Heat Pump Repair in Gonzales, LA
Homes here need heat from November through March and cooling from April through October. If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Ascension Parish will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Your heat pump runs almost all year in Gonzales
With 5 months of heat and 7 months of cooling, your heat pump gets almost no season off. It switches between modes as the weather turns, and that switching is hard on the reversing valve. When that valve sticks, the system blows cold air when you asked for heat, or won't come out of a defrost cycle.
Most homes here heat with electricity, so when the unit struggles, there is no backup furnace to lean on. Louisiana sees its share of storms, and power here does go out. When a heat pump loses power and comes back on, the compressor takes the hit. A compressor that was already worn from a full year of runtime is what gives out first.
- 5 months
- November through March, your system heats
- 7 months
- April through October, it cools
- 44°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 91°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Louisiana requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors tests and records the contractor, not the job. So a company can hold a valid license and still send out a crew you know nothing about. The license tells you the business behind the work has met the state's standard. It does not follow that person out to your house.
A heat pump repair usually means someone has to open the refrigerant side of the system, and that work falls under a separate federal rule. Any technician doing that, in Louisiana or anywhere else, has to hold EPA Section 608 certification. That certification is not part of the state license and does not come from the same board. It is a federal requirement tied to the person doing the work, not the company they work for.
Source: Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors
- Why is my heat pump blowing cold air?
- In heating mode, the air from your vents is warmer than the room but cooler than your skin, so it can feel cold even when the system is working right. If the air has no warmth to it at all, the reversing valve may be stuck in cooling mode, or the outdoor unit has iced over and can't pull in heat. A frozen coil outside or a system low on refrigerant will also leave you with air that never warms up. A contractor can check the reversing valve and refrigerant charge to find out which one it is.
- Why is there ice on my heat pump?
- A heat pump normally frosts up a little in cold weather and clears itself through a defrost cycle, so some ice on winter nights here, when lows average 44°F, isn't a problem by itself. Heavy ice that doesn't melt off means the defrost cycle isn't kicking in, airflow across the outdoor coil is blocked, or the system is low on refrigerant. Check that nothing is piled against the outdoor unit and that the fan spins freely. If the ice keeps building after that, the defrost control board or a refrigerant leak is the likely cause, and a licensed contractor will need to open the system to find out which.
- Why is my heat pump running but not cooling?
- If the unit is running but the air isn't cool, start with the filter. A clogged filter starves the indoor coil of airflow and can ice it over, which cuts cooling even though the system sounds fine. If the filter is clean, the outdoor coil may be caked with dirt and unable to shed heat on a 91°F afternoon, or the system could be low on refrigerant from a slow leak. Opening the refrigerant side to check the charge and find a leak is a job for a licensed contractor.