heat pump and cooling service and repair

by G&S Mechanical:

With emphasis on repair not replacement.

We can service and repair your existing heat pump system.

    There are literally thousands of service and repair companies in the county; unfortunately most confuse the words repair and replace by telling you that you need to replace it and how much money you will save by replacing your heat pump unit whether it works or not.

    We here at G&S mechanical believe that the customer is entitled to have their unit repaired unless it is just not cost effective to have it done or if the unit is really damaged. Many of the larger companies including local utilities will take advantage of simple problems like burned off wires or bad contactors that can be repaired at a nominal fee.

    There is a rumor or myth that after so many years of service (like 5 or 10) a heat pump must be replaced especially if it is icing. The fact is that properly maintained a heat-pump will last for many years even 30 or more especially Trane.

    We have seen many cases where a system is leaking refrigerant 22 for many years and the leak is obvious and can be fixed easily instead of adding refrigerant constantly.

    We have seen situations were several different companies will simply keep adding refrigerant and charging the customer for it until the compressor is ruined. Contrary to popular belief an air conditioner only needs the correct amount of freon 22; adding more will make the system work harder and not cool as well.

    If you have a bad reversing valve or coil you will not be able to to get the unit to cool or possibly heat if it sticks.
 
       If your unit turns to a block of ice in the heating mode please read this.

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Why heat pumps get a bad reputation

    Many of you who have heat pumps and those of you who have heard of them or considered adding one have heard all the bad things about them.
    While I prefer other means of heating especially radiant flooring I must contend that they are a good way to heat in certain situations.
 Lets address your concerns with this list of heat pump problems.

Reason 1: Gas and oil systems are usually sized larger than they need to be and as a result one gets used to having instant heat or at least having the house warm in a hurry.

Reason 2: If you push the thermostat up to get the house warm in a hurry you will usually cause the electric heat to come on and raise your electric bill.

Reason 3: Heat pumps are usually sized for cooling (for good dehumidification) and the heat is made up my electric resistance heat which is expensive. If heat pumps had two speed compressors and were sized for twice the cooling need then this would be less of a problem.

Reason 4: Heat-pumps loose their effectiveness  (not to be confused with efficiency) the colder it gets outside forcing you to either use the electric heat or stay cold. This is why ground source or geothermal systems work well.

Reason 5: System that are designed poorly the duct work is too small resulting in a lot of air noise and drafts of air that is not a warm as one would be used to on a gas or oil system.

Reason 6: Bad media campaigns have convinced homeowners that they don't work when they actually do quite well especially against propane or oil heat. Keep in mind that each fuel source has their lobbies.

Reason 7: If you have oil or gas forced air you may think that there is something wrong with your heat pump unit because the temperature of the discharge air is not as warm.

Reason 8: If the defrost circuit is not working right when the unit goes into a defrost to prevent icing you may get a blast of cold air thinking it is normal but it can be corrected.

    If you have propane or oil forced air or hot water consider adding a heat pump as a back up or primary system to save money or hold you out in case you run out of fuel. if you have us install your fossil fuel kit I can rig controls so if you run out of oil or propane you can be automatically switched over to heatpump operation so your house won't freeze. The kits I have seen especially Rheem Ruud don't have a provision to detect loss of fuel.

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