a low charge shows up fast, so a contractor should check pressures and the coil condition to find where the cooling is being lost.