Troubleshooting
Something is wrong with your heat pump, furnace or water heater
Find the symptom, get the likely cause, and see the checks you can safely do before anyone charges you a trip fee.
If a carbon monoxide alarm is sounding, stop reading
Get everyone and every pet outside into fresh air, leave the door open behind you, and call 911 from outside. Do not go back in to look for the source, and do not call us first. Once the fire department has cleared the house, we can find out why the appliance did it. The same applies if you smell gas: leave, then call 911 from outside.
Tell us the symptom, not the diagnosis
You do not need to work out which part failed. "It is blowing cold air", "the outdoor unit is iced over", "there is no hot water" is enough for us to bring the right parts.
Our hours: Monday–Friday, 8:00 AM – 5:30 PM. Emergency calls answered 24/7
5 symptoms
Call now
These either put someone at risk or get more expensive by the hour. Do the safety step first, then phone us.
- call now
Heat pump is not heating at all
No heat at all is usually power, a control failure, or a compressor that is not starting. Work through the breakers, the disconnect and the thermostat first, then call, because a house losing heat toward our 19°F design temperature is not something to sit on.
heat pump · what to do → - call now
Heat pump is making a loud or unusual noise
Shut the system off at the thermostat if you hear grinding, screeching or metal-on-metal, because those sounds mean something is contacting something else and running it makes the damage worse. Buzzing, rattling and a loud whoosh are less urgent but all point at identifiable causes.
heat pump · what to do → - call now
Furnace will not ignite
A furnace that cycles the inducer and then gives up is almost always a failed hot-surface ignitor, a dirty flame sensor, or a pressure switch held open by a blocked flue or condensate line. None of those are homeowner repairs, but a few checks tell us which to expect.
furnace · what to do → - call now
Carbon monoxide detector is going off
Get everyone out of the house, including pets, and call 911 from outside. Do not go looking for the source, do not silence the alarm and wait, and do not go back in until the fire department tells you it is safe.
air quality · what to do → - call now
Water heater is leaking
Shut off the cold water supply to the tank and turn off its power or gas, then find where the water is coming from. Fittings, the drain valve and the temperature and pressure relief valve are repairable; a tank leaking from the shell is not, and it needs replacement.
water heater · what to do →
12 symptoms
Get it looked at this week
The system is running but running wrong. Waiting usually means a bigger part, not a smaller bill.
- same week
Heat pump is blowing cold air
A few minutes of cool air during a defrost cycle is normal operation in a wet Whatcom winter. Air that stays cool through an entire call for heat usually means the system is not actually in heating mode, the charge is low, or the reversing valve is not shifting.
heat pump · what to do → - same week
Heat pump outdoor unit is frozen or iced up
Light frost on the outdoor coil is normal here and clears itself on a defrost cycle. A solid ice block encasing the coil or fan, or frost that never clears across a whole day, means the defrost control, the sensor, or the drainage under the unit is failing.
heat pump · what to do → - same week
Heat pump turns on and off every few minutes
Short cycling means the system satisfies or trips before it reaches steady operation, and that wastes the efficient part of every run while wearing the compressor. The usual causes are oversized equipment, restricted airflow, a badly located thermostat, or a repeating safety trip.
heat pump · what to do → - same week
Outdoor unit is not running
If the indoor blower runs but the outdoor unit sits silent, you are almost always looking at power to the outdoor unit, a normal startup delay, or a failed capacitor or contactor. Two of those you can rule out yourself in five minutes.
heat pump · what to do → - same week
Heat pump runs constantly and never shuts off
Long, steady, low-speed running is normal and desirable on an inverter system, and it is the most efficient way for it to operate. The problem is running constantly while never reaching the setpoint, which points at capacity, airflow, charge, or a house losing more heat than the system can replace.
heat pump · what to do → - same week
Heat pump or mini split smells bad
A musty or sour smell is almost always biological growth on a damp indoor coil and blower wheel, which is common in our marine climate and is cleanable. A burning or electrical smell is a shut-it-off-now situation, and a rotten-egg smell near any gas appliance means leave the building first.
heat pump · what to do → - same week
Mini split is dripping water inside the house
Water dripping from an indoor head is condensate that cannot get out, not a refrigerant leak. Turn the unit off at the remote to stop making more water, catch what is falling, and get it looked at before it soaks the wall behind the head.
mini split · what to do → - same week
Mini split is blinking a light or showing an error code
A blinking light is a fault code, and the specific pattern is how the equipment tells a technician what it detected. The codes are manufacturer-specific and there is no universal chart, so record which light blinks, how many times, and the pause pattern before you reset anything.
mini split · what to do → - same week
Mini split has weak airflow
Nine times out of ten it is dirt: a loaded filter screen or a blower wheel caked with the fine grime that builds up on a damp coil. Check the filters first, then look at whether the unit is simply running in a low-output mode.
mini split · what to do → - same week
Furnace is blowing cold air
Either the burner is lighting and then dropping out while the blower keeps running, or the fan is simply set to on and moving unheated air. Listen for a brief burner light followed by a shutdown, and check the thermostat fan setting.
furnace · what to do → - same week
Furnace starts and stops every few minutes
Short cycling means the burner is cut before the house is satisfied. The usual causes are overheating on the high limit, a flame-proof failure, or a furnace too large for the load, and all three shorten the life of the heat exchanger.
furnace · what to do → - same week
No hot water at all
No hot water anywhere in the house is usually power or fuel to the water heater, a tripped high-temperature limit, or a failed heating element or burner. Which checks apply depends on whether your tank is electric, gas, or a heat pump water heater.
water heater · what to do →
3 symptoms
Plan ahead
Nothing is broken today. These are the ones worth solving before the next cold snap or the next bill.
- plan ahead
Mini split is not responding to the remote
Start with the remote, because that is where the fault usually is: dead batteries, an infrared emitter that needs line of sight to the head, or a child-lock or timer setting nobody meant to enable. If the head responds to its own manual button, the equipment is fine and the remote is the problem.
mini split · what to do → - plan ahead
Not enough hot water, or it runs out too fast
Running out early usually means a failed lower element on an electric tank, sediment eating usable capacity, or a household that has outgrown its tank. A heat pump water heater in a heat-pump-only mode also recovers more slowly than a resistance tank by design.
water heater · what to do → - plan ahead
Winter electric bill is much higher than expected
On a heat pump house the usual cause is electric resistance backup heat doing the compressor’s work, from an unlocked lockout setting, an emergency heat switch left on, or lost capacity. Envelope losses and deep setbacks account for the rest.
heat pump · what to do →
Describe the symptom and we will tell you what it takes
Owner-operated shop, one phone number, and a technician who will tell you when a repair is not worth it.
Monday–Friday, 8:00 AM – 5:30 PM · Emergency calls answered 24/7