Heat Pump Repair in El Paso, TX
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 El Paso County will get in touch.
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El Paso asks a heat pump to work almost year round
Your heat pump runs from November through March to keep the house warm, then switches over in May and works through September to cool it. That is ten months of the year with the system on, and only a couple months of rest in between.
Winter nights here average 32°F, which is cold enough that a heat pump works hard to pull warmth from the outside air, and summer afternoons average 95°F, which pushes it just as hard the other way. Most homes in the area heat with gas, so the heat pump likely isn't your only source of warmth, but it still needs to hold up on both ends of the year. El Paso County has also seen 70 damaging wind events and 5 winter storms over the past ten years, and storms like that mean power loss. If your heat pump won't start after the lights come back on, that's usually the thermostat or breaker, not the unit itself.
- 5 months
- November through March, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 32°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 95°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Texas requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation tests contractors before it issues that license. It keeps a record of who holds one. The license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job. The same license that covers a new install covers a repair call like this one.
A heat pump repair means opening the refrigerant side of the system. Federal law adds its own requirement on top of the state license. Anyone who touches refrigerant must hold EPA Section 608 certification, no matter what state they work in. A Texas contractor working on your heat pump should be carrying both. The state license that TDLR issued and tested for, and the federal card that the refrigerant work itself requires.
Source: Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation
- Why is my heat pump blowing cold air?
- In heating mode, a heat pump moves heat from the outside air, so the air coming out of your vents will feel cool compared to your skin even when it's working right. It's usually warmer than the air in the room, just not hot like a furnace. If the air is truly cold and the house isn't warming up, check that the thermostat is set to heat and not fan only. A unit stuck in defrost too long, low refrigerant, or a failed reversing valve can also leave you with cold air, and a licensed contractor can tell which one it is.
- Why is there ice on my heat pump?
- Some frost on the outdoor unit in winter is normal. Your heat pump pulls heat from cold outside air, and moisture in that air collects on the coil and freezes, so it runs a defrost cycle every so often to melt it off. A thin, even layer that clears within an hour is nothing to worry about. Thick ice that builds up and stays, or ice that covers the whole unit, points to a defrost control problem, a low refrigerant charge, or a fan that isn't moving air the way it should, and any of those needs a contractor to look at it.
- Why is my heat pump running but not cooling?
- If the unit is running but the house isn't cooling, the most common cause is a dirty air filter or blocked outdoor coil cutting off airflow. Check the filter first since a clogged one can starve the system enough that it can't pull heat out of the house. If the filter is clean and the outdoor unit is clear of leaves and debris, the problem is likely inside the system, low refrigerant, a failing compressor, or a stuck reversing valve are common causes, and those need a licensed contractor to diagnose. On a 95°F afternoon a struggling system will fall behind fast, so it's worth getting looked at before it stops cooling altogether.