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Heat Pump Repair & Installation in Birmingham, AL
Around Birmingham, the heat pump is usually the whole system: it cools the house all summer and heats it all winter, so it works nearly every day of the year. When it quits, it tends to quit in a cold snap or a heat wave. Precision Services repairs and replaces heat pumps across Birmingham, McCalla, Bessemer and Hueytown, on every major brand, whether we installed it or not. One licensed, insured, in-house crew out of McCalla with 35+ years in Alabama homes. Our line answers 24/7, and you get an upfront price before any work starts.
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Heat Pump Repair in Birmingham
Most heat pump calls come down to one failed part, not a dead system. We find the part, show you what failed, and give you the repair price before we touch it. If the honest answer is that the unit is not worth fixing, we say so and show you the replacement numbers side by side.
We work on all major brands, including Trane, American Standard, Carrier, Bryant, Lennox, Rheem, Ruud, Goodman, Amana, Daikin and York, plus ductless systems from Mitsubishi, Fujitsu and others. Builder-grade or premium, ten years old or two, it does not matter who put it in.
Heat Pump Not Heating? Check These Before You Call
- Thermostat mode. Set to Heat, not Cool, Auto or Fan On, and set a few degrees above room temperature. Replace the batteries if it has them.
- Emergency heat. If the thermostat says EM Heat or Emergency, the outdoor unit is switched off and the house is running on electric heat strips alone. It will heat, but it can double a power bill in a week. Switch it back to Heat and see whether the outdoor unit starts.
- Breakers and the outdoor disconnect. A heat pump usually has two breakers in the panel, one for the outdoor unit and one for the indoor air handler, plus a disconnect box on the wall beside the outdoor unit.
- Filter. A clogged filter starves the system of airflow, and a heat pump short of airflow heats poorly and can trip its safeties.
- The outdoor unit. Clear leaves, snow or anything stacked against it. A light frost in cold, damp weather is normal, and so is a cloud of steam during a defrost cycle. A unit encased in solid ice is not.
If the outdoor unit is iced solid, do not chip or hose the ice off. That is how coils get punctured and a repair becomes a replacement. Turn the system to Off or Emergency Heat and call us.
Heat Pump Problems We Repair
Blowing cool or lukewarm air. A heat pump delivers gentler heat than a furnace, so the air at the vent feels cooler than you might expect. Air that is actually cold usually means a stuck reversing valve, low refrigerant or a defrost fault.
Iced-up outdoor unit. The defrost cycle should clear frost on its own. When ice keeps building, the cause is usually a failed defrost control board or sensor, a bad outdoor fan motor, or low refrigerant.
Stuck in heating or cooling. The reversing valve is what switches a heat pump between modes. When it or its solenoid fails, the system gets stuck in one mode.
Outdoor unit will not start, or hums. Most often a failed capacitor or contactor, which is one of the quickest and least expensive repairs we make. Caught early, it can save the compressor.
Refrigerant leaks. Coils and line sets develop leaks with age. Topping it off without finding the leak only buys a few weeks, so we find the leak first and price the fix.
Running constantly, or short cycling. A system that never shuts off, or turns on and off every few minutes, points to airflow, refrigerant charge, a sizing problem or a thermostat fault.
High power bills in winter. Usually the backup heat strips doing the work the heat pump should be doing, often because of a thermostat wired or configured wrong for a heat pump.
Compressor failure. The most expensive repair on any heat pump. On an older unit it is usually the point where replacement makes more sense, and we will show you both numbers.
Noises. Grinding, rattling or screeching from either unit, usually a fan motor, blower or loose panel, are worth calling about before a small repair becomes a large one.
Because our crews are multi-trade, an electrical fault behind the problem, such as a failing breaker or burnt wiring at the disconnect, is handled on the same visit.
Heat pump down? We answer 24/7.
$79 service call fee. Upfront pricing before any work starts.
What a Heat Pump Service Call Costs
Our service call fee is $79. That covers a licensed technician coming out and a real diagnosis, not a guess. You get the problem explained in plain English and an upfront price before any work starts, with no hidden costs. If the repair is not worth making, we tell you that too. We offer multiple easy payment options: Wells Fargo, GreenSky and our in-house 90-day plan.
Repair or Replace Your Heat Pump?
Heat pumps here usually last around 10 to 15 years. That is shorter than a furnace, because in Alabama a heat pump runs in both seasons instead of sitting idle half the year. Our rule of thumb:
Under about 10 years old: repair it, in almost every case.
Over about 12 years old with a major failure, such as a compressor or a leaking outdoor coil: replacement usually wins, because the next failure is not far behind.
Runs on R-22 refrigerant: R-22 is no longer produced, so any repair that needs refrigerant gets expensive fast. On an R-22 system with a leak, replacement is usually the better buy.
In between: weigh the repair price against the age and condition of the rest of the system. If a repair costs close to half the price of a new system, it is time to look at replacing.
We show you both numbers and let you decide. For a real example of how that call gets made, see this HVAC system replacement, where a refrigerant leak in a 20-year-old coil made a new American Standard system the better buy.
Heat Pump Installation & Replacement
When it is time to replace, we size the new heat pump to the house rather than matching whatever came out of it. An oversized unit short cycles and never pulls the humidity out of an Alabama summer. An undersized one runs all winter on backup heat. We check the ductwork and the electrical supply, and we set up the thermostat for a heat pump, which is where a lot of installs go wrong.
We will walk you through the efficiency ratings that matter here, SEER2 for cooling and HSPF2 for heating, the difference between single-stage, two-stage and variable-speed units, and what each actually costs to run on a real power bill in this climate. For some homes, a dual-fuel setup that pairs a heat pump with a gas furnace for the coldest nights is the better answer, and we will tell you if yours is one of them.
Ductless Mini-Split Heat Pumps
A ductless mini-split is a heat pump without the ductwork, and it is the right answer for additions, garages, workshops, sunrooms, bonus rooms and older homes that were never ducted. We install, repair and service mini-splits for heating and cooling, including systems someone else put in. The usual calls: an indoor head that will not respond to the remote, water dripping from the indoor unit, a refrigerant leak at the line set, or an outdoor unit that will not start.
Emergency Heat Pump Repair, 24/7
No heat on a freezing night, or no cooling in an August heat wave, is a real emergency, especially with young kids, elderly family or pets in the house. Our line answers 24/7, and because our crews are in-house, one call gets you the diagnosis and the repair. Call (205) 807-6319.
Twice-a-Year Heat Pump Maintenance
Because a heat pump here works in both seasons, it needs looking at in both: once in spring before the cooling season and once in fall before the heating season. A tune-up covers the refrigerant charge, the capacitor and contactor, the defrost controls, the reversing valve, the coils, the blower and the electrical connections. Most of the no-heat calls we run in January could have been caught in October. See our HVAC maintenance options.
Heating with gas instead? Gas furnaces are covered on our furnace repair page, and cooling-only systems on our AC repair page.
On the team
Chris Guarnieri
Lead HVAC Technician
Chris has been a trusted member of the Precision Services team for over 10 years, bringing decades of HVAC experience and expertise to our customers.
Serving Birmingham, McCalla, Bessemer & Hueytown
Our shop is in McCalla, minutes from Bessemer, Hueytown, Bucksville and the Tannehill area, and straight up the I-459 and I-20/59 corridor into Birmingham. On the first hard freeze of the year everybody calls at once, and closer trucks are the difference between tonight and Thursday.
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FAQ
Heat Pump Repair FAQs
Heat pump air at the vent is gentler than furnace heat, so lukewarm air can be normal. A few minutes of cool air during a defrost cycle is also normal. Air that stays cold usually means a stuck reversing valve, low refrigerant or a failed defrost control. Check that the thermostat is on Heat, then call us if it keeps happening.
A light frost on the outdoor coil in cold, damp weather is normal, and the defrost cycle clears it, often with a cloud of steam. A unit covered in solid ice is not normal. Do not chip the ice off. Switch to Emergency Heat or Off and call us, because the cause is usually a defrost, fan or refrigerant problem.
Emergency heat shuts the outdoor heat pump off and runs only the electric backup heat strips. It keeps the house warm while the heat pump is down, but it costs far more to run. Use it only until the heat pump is repaired.
Usually around 10 to 15 years. A heat pump here works in both summer and winter, so it wears faster than a furnace that sits idle half the year. Regular maintenance in spring and fall is what gets one to the long end of that range.
Our service call fee is $79. That covers a licensed technician coming out and a real diagnosis, and you get an upfront price for the repair before any work starts.
All major brands, including Trane, American Standard, Carrier, Bryant, Lennox, Rheem, Ruud, Goodman, Amana, Daikin and York, plus ductless mini-splits from Mitsubishi, Fujitsu and others, whether we installed them or not.