Answers
Should I repair or replace my heat pump?
Repair when the failure is a component and the sealed system is sound.
The short answer
Repair when the sealed refrigerant system is intact and the failed part is a component: a capacitor, a contactor, a fan motor, a control board, a sensor. Start considering replacement when the compressor has failed, when a major leak means recharging obsolete refrigerant, or when the original install was undersized or misapplied for the house.
The sealed system is the dividing line
Electrical and control components are bolt-on repairs with predictable costs, and replacing them on a sound system is almost always the right call. Compressors and coils are the sealed refrigerant circuit, and once you are opening that up, the labor and refrigerant costs climb toward a meaningful fraction of new equipment. That is the question we answer first on a diagnostic visit, because everything else follows from it.
Refrigerant obsolescence can decide it for you
An older R-22 system with a significant leak is often uneconomic to recharge. The industry is now transitioning to A2L refrigerants, so the parts and refrigerant landscape for older equipment keeps narrowing. If your unit is on a refrigerant that is expensive to source, a repair that would be obvious on a newer machine stops being obvious.
Sometimes the equipment is fine and the install was wrong
We see systems that were never going to satisfy the house: undersized for the load, oversized so they short cycle, an outdoor unit boxed into a fence corner recirculating its own air, or backup strip heat left unlocked. Those are correctable, and not always reasons to replace. A load calculation and a commissioning check cost far less than a new system and occasionally make one unnecessary.
What replacement is worth right now
If you are replacing electric resistance heat, PSE’s $1,500 conversion rebate is on the table; if you are replacing an existing heat pump, it is not, and PSE’s upgrade rebate covers ducted systems only. There is no federal tax credit for a 2026 install. Our diagnostic visit carries an $89.99 trip charge, refunded as company credit if you accept a replacement bid, so getting a straight answer costs you almost nothing.
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