Heat Pump Repair in Greenville, NC
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 Pitt County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Ten months of run time wears a heat pump down
Your heat pump works almost year round here, heat from November through March and cooling from May through September. That leaves it maybe a month or two all year when it just sits idle. Winter nights averaging 34°F mean it runs the defrost cycle often, and each cycle puts a load on the reversing valve. Summer afternoons near 88°F push the compressor hard for months at a stretch.
Most homes in Pitt County heat with electricity, so when the heat pump falters, there is no backup furnace quietly taking over. Wind is the other issue. This area has logged 67 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and storms like that snap branches into the outdoor unit and knock the fins out of shape, which cuts down on airflow the whole system depends on.
- 5 months
- November through March, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 34°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 88°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
North Carolina requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors tests contractors before it licenses them, and it keeps a record of who holds one. That license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job. The same license that qualifies someone to install a furnace also qualifies them to repair your heat pump.
Opening the refrigerant side of a heat pump is federal work, not state work. Anyone who does it, in North Carolina or anywhere else, has to hold EPA Section 608 certification. A licensed contractor repairing your heat pump should hold both the state license and that federal certification for the refrigerant work itself.
Sources: North Carolina General Assembly · North Carolina State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors
- Why is my heat pump blowing cold air?
- In winter, your heat pump moves heat from the outside air into your home, and that air coming out of the vents is naturally cooler than your body temperature even when it's working right. If the air feels cold rather than mildly warm, the system may be stuck in fan-only mode, low on refrigerant, or defrosting. A frozen outdoor unit that hasn't switched back to heating yet will also blow cold air until the defrost cycle finishes. A contractor can check the refrigerant charge and the reversing valve to find out which one it is.
- Why is there ice on my heat pump?
- Some frost on the outdoor unit during winter is normal, and your heat pump should melt it off on its own a few times a day through a defrost cycle. Ice that keeps building up or covers the whole unit usually means airflow is blocked, the defrost control has failed, or refrigerant is low. With winter lows here averaging 34°F, the outdoor coil spends a lot of hours in the temperature range where frost forms easily, so a defrost problem shows up fast. Clear away any leaves or debris around the unit, but if the ice keeps coming back have a contractor look at the defrost board and refrigerant level.
- Why is my heat pump running but not cooling?
- If the unit is running but the air isn't cool, the most common causes are a dirty air filter, a blocked outdoor coil, or low refrigerant from a leak. A dirty filter or a coil packed with dirt and leaves cuts off the airflow the system needs to remove heat from your home, so check and replace the filter first. On summer afternoons here reaching 88°F, a system that's already struggling to keep up will fall further behind fast. If the filter and outdoor unit are clear and it's still not cooling, a contractor with EPA 608 certification will need to check the refrigerant charge, since that's the part of the job only a certified technician can legally open up.