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A Handy Heat Pump Maintenance & Repair Guide

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Heat pumps are the perfect system for our climate. They can keep you as cool as a cucumber all summer long. Then, when temperatures drop and you start to feel the winter chill, they can also keep you toasty warm! They’re efficient, too, especially when it comes to heating. And although they might seem new-fangled, they’re based on the same exact technology as air conditioners, which is tried and true.

Because they are so similar to air conditioners, they have a lot of the same components, and a lot of the same needs when it comes to servicing them. But not everything is quite identical! What is different about the maintenance and repair a heat pump needs? Check out this handy guide so you’ll be able to keep your system in top condition.

Maintenance

Just like an air conditioner, a heat pump has an outdoor compressor, and an indoor blower fan, and coils of refrigerant flowing between the two. Just like an air conditioner, all these components need to be cleaned and checked over by a qualified professional. Moving parts require regular application of fresh lubricant so they won’t overheat or wear out from friction. And electrical components need testing, and sometimes recalibration.

For an air conditioner, it would be best to do all these things in the early spring, so the system would be in the best possible shape just in time for the season when it needed to work the hardest. And if you had an air conditioner, you would need a separate heating system, which would also require maintenance. That would generally be done in the fall, for the same reason.

Because your heat pump is both an air conditioner and a heating system, it doesn’t have just one season of hard work. It needs to be ready to cool all summer and ready to heat all winter. It’s wearing away lubricant, gathering dust, and experiencing strain all year long. To keep it in good condition, it needs twice-a-year maintenance, in both spring and fall.

Repair

Just like an air conditioner—or like any complex system, whether it’s a furnace or an automobile—there are some predictable signs when it needs repair. Often, the first indicator is an odd noise, such as rattling, groaning, clicking, banging, or buzzing. If you hear anything out of the ordinary, get heat pump repair in Ponchatoula, LA before the problem gets any worse.

Other signs that a heat pump needs repair include odd smells, the system rapidly turning on and off, uneven or insufficient heating or cooling, or an unexplained increase in your electric bill. These are all things that can happen with an air conditioner, too. But there’s one situation that calls for repair which is totally unique to heat pumps: something going wrong with the reversing valve.

The reversing valve is the component that makes it possible for the heat pump to switch between heating and cooling. If it gets stuck in one mode—typically in heating mode, refusing to switch to cooling in the springtime—you’ll definitely need a qualified technician. As long as they’re experienced with heat pumps, it’s a straightforward repair to get it unstuck and operating properly again.

If you have any concerns about your heat pump, we’re ready to help!

When you need it done right, contact Professional Heating & Air.

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