Heat pump repair and installation in Gibbstown, NJ

How the winter looks to a heat pump

NOAA's 1991–2020 normals at Philadelphia International Airport, about four miles from Gibbstown, average about 77 nights a year at or below 32°F and about 16 at or below 20°F. A heat pump keeps working through most of that, but its output drops as the outdoor air gets colder, just as the house needs more heat.

That gap is filled by backup heat: electric resistance strips in the air handler on an all-electric system, or a gas or oil furnace on a dual-fuel system. Backup heat is normal on the coldest nights. Backup heat running for days in mild weather is a sign the heat pump itself is not doing its share.

Common heat pump calls

Ice on the outdoor unit that does not clear. A thin frost that melts off every so often is the defrost cycle working. A solid block of ice that builds for hours points at a defrost control, a sensor or a refrigerant problem.

Cool air from the registers in heat mode. During defrost, the unit briefly runs in reverse and the air can feel cool. If it never warms, the reversing valve, the refrigerant charge or the backup heat may be at fault.

High electric bills in winter. Usually the backup strips doing work the heat pump should be doing.

No heat and no cooling. Check the breakers for both the outdoor unit and the indoor air handler. If a breaker trips again after one reset, leave it off and call.

Heat pumps in a house with a boiler or oil

Census estimates put fuel oil in about three Gibbstown homes in ten. Some owners add a heat pump instead of, or alongside, a fuel change. A ductless heat pump with wall-mounted heads needs no ductwork, which suits houses heated by radiators. A ducted heat pump can sit on top of an existing furnace and hand off to it below a set outdoor temperature.

Neither replaces a careful heat-loss calculation. The contractor should size the heat pump to the house at design winter temperatures and say what the backup will carry.

Refrigerant on newer equipment

Heat pumps built since the start of 2025 ship charged with R-454B or R-32 rather than R-410A. An existing R-410A heat pump can still be serviced and recharged. Mixing an old indoor coil with a new outdoor unit is not a matched system, so ask the contractor what happens to both halves.

What to say when you call

• Heat pump alone, or a heat pump with a furnace or boiler as backup
• Roughly what year it was installed
• What it is doing: icing, blowing cool, tripping a breaker, running constantly
• The outdoor temperature when the trouble started
• The address and ZIP code