24/7 Heat Pump Repair in Northern Virginia & Maryland

Emergency & Same-Day Heat Pump Repair

A heat pump that quits in the middle of a January cold snap or a July heatwave can’t wait for business hours. AVS offers 24/7 emergency heat pump repair across Northern Virginia and Maryland, 365 days a year.

Call us right away if your system has no heat in freezing weather, the outdoor unit is buried in ice, or your thermostat keeps kicking into emergency heat. We confirm same-day availability when you call, and the visit is the same $90 whether we come at noon or midnight — there’s never an extra charge for nights, weekends, or holidays.

Not sure it’s an emergency? If the house is holding temperature and nothing smells or sounds wrong, it can usually wait for a next-day visit. If you’re cold, call.

Need heat tonight? Call Virginia: 703-457-9028 · Maryland: 301-686-7129.

Heat Pump Problems We Fix

Heat pumps fail in ways furnaces and air conditioners don’t, because one machine does both jobs. These are the most common problems across Fairfax County, Montgomery County, and the rest of Northern Virginia and Maryland:

Blowing cold air in heat mode. The system runs but the air from your vents never warms up. It’s one of the most common heat pump problems, and it’s usually a reversing valve, refrigerant, or control fault — not a dead compressor.

An outdoor coil that ices up and won’t defrost. Light frost that melts away on its own is normal. Thick ice that stays for hours means the defrost board, defrost sensor, airflow, or refrigerant charge needs attention.

Stuck in auxiliary heat. Aux heat is supposed to be a helper on the coldest days, not the main event. If it’s running in mild weather, your heat pump isn’t pulling its weight — and your electric bill is about to show it.

Won’t switch between heat and cool. You flip the thermostat to cooling and nothing changes, or vice versa. Classic reversing valve territory.

Short-cycling. The outdoor unit starts and stops every few minutes. Short-cycling wears out expensive parts fast, so don’t let it run like that for weeks.

A loud outdoor unit. Grinding, squealing, or a loud buzz that wasn’t there last season usually traces back to a failing fan motor, capacitor, or loose hardware.

Electric bills climbing for no reason. When a heat pump loses efficiency — from a weak capacitor, low refrigerant, or a dying defrost control — it runs longer to do the same job. The bill notices before you do.

Tell our dispatcher what the system is doing and what the thermostat shows, and we’ll check same-day availability in your area.

Describe your symptom — call Virginia: 703-457-9028 · Maryland: 301-686-7129.

Safe Checks Before You Call

You can’t safely open up a heat pump yourself — and you shouldn’t try. But these five checks take two minutes and sometimes solve the problem:

• Thermostat mode. Make sure it’s set to Heat (in winter) or Cool (in summer), not accidentally left on Emergency Heat or Off.
• Filter. A clogged filter chokes airflow and can freeze the coil. Replace it if it’s gray and packed.
• A short defrost cycle is normal. In winter the outdoor unit briefly reverses to melt frost off the coil. You’ll see steam or vapor and hear a pause — it lasts about 5 to 15 minutes, then normal heating resumes. That’s routine, not a fault.
• Breaker. If the outdoor unit is dead silent, check the breaker. Flip it fully off, then back on once. If it trips again, stop and call us.
• Clearance around the outdoor unit. Snow, leaves, or mulch packed against the unit starves it of air. Clear a couple of feet around it — with a broom, not tools.

Beyond this, leave it to a technician. Never touch electrical components, the disconnect box, capacitors, or refrigerant lines — heat pumps hold high voltage and pressurized refrigerant even when they look off.

Heat Pump Repairs We Handle

Every heat pump repair starts with a full diagnosis of both the indoor and outdoor units — not a guess at parts. Depending on what we find, the fix may involve:

• Reversing valve: the part that switches your system between heating and cooling. When it sticks, you get one mode only.
• Defrost board and sensor: the controls that tell the unit when to melt frost and when to stop. A common cause of ice that won’t clear.
• Capacitor: the part that starts and runs the motors. A weak capacitor is a common, inexpensive cause of a heat pump that won’t start or heat.
• Contactor: the electrical switch that powers the outdoor unit.
• Outdoor fan motor: moves air across the coil; when it dies, ice and high pressure follow.
• Compressor: the heart of the system. We repair it when it makes sense and tell you when replacement is the better value.
• Refrigerant leak: low charge kills heating and cooling capacity. We find and fix the leak, then recharge to factory spec — because topping off a leaking system is money out the window.
• Aux heat strips: the electric backup heat. We test whether they’re firing when they shouldn’t, or failing to fire when they should.

We repair ducted, ductless, inverter and variable-speed, and dual-fuel heat pumps from all major brands — Trane, Carrier, Lennox, Rheem, Bryant, York, Goodman, Amana, Mitsubishi, American Standard, and Ameristar. Share your brand and model when you book so we can confirm parts availability before the visit.

$90 site visit — the price is quoted before work starts. Call Virginia: 703-457-9028 · Maryland: 301-686-7129.

Heat Pump Repair Cost

Heat pump repair starts with a $90 site visit, and most homeowners pay between $250 and $600 for a completed repair, per our heat pump repair cost guide. You see the price before you approve anything.

What changes the price: which part failed, whether it’s a standard ducted system or a variable-speed unit that needs equipment-specific parts, how hard the part is to reach, and for refrigerant leaks, how big the leak is. Warranty coverage can reduce what you pay.

The visit itself starts at $90, and the written price you approve is the price you pay — no overtime charges, no surprises after the fact.

Repair or Replace?

Most heat pump problems can be repaired. But when a system is past the typical 10 to 15 year heat pump lifespan and major repairs keep coming back, replacement starts making more financial sense.

The quick check is the $5,000 rule: multiply the system’s age by the repair cost. If the result is over $5,000, replacement usually wins. If it’s well under, repair is the smart move. When your system is near the end of its life and the math is borderline, our technician will lay out both options — repair cost versus a free written replacement estimate — and let you decide.

If you’re weighing it, read our heat pump replacement cost guide or browse heat pump installation — free estimates, and Wells Fargo financing with 0% APR for up to 18 months on select units (subject to lender approval).

Why AVS for Heat Pump Repair

Family-owned since 1991. A local company with offices in Fairfax, Falls Church and Bethesda. Anil Sareen of AVS has been featured on ABC7 News.

Licensed in Virginia and Maryland. VA HVAC 2705039269A · MD HVAC 520714137895 · MD Home Improvement 4192876.

Both units checked. The technician diagnoses the indoor and outdoor units and explains the failure in plain language before any work starts.

4.8★ from 354 Google reviews across our Fairfax, Falls Church, and Bethesda offices — and 24/7 availability with no extra charge at night.

Brands we service: Carrier · Trane · Lennox · Bryant · Goodman · Rheem · York · American Standard · Amana · Mitsubishi.

Commercial Heat Pump Repair

AVS also repairs heating and cooling equipment for shops, offices and other commercial buildings across Northern Virginia and Maryland, including rooftop units. See commercial HVAC installation, repair and replacement.