Heat Pump Repair in Hartsville, SC
Homes here need heat from November through March and cooling from May through September. If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Darlington County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Ten months of work a year on your heat pump
Your heat pump runs November through March to keep the house warm, then switches over and runs May through September to keep it cool. That's ten months of the year it doesn't get much rest, and the outdoor unit carries the load both ways.
Winter nights here average 35°F, mild enough that the heat pump usually covers the heating load on its own. Summer afternoons average 90°F, and that's when the compressor runs hardest and longest to keep the house cool. Almost 9 in 10 homes here heat with electricity, so when the heat pump can't keep up, there's no furnace to take over. The outdoor unit also has to survive what the weather sends its way. Darlington County has seen 129 damaging wind events and 3 winter storms over the past ten years, and in 2024 nearly half of South Carolina households lost power for a day or longer.
- 5 months
- November through March, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 35°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 90°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
- 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 furnace would, often around body temperature, so it can feel cool even when it is working right. If the air coming out is actually cold, not just cool, check that the outdoor unit is running and not iced over. A dirty filter or a stuck reversing valve can also leave you with cold air and both need a contractor to sort out.
- Why is there ice on my heat pump?
- Some frost on the outdoor coil during cold weather is normal, and the unit should go through a defrost cycle on its own to clear it. If the ice is heavy, covers the whole unit, or never melts off, airflow is blocked somewhere, most often a dirty filter or a coil packed with leaves and debris. With winter lows here averaging 35°F, a unit that cannot defrost properly will keep icing up night after night and needs a contractor to find the cause.
- Why is my heat pump running but not cooling?
- The unit could be low on refrigerant, have a frozen coil, or have a compressor that is not doing its job even though the fan runs. Start by checking the filter, since a clogged one starves the system of airflow and can make it seem like it is not cooling at all. On a 90°F afternoon, a heat pump that is only moving air without cooling it is not going to catch up on its own, and it needs a contractor to check the refrigerant charge and the compressor.