Doraville Heat Pump Services

Heat pumps confuse a lot of owners because they do things a furnace never does. On a cold, wet morning the outdoor coil collects frost. The unit responds by switching briefly into a defrost mode: the outdoor fan stops, the coil warms, and a plume of vapor may rise off the cabinet with a whoosh as the valve shifts. A few minutes later it returns to heating. That is the system working as designed. Problems look different. Ice that keeps building until the coil is solid. Air from the registers that stays cool in heating mode. A unit stuck in cooling when you want heat, which often points to the reversing valve or its control. Auxiliary heat, usually electric strips in the air handler, that runs much of the day. Backup heat is meant for cold snaps and defrost periods, and when it runs constantly the power bill climbs fast. Short cycling hits heat pumps too, for the same reasons it hits air conditioners: oversizing, airflow and refrigerant charge. Some homes run dual fuel, with a gas furnace that takes over below a set outdoor temperature. If the changeover point or the controls are wrong, the system leans on the wrong source. Service covers repair, replacement and new heat pump installs, each sized and tested in both heating and cooling.