Heat Pump Maintenance

A heat pump runs through both the cooling and the heating seasons, which doubles the operating hours per year compared to a system that only runs part of the year. More hours means faster wear on moving parts and refrigerant-circuit components, and the reversing valve and defrost cycle have no counterpart on a non-heat-pump system — they get their own checks.

A yearly visit is the baseline, usually scheduled in spring so we can verify both the cooling-mode charge going into the hot season and the heating-mode performance from the prior winter. Homes with cottonwoods or heavy pollen may need an outdoor-coil check mid-summer as well.

Filter changes are the homeowner's job and matter a lot — a plugged filter can take a system out of commission in a weekend. But filter changes don't verify refrigerant charge, reversing-valve function, or electrical component condition. Those need gauges and meters.

The most common chain is: dirty outdoor coil → system can't reject heat efficiently → compressor runs hotter → compressor life shortens. Add a reversing valve that hasn't been exercised in a year and a defrost cycle that's drifted out of calibration and you have a system heading for a mid-winter failure.