Heat Pump Repair in Craig, AK
If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Your heat pump works every month of the year here
Craig doesn't give a heat pump a season off. There's no stretch of warm months where it sits idle, so the compressor, the reversing valve, and the defrost control are always in use, one season running into the next with no break to recover from.
Winter nights averaging 32°F mean the unit spends a lot of time in defrost mode, switching back and forth to keep ice off the outdoor coil. Each switch is a small strain on the reversing valve. Over years of that cycling, it's often the reversing valve or the defrost board that fails first, and you'll notice it as a unit that blows cold air or won't clear frost from the outdoor coil. Power loss is common here too. With storms knocking out power to homes in this area, a heat pump that shuts down mid-cycle and doesn't restart properly is worth checking rather than assuming it will just come back on its own.
- 32°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 62°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
Alaska requires contractors to register with the state.
That registration puts the business on file with the state. Nobody tested the contractor's trade knowledge to get it, and there's no license backing the work up. It tells you the business is registered to operate in Alaska, not that anyone checked how well they work on a heat pump.
For this job, the protection comes from federal law instead of anything Alaska issues. A heat pump moves refrigerant, and any technician who opens that side of the system has to hold EPA Section 608 certification, no matter what state they work in. That certification is what stands behind the person actually handling your system.
Source: Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development
- Why is my heat pump blowing cold air?
- In defrost mode your heat pump runs the outdoor coil hot to melt ice off it, and the indoor fan can keep blowing while that happens, so you feel a cool draft for a few minutes. If the air stays cold well past that, the system may have lost refrigerant charge or the reversing valve isn't switching over. With winter nights here averaging 32°F, a heat pump that can't produce real heat needs a contractor to look at it soon.
- Why is there ice on my heat pump?
- Some frost on the outdoor unit in cold weather is normal, and the system clears it on its own during a defrost cycle. Heavy ice that builds back fast usually means airflow is blocked, the coil is dirty, or the defrost control isn't working. Since homes here need heat all 12 months, a unit that keeps icing over and running defrost cycles too often will fall behind on heating the house.
- Why is my heat pump running but not cooling?
- If the heat pump runs without cooling, check the air filter first, since a clogged one starves the system of airflow. Beyond that, low refrigerant, a failing compressor, or a stuck reversing valve can all keep it from cooling even while it runs. A contractor can check the refrigerant charge and the valve to find out which one it is.