Heat Pump Repair
In Las Vegas
Heat pumps behave differently from furnaces, so they need a technician who knows the difference. We troubleshoot the system on site, find what is needed, and give you the options and cost for the repair required. No upselling.
Heat Pump Repair Starts With A Proper Diagnosis
A heat pump is one machine doing two jobs. In summer it moves heat out of the house; in winter it runs the same process backwards and moves heat in. That reversal is elegant, efficient, and the source of nearly every heat pump complaint we take, because it produces behaviour that looks alarming to anyone whose last system was a gas furnace.
Furnaces produce a blast of genuinely hot air. Heat pumps produce a steady stream of warm air — noticeably cooler at the vent than a furnace, entirely normal, and the single most common reason a home in the valleyowner calls convinced their system has failed. Add the defrost cycle, which periodically reverses the system, blows cool air, and sends steam off the outdoor unit, and you have a machine that regularly appears broken while working perfectly.
So heat pump repair here begins with an honest diagnosis rather than a parts list. Sometimes the answer is a failed reversing valve or a burnt-out defrost board. Reasonably often the answer is that the system is fine and the thermostat settings or expectations need adjusting. We will tell you which, and we give you the options and cost for the repair that is needed.
We repair heat pumps across Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas, and the surrounding valley — split systems and rooftop package units, whatever brand is on the unit. If you have a gas furnace rather than a heat pump, furnace repair is the page you want.
Signs Your Heat Pump Needs Attention
Heat pumps do not fail the way furnaces do. These are the symptoms worth calling about — and the ones a technician will want to hear about when they arrive.
Worth Getting Looked At
- Air from the vents is cold rather than merely cooler than a furnace
- Ice on the outdoor unit that never clears, or builds up across a whole day
- The system runs constantly and the house still does not reach setpoint
- It heats when set to cool, or cools when set to heat
- The breaker trips repeatedly, or the outdoor unit hums without the fan turning
- Bills have jumped sharply, which often means the backup heat strips are carrying the whole load
- A grinding, screeching, or rattling noise that was not there last season
- The outdoor fan is not turning while the compressor runs
What Happens Next
- A technician comes out and tests the system in the mode the weather allows
- Electrical, defrost, and refrigerant-side checks are carried out on site
- You are shown what was found, in plain language
- You get the options and the cost for the repair that is needed
- Nothing is recommended that the system does not require. No upselling.
- Common parts are on the truck, so most repairs finish on the first visit
Still unsure? Give us a call on (702) 600-3737 and we will have a technician come out and check it over.
Common Heat Pump Repair Jobs
When something genuinely is wrong, it is usually one of these. If a technician has already named a part, this is the plain-language version of what it does.
Reversing Valve Failure
The component that switches the system between heating and cooling. When it fails or sticks, the classic symptom is a system that produces cooling when you have asked for heat, or refuses to change over at all. Sometimes the valve itself is fine and the solenoid that drives it has failed, which is a smaller repair — worth confirming before agreeing to valve replacement.
Defrost Board & Sensor Faults
The defrost board decides when to melt ice off the outdoor coil and when to stop. A failed board or sensor produces one of two symptoms: ice that builds up and never clears, or a system stuck defrosting far more often than it should, which feels like constant cold blasts and drives bills up.
Auxiliary Heat Strip Failure
Electric backup elements that supplement the heat pump when it cannot keep up. When they fail, the house struggles on the coldest mornings but seems fine the rest of the time. When they fail the other way and run constantly, the symptom is a bill that has doubled with no obvious cause.
Capacitor Replacement
Provides the starting kick for the compressor and fan motors. Symptom: a hum with no motor movement, or a system that struggles to start. Capacitors fail early here because so much valley equipment sits on rooftops and in attics reaching extreme summer temperatures. One of the more common repairs we make.
Also serves your A/CContactor & Relay Replacement
Electrical switches that pass power to the compressor and fan on demand. Symptom: chattering or buzzing at the outdoor unit, or intermittent operation that mysteriously works whenever a technician is standing there. Contacts pit and burn over time.
Also serves your A/COutdoor Fan Motor Repair
Moves air across the outdoor coil, which is how the system extracts heat from outside air in winter. Symptom: the compressor runs but the outdoor fan does not turn, often accompanied by a hum. Sometimes the fan blade cracks and takes the motor out with it, in which case both need replacing — the technician will confirm which on site.
Refrigerant Charge & Leak Diagnosis
A heat pump low on refrigerant loses heating capacity long before it stops working, so the symptom is usually poor performance rather than failure. Topping up without finding the leak simply repeats the problem next season, so we locate the leak first. Refrigerant work is licensed work for good reason.
Compressor Diagnosis
The heart of the system and the most expensive component in it. A failed compressor is one of the few faults where replacement of the whole system genuinely deserves consideration, particularly on older equipment. We will show you both sets of numbers rather than steering you.
Thermostat & Low-Voltage Wiring
Heat pumps need thermostats that understand heat pumps — a standard thermostat wired to one can leave the backup strips running constantly or lock out the changeover entirely. A surprising number of complaints trace to a thermostat replaced by someone who did not know this.
Capacitors and contactors are shared between heating and cooling operation on a heat pump, so a failure in January is the same part that would have stranded you in July. That is a reasonable argument for annual maintenance rather than waiting for whichever season finds it first.
Why Heat Pumps Suit This Valley — And Where They Struggle
National advice about heat pumps is written for climates we do not have. Here is what actually applies in Southern Nevada.
Our Winters Are Inside Their Range
Heat pumps lose efficiency as outdoor temperatures fall, and struggle badly in deep cold. Valley winters rarely reach the range where that becomes a real problem, which is why heat pumps perform better here than most of the country and why the auxiliary strips run far less than a homeowner might expect.
Summer Is What Ages Them
The heating side is light here. The cooling side is brutal. A valley heat pump does most of its lifetime work between May and September, which means the components that fail in winter usually degraded during summer — capacitors, contactors, and fan motors baked on a rooftop for four months.
Dust Is The Quiet Problem
The outdoor coil pulls air continuously, and desert dust plus landscaping debris loads it steadily. A dirty coil cannot transfer heat efficiently in either direction, so the symptom shows up as poor performance rather than a fault — and gets misdiagnosed as low refrigerant more often than it should.
Considering a heat pump rather than repairing one? See heat pump installation and replacement, or the longer heat pump vs. furnace comparison.
How A Heat Pump Repair Visit Works
You Tell Us What It Is Doing
Describe the behaviour rather than your diagnosis. Cool air, ice that will not clear, a bill that jumped, heating when set to cool — each points somewhere different, and it helps us send the right technician with the right parts on the truck.
Tested In Both Modes Where Possible
Because one machine does both jobs, we test in both heating and cooling where the weather allows and watch the changeover. In deep winter a system cannot always be run in cooling, and in peak summer it cannot always be run in heat — the technician will tell you what was and was not able to be tested on the day.
Full Electrical And Refrigerant-Side Check
Capacitors, contactors, defrost board and sensor, auxiliary heat strips, thermostat wiring, and refrigerant-side performance. Where charge is low, we look for the leak rather than simply topping it up and leaving you to repeat this next winter.
You Get Told What It Is — Including "Nothing"
In plain language, before any repair is authorised. If the system is behaving normally and the real issue is thermostat configuration or expectations, that is what you hear. Our technicians are not paid commission on parts or equipment, so there is nothing riding on the answer.
Repaired And Verified
Common parts are carried on the truck, so most heat pump repairs finish in the same visit. Before we leave, the technician checks the system over and verifies it is running to specification, testing in both modes where the weather allows.
When Repair Stops Making Sense
Most heat pump repair jobs are worth doing. Capacitors, contactors, defrost boards, fan motors, and thermostats are all common wear items, and a system under twelve years old with a wear-part failure should be fixed rather than replaced.
The exception is a failed compressor, particularly on older equipment. That is the most expensive single component in the system, and on a unit past twelve to fifteen years it is often the point where replacement genuinely wins — especially given that replacing a heat pump replaces your air conditioning at the same time, since they are the same machine. We will lay out both numbers and let you decide rather than deciding for you.
See Heat Pump Installation & ReplacementHeat Pump Repair Across The Valley
The same heat pump repair diagnosis and the same approach wherever you are in the Las Vegas Valley.
Also serving Anthem, Seven Hills, and Centennial Hills. Not sure if you are in range? Call (702) 600-3737 and ask.
Related Guides
Background worth having before you commit to a heat pump repair.
Heat Pump Repair FAQ
In most cases it is not a fault. Heat pumps produce warm air rather than the hot blast a gas furnace gives, so supply air that feels cool to the hand is normal and expected. The other common cause is a defrost cycle, which briefly reverses the system a few times an hour on cold mornings. It is worth investigating if the air is genuinely cold rather than merely cooler than you expected, or if the house never reaches setpoint.
Only if it does not clear. Frost and ice forming on the outdoor coil in cold, humid conditions is normal, and the defrost cycle exists specifically to melt it — which is also why you see steam coming off the unit afterwards. Ice that persists across a whole day, or builds thicker each cycle, points to a defrost board or sensor fault and is worth a call.
Emergency heat runs the electric backup strips only, bypassing the heat pump entirely. It works, and it is considerably more expensive to run. It is meant for the situation where the heat pump has genuinely failed, not as a normal setting. If your thermostat has been left on emergency heat, that alone explains a bill that has jumped, and it also masks whatever fault put it there.
That is the classic reversing valve symptom — the component that switches the system between heating and cooling has failed or stuck. Worth knowing before you get a quote: sometimes the valve is fine and the solenoid that operates it has failed, which is a smaller repair. Ask which one is being replaced.
Unusually well. Heat pumps lose efficiency as outdoor temperatures drop and struggle in deep cold, but valley winters rarely reach that range, so they perform better here than in most of the country and the backup strips run far less than homeowners expect. The harder season for a valley heat pump is summer, not winter.
The usual cause is the auxiliary heat strips carrying the load when they should not be. That happens if the heat pump has failed and the backup has quietly taken over, if the thermostat has been left on emergency heat, or if a defrost fault has the system cycling far too often. All three are diagnosable, and all three cost money every day they go unaddressed.
In most cases yes. Common parts — capacitors, contactors, fan motors, defrost boards — are carried on the truck, so the majority of heat pump repairs are completed during the diagnostic visit. Compressor work and some refrigerant repairs need ordering or scheduling, and we will give you a realistic timeline rather than an optimistic one.
Repair usually wins for wear parts on a system under twelve years old. Replacement deserves serious consideration when the compressor has failed on older equipment, because that is the most expensive component in the system — and because replacing a heat pump replaces your air conditioning at the same time. See heat pump installation and replacement.
The entire Las Vegas Valley — Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas, Summerlin, Green Valley, Anthem, Seven Hills, Centennial Hills, Spring Valley, Southern Highlands, Enterprise, Paradise, and Mountain's Edge.
Tell Us What It Is Doing
Tell us what the system is doing and we will have a technician come out, check it over, and give you the options and cost for whatever repair is needed.