Updated: February 27, 2024
Heat pumps are a fantastic option for keeping your Florida home warm during the winter. Compared to gas or electric furnaces, heat pumps are many times more energy efficient and definitely the cheapest way to heat homes in warmer climates. One of the most common questions many people have about heat pumps concerns maintenance and whether a heat pump will need more maintenance than a furnace. To answer this question, here is a guide with everything you need to know about heat pump maintenance, including how often it needs to be done and why it is so essential.
How Often Should a Heat Pump Be Maintained?
Heating systems should always be maintained by a certified HVAC technician once a year, and this is true no matter whether the system uses a furnace or a heat pump. It is best to have the system maintained sometime in the fall before you actually need to turn the heat on for the first time as this will ensure that everything is working correctly and the system is ready to go for the winter.
Your cooling system also needs to be professionally maintained every year. If you have a separate furnace and air conditioner, you’ll want to have your heater maintained every fall and your air conditioning system maintained every spring. The fact that heat pumps are used for both heating and cooling means that these units should always be maintained twice a year, but this is no different than having your furnace and AC maintained separately.
Why Heat Pump Maintenance Is Vital
Heat pumps technically don’t require any more maintenance than if you had separate units for heating and cooling. Nonetheless, the fact that heat pumps are used throughout most of the year instead of only for a few months at a time means that they experience more wear and tear in a single year than either a furnace or AC would. If you don’t have the unit maintained twice a year, the increased wear and tear can lead to more frequent issues and greater repair needs.
Since they are used in both summer and winter, heat pumps have a shorter life expectancy than furnaces or most other HVAC units. Regular maintenance is the best way to help extend the unit’s life and ensure that it continues to function well for as many years as possible. With twice-yearly maintenance, you can often get up to 12 years or more out of a new heat pump. If you neglect to have the unit maintained, it will often not even last for half of this time.
Heat pump maintenance is also the best and easiest way to reduce the unit’s need for heating repairs. If the heat pump isn’t functioning effectively, it will result in the unit needing to run longer to raise and lower the temperature inside your home. This puts added stress on the unit’s motors and can cause the heat pump to break down more frequently and need more repairs. If the inspection does determine that there are any issues, the technician will immediately perform whatever repairs are necessary to get everything working correctly again so that the unit doesn’t need to run as often or for as long.
Cape Coral’s Home Heating and Cooling Experts
If you need any heating service or cooling service in the Cape Coral area, you can count on the expert technicians at Ultimate Homes & Cooling to get the job done right. We offer professional maintenance plans and repair services for all types of heating and cooling units including heat pumps, furnaces, central air conditioners, and ductless HVAC systems. We also offer a range of indoor air quality services, and our team installs and maintains whole-home dehumidifiers, as well as pool heaters and pool pumps. Give us a call today to schedule heat pump maintenance or any of our other services.
Contact Ultimate Homes & Cooling today!
