Heat Pump Repair in Muscle Shoals, 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 Colbert County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Your heat pump works all year in Muscle Shoals
There's no season off. Winter nights average 32°F from December through February, and your heat pump runs on those nights to keep the house warm. Summer afternoons average 89°F, and the same unit is running the other direction to keep it cool. Twelve months of work wears on the parts that switch it between heating and cooling, and on the outdoor unit that sits outside in all of it.
Colbert County has seen 463 damaging wind events and 7 winter storms over the past ten years. That kind of weather is hard on the outdoor unit, and when the power goes out, the system stops until it comes back. Last year in Alabama, 18% of households were without power for at least 24 hours. If your heat pump won't start after an outage, or it's running but not keeping up with the heat or the cold, that's worth having looked at.
- 7 months
- October through April, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 32°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 89°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Alabama requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
Alabama's Board of Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Contractors tests contractors before granting a license and keeps them on record after. The license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job, so whoever comes to work on your heat pump in Colbert County should already be licensed before they arrive, not applying because of this one repair.
Repairing a heat pump means working on the refrigerant side of the system. Federal law requires anyone who opens that side of a system to hold EPA Section 608 certification, no matter what state they work in. So the technician should carry both. Alabama's license says the state tested and tracks this contractor. The federal certification says this person is cleared to handle refrigerant at all.
Source: Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors
- Why is my heat pump blowing cold air?
- In winter this usually means the system is stuck in defrost mode or backup heat isn't kicking in when it should. A heat pump moves heat from outside air, so on a 32°F morning the air coming out of your vents will feel cooler than a furnace's, even when it's working right. If the air feels cold rather than just cool, or stays cold for more than a few minutes, the reversing valve or the backup heat strips may have failed. A contractor can test both and tell you which one it is.
- Why is there ice on my heat pump?
- A thin layer of frost on the outdoor unit during a cold snap is normal, and it should melt off on its own when the system runs its defrost cycle. Thick ice that builds up and stays means something is stopping that cycle from working, or airflow across the coil is blocked. Low refrigerant, a failed defrost control board, or a fan that isn't spinning can all cause it. Running the system with heavy ice on it can damage the compressor, so it's worth shutting it off and having someone look at it rather than waiting for it to thaw.
- Why is my heat pump running but not cooling?
- If the outdoor unit is running but the air inside isn't cooling, the most common causes are low refrigerant, a dirty coil, or a compressor that isn't actually pumping despite running. On a 89°F afternoon a system low on refrigerant will fall further and further behind, so the house keeps warming up no matter how long it runs. Check the outdoor unit for a coil caked in dirt or debris, since that alone can cut cooling way down. If the coil is clean and it's still not cooling, the problem is inside the system and needs a contractor to check refrigerant charge and compressor operation.