Heat Pump Repair in Smithville, ON — What Goes Wrong, and What Only Looks Wrong

Your heat pump is iced over, or making a noise it never made while it was cooling the house last summer, and you are deciding whether to call. For many Smithville homeowners this is their first winter with a heat pump.

Two things make that decision hard. A heat pump in the cold frosts up and melts the frost off itself, which looks like a breakdown but is the machine working normally. And when a heat pump does quit, the backup heater usually keeps the house warm, so nothing feels wrong at all.

This page covers both, and what a heat pump repair involves once something really has failed. Our technicians hold the 313A refrigeration and air conditioning licence plus TSSA gas and heating contractor certification, and the same family has run the business since 2014.

What Frost on a Heat Pump Usually Means in a Smithville Winter

Frost on the outdoor unit in winter is normal, and the heat pump melts the frost off itself.

To pull heat out of cold air, the outdoor coil has to run colder still, so moisture in that air freezes onto the coil. Every so often the heat pump runs a defrost cycle, reversing for a few minutes to send warm refrigerant out and melt that frost. You may see steam off the outdoor unit, hear the reversing valve whoosh, and feel cooler air from the vents. (1)

A breakdown looks different:

• ice still there by evening
• solid ice encasing the outdoor unit, not white frost
• air from the vents still cool after the defrost ends

When the Backup Heater Is Carrying the House

Most air-source systems in Ontario have a second heat source behind the heat pump, either electric resistance elements in the ductwork or a gas furnace. (2) That backup covers the coldest hours of the year. It also warms the air during a defrost cycle, so the rooms do not cool off while the heat pump is melting frost. (1)

The backup also hides a broken heat pump. When the outdoor unit stops contributing, the backup does all the heating, the house stays warm, and the thermostat says nothing is wrong. The first sign most homeowners in Smithville get is an electricity bill that has jumped.

Look at your thermostat. Most show Aux Heat or Em Heat while the backup is running. That light during a January cold snap is expected. The same light on a mild day means the heat pump is not doing its share, and that is worth a call.

Cooler air from the vents is a different complaint, and it often means nothing is wrong. Compared with a furnace, a heat pump delivers a larger volume of air at a lower temperature. We go through why the air from the vents feels different after a changeover on the heating installation page.

Who Is Legally Allowed to Repair a Heat Pump in Ontario

Ontario treats heat pump work as a compulsory trade, which is a stronger rule than most homeowners expect.

Skilled Trades Ontario names the trade Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Systems Mechanic, trade code 313A. It states that anyone practising a compulsory trade in Ontario must hold “a Registered Training Agreement, Provisional Certificate of Qualification or Certificate of Qualification”. (3) Its published description of the work covers “combined heating cooling combination systems … in residential, industrial, commercial, and institutional settings”. (3) That phrase is the regulator describing a heat pump.

So the sealed refrigerant side of your heat pump is not general handyman work, and it is not plumbing work either. Our technicians hold 313A.

A heat pump differs from a furnace or a boiler in one way worth knowing. An all-electric heat pump burns no fuel, so the Technical Standards and Safety Authority registration you would check for a gas appliance is not the credential that governs this repair. We set out which regulator covers a furnace or boiler in Ontario on its own page. Where a heat pump runs alongside a gas furnace, both sets of rules apply, because the furnace is still burning fuel.

Your Heat Pump Is Also Your Air Conditioner

One compressor, one outdoor unit and one refrigerant circuit run in both directions, and the reversing valve decides which direction the heat travels. A compressor or a fan motor that is only just holding on in February is the same one your house depends on during a July heat warning. A winter problem you live with does not go away in April.

Health Canada’s advice for extreme heat is blunt: “If you have an air conditioner, make sure it works properly”. (4)

Put the repair off through the last weeks of winter and you will be booking it in the first hot week of summer. So will everyone in Grimsby and Beamsville who waited.

What Affects Heat Pump Repair Cost in Smithville

The cost of a heat pump repair turns on three things, and the age of the machine is not one of them.

Start with which side of the heat pump has stopped working. A thermostat, a contactor, a control board or a fan motor sits on the electrical side, and a technician tests and changes those with hand tools. The sealed refrigerant circuit is a different kind of work, because it needs recovery equipment, a vacuum pump and gauges, and it is the side the 313A licence exists for.

The indoor equipment changes the cost too. A ducted air handler in a basement and a wall-mounted head in an upstairs bedroom do not take the same time to reach. A ductless system with four wall heads gives a technician four indoor units to check.

People miss the backup heat, because the house has been warm the whole time. Running on backup does the heat pump no harm, but the bill starts climbing the day the heat pump quits. The same broken part costs you less in November than it does in March.

None of the three shows from the driveway, so we look at the machine first.

Heat Pump Repair Questions From Smithville Homeowners

Can a plumber fix a heat pump? No. In Ontario this work sits under Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Systems Mechanic, trade 313A, and Skilled Trades Ontario lists that trade as compulsory. (3) A plumber holds a different certificate for different work. Ask whoever you call which trade certificate they carry.

Why is my heat pump running but not putting out heat? Check these three first, in this order. The thermostat has been left on a cooling or fan-only setting. The indoor filter has loaded up and choked the airflow. The outdoor unit is iced over and cannot pull any heat from the air. If all three look fine and the rooms are still cold, the refrigerant charge or the reversing valve comes next. Neither is a homeowner check.

Why does my heat pump make a noise when it shuts off? A short hiss or gurgle as the system shuts down is the refrigerant pressures levelling out, and a heavier whoosh is the reversing valve changing direction. Both are normal. Grinding, screeching or a rhythmic banging from the outdoor unit are not, and they usually mean a bearing, a fan blade or a mounting has gone. Switch the system off at the thermostat and call the office.

My outdoor unit is covered in ice. Should I turn it off? Turn it off at the thermostat if the unit is encased in solid ice, not dusted with frost. Running it in that state can bend the fan blade or split the coil. Do not chip the ice away with a tool, because that splits the fins and the tubing underneath. If the unit ices up like that every winter, a scheduled visit that catches this before the cold weather is the cheaper route.

Is it worth repairing a heat pump or replacing it? That comes down to which part has failed and what the two options cost side by side. We will not hand you an age threshold. How long a heat pump lasts depends far more on how well it was sized and fitted than on the number of years it has run. We can tell you which part has gone, what putting it right involves, and whether it is likely to go again.

Book a Heat Pump Repair in Smithville

When you call the office, have the make and model from the outdoor unit’s plate ready if you can reach it safely, and tell us what the thermostat is showing. If you have seen an Aux Heat light, say so, because it changes where we start.

We repair heat pumps across Smithville, West Lincoln, Grimsby and Beamsville. If you are still weighing up whether this is the right system for your house at all, how this equipment compares with the alternatives answers that first.

References

1. Natural Resources Canada, Cooling and Heating Season Performance Assessment of a cold climate air source heat pump at the Canadian Centre for Housing Technology, natural-resources.canada.ca
2. Save on Energy (IESO), Heat Pump Buying Guide, saveonenergy.ca
3. Skilled Trades Ontario, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Systems Mechanic, skilledtradesontario.ca
4. Health Canada, Extreme heat events: How to protect yourself from the health effects of extreme heat, canada.ca