Heat Pump Maintenance & Tune-Ups in Elgin & the Fox Valley

Signs Your Heat Pump Is Overdue for a Tune-Up

A heat pump rarely fails all at once. It loses a little capacity each season until one cold night it can’t keep up. Here’s what to watch for.

• It’s been more than a year. Two visits a year is the standard for a heat pump because it runs in both seasons.
• Auxiliary heat runs more than it used to. A heat pump that’s low on charge or has a dirty outdoor coil loses heating capacity, and the electric strips make up the difference on your ComEd bill.
• Longer run times in summer with less dehumidification. A dirty indoor coil or low airflow means the system runs long but pulls less moisture out of the air.
• Frost that takes a long time to clear. Defrost should finish in a few minutes. If the coil stays half-frosted for an hour, the defrost control or sensor needs a look.
• Ice under or around the outdoor unit. Defrost water should drain away. If it pools and refreezes into the base pan, the unit sits on its own ice by February.
• Cottonwood, leaves or grass clippings on the coil. Fox Valley cottonwood season in June can block a coil in weeks.
• Vibration, rattles or a fan that wobbles. Fan blades out of balance and loose panels get worse, not better.
• Thermostat shows the wrong stage or a fault code. Inverter systems log faults that don’t always shut the unit down.
• Bills creeping up year over year. A neglected heat pump can lose a noticeable share of its efficiency, and you pay for it every month, not just in winter.

What a Heat Pump Tune-Up Includes

Two visits, each built for the season the unit is heading into. Both are up to a $130 value on their own and both are included in the plan.

Why a Heat Pump Needs Both the Spring and the Fall Visit

A furnace gets one tune-up because it works one season. A heat pump works two, and the two seasons stress different parts.

Spring is about cooling capacity and moisture. Fox Valley summers are humid, and a heat pump in cooling mode is doing the same job as an air conditioner: pulling heat and water out of the house. Before the season, the outdoor coil needs to be clean, the charge needs to be right and the condensate drain needs to be open. A dirty coil that went unnoticed in April becomes a compressor running hot at 3 p.m. in July. Our AC tune-up page covers the cooling-side details, and everything on it applies to a heat pump too.

Fall is about the parts an AC doesn’t have. Defrost control, reversing valve, crankcase heater, backup heat and the thermostat logic that decides when to use it. None of those get exercised in summer, so a fall visit is the first time they’ve run since March. That’s when a stuck valve or a drifted sensor shows itself, in October, on our schedule, rather than in January at 5°F.

Cold-climate inverter systems need the fall visit most. A modern inverter heat pump like the Amana S-Series is designed to carry the house well below zero without backup. It only does that if the charge is exact, the coil is clean and the defrost logic is working. Small problems cost more on an inverter system because it runs longer hours at lower speed, and any lost capacity shows up directly as auxiliary heat on the bill.

Timing. We do spring tune-ups April through June and fall tune-ups September through November. Plan members get scheduled first, before the first-cold-snap rush that fills our calendar every October.

What to Expect on the Visit

Plan on about an hour, sometimes more for a system with a lot of history. You don’t need to do anything to prepare except clear a path to the indoor unit and the outdoor unit.

1. Indoor first. Thermostat settings, filter, blower, indoor coil, condensate drain and, on a dual-fuel system, a quick look at the furnace. We note anything that looks off before we head outside.

2. Outdoor unit off and open. Power off at the disconnect, panels off, coil rinsed, electrical connections and components tested, fan motor and blades checked, base pan and drainage inspected.

3. Run it. Power back on, amp draws and pressures recorded, superheat and subcooling calculated, defrost cycle forced in fall, reversing valve cycled, backup heat staged. We compare every number to what the manufacturer says it should be.

4. Report. You get the readings and a plain explanation. If a part is weak but working, a capacitor at the low end of its range, say, we tell you and give you a price to replace it now or later. No pressure, and nothing is replaced without your approval. If we find a real fault, plan members get 5% off the repair.

What Heat Pump Maintenance Costs

Two ways to do it. Either way, the price is flat and you know it before we arrive.

A heat pump that’s maintained on schedule tends to last toward the top of its 12-to-15-year range. One that isn’t tends to need a compressor around year eight. Two visits a year is the cheapest insurance on the most expensive appliance in the house.

Maintain It, or Is It Time to Replace?

Maintenance keeps a good system good. It can’t turn an old one new. Here’s where we draw the line.

An Amana S-Series R-32 inverter heat pump installed by our team. A new cold-climate system, maintained twice a year, should carry a Fox Valley home through winter with little or no backup heat.

• Under 10 years old and holding charge: maintain it
• R-410A system with a slow leak: maintain it while you plan a replacement
• Over 12 years and needing a compressor or reversing valve: replace it
• Backup heat running most of the winter: a cold-climate inverter replacement will cut the bill
• R-22 system: replace it; refrigerant can’t be sourced economically

If a tune-up turns into a replacement conversation, we’ll walk you through heat pump replacement and the ComEd instant discounts, or through a dual-fuel setup with a new furnace. The installation is done by the same crew that maintains it. Ductless systems have their own page: ductless mini-splits.

Heat Pump Maintenance Across the Fox Valley

Based in Elgin, we maintain heat pumps throughout Kane, McHenry, DuPage and DeKalb counties.

• Elgin
• South Elgin
• St. Charles
• Aurora
• Bartlett
• Streamwood
• Huntley
• Plato Center
• Sycamore
• Carpentersville
• West Dundee
• East Dundee
• Algonquin
• Gilberts
• Hampshire
• Pingree Grove
• Campton Hills
• Geneva
• Batavia
• Barrington
• Hoffman Estates
• Schaumburg
• Burlington
• Marengo
• Wayne
• Sleepy Hollow

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