Heat Pump Repair in Sierra Vista, 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 Cochise County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eleven months of run time in Sierra Vista
Your heat pump works almost year round here, heating from November through April and cooling from May through September. That leaves it one month of rest. Nights that average 32°F in December through February push it to run its defrost cycle again and again, and afternoons averaging 92°F all summer keep the compressor under load for hours at a stretch.
That much cycling wears on the reversing valve, the part that switches the system between heating and cooling. When it sticks, the unit blows cold air when you want heat, or it won't switch over at all. Cochise County has also seen 42 winter storms and 104 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and power interruptions like these can trip a heat pump's control board or leave it stuck mid cycle until someone resets it.
- 6 months
- November through April, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 32°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 92°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Arizona requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Registrar of Contractors tests contractors before issuing this license and keeps a record of who holds one. It covers the contractor, not the job itself, so the license tells you the person doing the work has been vetted, not that this particular repair was inspected or signed off by the state.
On a heat pump, that license is what stands behind the work. Since this job involves refrigerant, whoever opens that side of the system also needs to hold EPA Section 608 certification, a federal requirement that applies in every state regardless of what Arizona does on top of it.
Sources: Arizona State Legislature · Arizona Registrar of Contractors
- Why is my heat pump blowing cold air?
- In heating mode, a heat pump moves warm air through the vents at a lower temperature than a gas furnace does, so air that feels cool can still be doing its job. If the air is actually cold, not just cool, check that your thermostat is set to heat and not fan only, since the fan will run and push unheated air if it's in that mode. A frozen outdoor unit or a low refrigerant charge will also stop the system from pulling in heat, and both need a contractor to sort out.
- Why is there ice on my heat pump?
- Some frost on the outdoor unit during a defrost cycle is normal, and it should melt off within an hour or so. Ice that stays or keeps building up means something is wrong, often a dirty coil, a fan that isn't turning, or low refrigerant. Since your winter nights average 32°F, that ice can form easily and won't clear on its own once the defrost cycle stops working right. Turn the system off and call a contractor rather than trying to chip the ice away yourself.
- Why is my heat pump running but not cooling?
- If the unit is running but the air coming out isn't cold, the most common causes are a dirty air filter, a blocked outdoor coil, or refrigerant that's low from a leak. With summer afternoons here reaching 92°F, a system already struggling to cool will fall further behind as the day heats up. Check the filter first since that's the one thing you can rule out yourself. Anything beyond that, including refrigerant level, needs a licensed contractor to check.