Heat Pump Repair in Nogales, AZ
Homes here need heat from November through April and cooling from May through September. If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Santa Cruz County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Nogales asks a lot of a heat pump, almost year round
Your heat pump works eleven months of the year here. It heats from November through April, then switches over and cools from May through September. That is more running time than most machines get, and more chances for a worn part to fail.
Winter nights average 33°F, which is cold enough that the system runs its defrost cycle often to clear frost off the outdoor coil. Summer afternoons average 90°F, and the compressor works hardest right when you need it most. Between the two seasons, the reversing valve that switches the system from heat to cooling and back is another part that gets worked hard here. When it sticks, the system blows air that is the wrong temperature for what you asked it to do.
- 6 months
- November through April, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 33°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 90°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Arizona requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
Arizona licenses HVAC contractors through the Registrar of Contractors. That license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job, so it applies whether the work is a heat pump repair, a furnace install, or something else.
For this repair, that state license is what stands behind the work. A heat pump moves refrigerant, so whoever opens that side of the system also needs EPA Section 608 certification, the same federal requirement that applies to this kind of work in every state. In Arizona, that certification sits alongside the state license rather than replacing it.
Sources: Arizona State Legislature · Arizona Registrar of Contractors
- Why is my heat pump blowing cold air?
- In heat mode, your heat pump moves warmth from the outside air into your home, and the air coming out of the vents is naturally cooler than your body temperature even when it's working right. If it feels truly cold, not just cool, the system may have dropped into defrost mode and not switched back, or the reversing valve that shifts it between heating and cooling could be stuck. On a night near freezing, a stuck valve can leave you with no real heat at all, so it's worth having a contractor check it soon.
- Why is there ice on my heat pump?
- Some frost during a winter defrost cycle is normal, and the unit should melt it off on its own every hour or so. If ice is building up and staying, covering the coil or the fan, the system is not defrosting the way it should. That can mean a bad defrost control, a low refrigerant charge, or a fan motor that has stopped turning, and running it iced up can damage the compressor.
- Why is my heat pump running but not cooling?
- If the outdoor unit is running but the air inside isn't cold, warm air is likely getting past the coil instead of losing its heat to it. A dirty filter or a coil coated in dust will block that airflow, and low refrigerant will do the same by leaving the coil too warm to pull heat out of the air. At 90 degrees in the afternoon, a system stuck this way will keep running without ever catching up, so it's worth having someone look before it has to work through the whole summer like that.