Heat Pump Repair & Tune-Ups
- Prompt Professional Repair
- Discounts for Maintenance Plan Members
- Emergency Repair Available
Third Coast Air & Heat provides heat pump repair in Needville, TX and nearby towns such as Rosenberg and Richmond. A heat pump heats and cools your home with one system, so when it fails in November it leaves you without heat, and the same fault will be waiting for you next summer. Our certified technicians repair heat pumps that won't heat, run nonstop, ice over or trip the breaker, and as an Armstrong Air Pro Team dealer we can also replace a system that's past saving.
Heat Pump Repair in Heating Season
Heating season is when heat pump problems show up. A system that cooled well all summer can struggle in the first cold week, because heating mode depends on parts that sit idle in summer: the reversing valve, the defrost control and its sensor, and the auxiliary heat strips. When the house can't hold the thermostat setting, the usual causes are a clogged filter, low refrigerant from a leak, a reversing valve stuck in cooling, a failed defrost control or burned-out heat strips. We use advanced diagnostic tools to find which one it is.
Contact Us for Service
Heat Pump Problems We Repair
- No heat or no cooling: low refrigerant, a failed compressor or a reversing valve stuck in one mode.
- Ice that won't clear: light frost on the outdoor coil in cold, damp weather is normal, but a solid block of ice points to a defrost control, sensor or airflow problem.
- Running on backup heat: when the auxiliary or emergency heat light stays on, the electric heat strips are carrying the load and your electric bill will show it.
- Short cycling: the system turns on and off every few minutes, often from a bad capacitor, a thermostat problem or an incorrect refrigerant charge.
- Loud noises: grinding, banging or screeching from the outdoor unit can mean a failing fan motor or compressor.
- Tripped breakers: failed contactors, shorted motors and other electrical faults.
- Water at the indoor unit: a clogged condensate drain at the air handler.
What Happens on a Heat Pump Repair Visit
A heat pump uses the same refrigerant circuit to heat and to cool, so we check it in both modes. The diagnosis covers the thermostat and its settings, the air filter and indoor blower, refrigerant pressures, the reversing valve, the defrost control and sensor, the auxiliary heat strips, the capacitor and contactor, and the outdoor coil and fan. Once we find the cause, we explain what failed and what it takes to fix it before we start the repair.
Aux Heat, Emergency Heat and Cold Nights
On the coldest nights a heat pump gets help from electric heat strips in the indoor air handler, called auxiliary heat. It's normal for aux heat to come on during a defrost cycle or when you raise the thermostat several degrees at once. It isn't normal for it to run for hours on a mild afternoon. Emergency heat is the thermostat setting that shuts the heat pump off and runs the strips alone. Use it only if the outdoor unit has stopped working, and call us. If your electric bill jumps after the first cold snap, have the heat strips and the outdoor unit checked.
Repair or Replace Your Heat Pump?
A repair is usually the right call when the problem is a part such as a capacitor, contactor, sensor, defrost board or fan motor. Replacement starts to make sense when the compressor fails on an older unit, when refrigerant leaks keep coming back, or when the system still runs on R-22, a refrigerant that is no longer produced. If you reach that point, we'll walk you through the options for a new heat pump installation, including high-efficiency, variable-capacity Armstrong Air heat pumps. New heat pumps also use A2L refrigerants such as R-454B in place of R-410A.
