Heat Pump Repair in Airdrie
Very few Airdrie houses were built with a heat pump. Most of the ones we repair were added later, bolted onto the gas furnace the builder installed and set down in a side yard that faces the prairie wind. Those two facts explain a large share of the faults: a heat pump and an older furnace that don't quite agree, and an outdoor unit dealing with more snow and ice than it was sited for.
We look at both. The heat pump itself gets tested — refrigerant circuit, defrost controls, reversing valve, fan and compressor — and so do the furnace blower and thermostat it depends on, because a surprising number of heat pump complaints in Airdrie are really about how the add-on was wired into what was already there.
Every brand, ducted and ductless, whoever installed it. AirEase systems too, which we install as an authorized AirEase dealer. We dispatch from both Airdrie and Calgary, so Airdrie calls are usually handled locally. Call 587-834-3668.
Heat pump iced up or not pulling its weight in Airdrie? Call 587-834-3668 — the furnace can keep you warm in the meantime.
Call 587-834-3668“Professional, courteous, on time and on budget. Heat Pump product was as per quote and installation was very quick. Thank you to Jason and Shaun. Highly recommend.”
Wade McGowan
Calgary · 5 months ago
Heat pumps added to an existing furnace
The most common Airdrie setup: a heat pump retrofitted to a house that was built with a gas furnace and, perhaps, a basic air conditioner.
A coil on top of a builder furnace
The indoor half of an add-on heat pump is a coil set on top of the furnace, and the furnace blower pushes air across it. Builder-grade furnaces with basic single-speed blowers weren't chosen with a heat pump in mind. If the blower can't move enough air, the heat pump runs hot, trips on pressure, and gets blamed for it.
Controls stitched together
Three pieces of equipment have to share signals: when to run the reversing valve, when to hand over to gas, when to hold the furnace off during a defrost. A wire landed on the wrong terminal, or a setting left at its default, produces faults that look like a broken heat pump.
Trouble that starts after furnace work
Replace a furnace control board, or the whole furnace, and the settings the heat pump relied on can disappear. If the heat pump was fine until the furnace was repaired, that's the first place we look. Airdrie furnace repair covers the furnace side of the house.
A thermostat upgrade that undid the setup
A new smart thermostat is a common trigger. Installed without its heat pump and dual-fuel settings, it can run the heat pump in the wrong mode, never use it at all, or fire the furnace at the same time.
Where the outdoor unit sits
Airdrie's newer streets have narrow side yards and a lot of open wind. Both affect a heat pump that has to shed frost all winter.
Side yards and drifting snow
Wind funnels between houses and drops snow where it slows down — often right where the outdoor unit sits. A unit that drifts in can't breathe, and one sitting in its own meltwater freezes to the ground. Raising it on a stand is often the lasting fix.
Furnace vents next to the coil
Retrofit outdoor units often end up on the same wall as the furnace's intake and exhaust pipes, because that's where the line set is shortest. Exhaust blowing across a heat pump coil adds moisture and frost, and manufacturers set clearances for a reason. We check the spacing on every call.
Water from above
A roof edge with no gutter, an overflowing eavestrough or a downspout emptying beside the unit can glaze the coil in ice on a mild day that turns cold overnight. Redirecting the water usually solves it.
Wind against the fan
Strong wind can push against the outdoor fan, and ice on the fan blade throws it out of balance, which you hear as a rattle or a thump. Loose panels vibrate in the same conditions. Most of it is minor if it's caught early.
Symptoms, and what's usually behind them
What you notice, and what it tends to turn out to be.
Iced solid, and staying that way
Frost that clears during defrost is fine. Ice that doesn't clear points at the defrost sensor or board, a sticking reversing valve, a refrigerant shortage, or where the unit sits and drains. The coil needs to be thawed before it can be tested properly, so it helps to switch the heat pump off when you notice it.
Lukewarm air and a cool house
Heat pump air always feels cooler than furnace air. If the house itself is losing temperature, though, the likely causes are low refrigerant, a reversing valve that isn't fully shifting, or a heat pump that is running while the handover to the furnace should already have happened.
Gas bills that didn't come down
The heat pump isn't carrying its share. Usually the handover to gas happens at too warm an outdoor temperature, the thermostat has the heat pump down as backup, or a fault that locks the heat pump out and leaves the furnace doing everything without telling you.
Outdoor unit silent, indoor fan running
A capacitor or contactor on older units, an outdoor control board fault on inverter units, a failed fan motor, or a tripped breaker. Reset the breaker once; if it trips again, leave it off and call.
Ductless head blinking or dripping
Flashing lights on an indoor head are a fault code, and the code tells us which sensor, board or wire to start testing. A head that drips indoors usually has a blocked condensate line. Both are routine repairs. See a mini split that won't heat for the common causes.
Before we arrive
A few things are safe to do yourself. A few aren't.
Let the furnace take over
On a hybrid system, set the thermostat to emergency heat, auxiliary heat or furnace-only. The house stays warm and the heat pump stops working against a fault.
Clear the snow, gently
Brush snow away from the sides and top of the outdoor unit by hand or with a soft broom, and clear a path for air around it. Don't use a shovel close to the coil.
Leave the ice alone
Chipping or scraping ice off a coil is how fins get crushed and tubes get punctured. Switch the unit off and let it thaw on its own.
Don't cover it for winter
Unlike an air conditioner, a heat pump runs all winter. Wrapping or tarping the outdoor unit blocks the airflow it needs to heat the house. A small top shield designed for the unit is fine; a cover is not.
Change the furnace filter
The heat pump relies on the furnace blower for airflow, so a clogged filter can trip it on pressure. It's the cheapest fix there is, and worth doing before anything else.
Fix it, or replace it
Most repairs are worth doing. A few need a second thought.
When the heat pump is young
Most Airdrie heat pumps are recent, which means most failures are sensors, boards, capacitors and leaks on a system with plenty of life left — and often still under warranty. Check the installer's labour warranty before paying anyone for the work.
When the compressor goes
A compressor failure outside warranty is the expensive one. We price the repair and a replacement side by side. A new heat pump costs $6,200 to $8,800 installed as of September 2026, with the electrical and ductwork work deciding where in that range it falls, and heat pumps in Airdrie covers what a new install involves.
When it was never set up right
Sometimes the heat pump is fine and the installation isn't — undersized for the house, fed by a blower that can't keep up, or sited where it will always ice. Fixing the setup costs less than replacing equipment, and it's the first thing we'd recommend.
Airdrie Heat Pump Repair FAQs
How much does heat pump repair cost in Airdrie?
It depends on the fault. Sensors, capacitors and contactors are modest parts. Fan motors and control boards cost more, a leak depends on where it is and how much refrigerant goes back in, and a compressor is the expensive end.
You'll have the price once we've confirmed the failed part, before we start. Quotes are free.
Is my house going to go cold?
Not if you have a hybrid system. Your furnace is still a complete heating system; switch the thermostat to emergency heat, auxiliary heat or furnace-only and it will carry the house.
If the heat pump is all you've got, or the furnace has also stopped, say so on the phone and it's handled as a no-heat call.
Why does my heat pump ice up so badly?
Some frost is part of normal winter operation, and the heat pump clears it with defrost cycles. Heavy ice that stays usually has one of two causes: a fault in the defrost system, refrigerant charge or reversing valve, or a siting problem — drifting snow, dripping water, or furnace exhaust blowing across the coil.
We check both, because replacing a defrost sensor won't help a unit that sits in a drift every storm.
My heat pump was fine until the furnace was replaced. What happened?
Most likely the new furnace, or a new control board, isn't set up to work with the heat pump. Blower speeds, the handover signal and the lockout that stops the furnace and heat pump running together all have to be configured.
It's usually a setup fix rather than a failed part.
Should I cover my heat pump for winter?
No. A heat pump heats your house in winter, and covering the outdoor unit starves it of the air it needs. Keep it clear of snow instead. A manufacturer-approved top shield is fine; a full cover is not.
Will you work on a heat pump someone else put in?
Yes, every major brand regardless of installer — Mitsubishi, Daikin, Carrier, Trane, Lennox, AirEase and the rest, ducted and ductless.
If it was installed recently, check for an installer's labour warranty first.
Do you fix ductless units in Airdrie?
Yes. We read the head's fault code, confirm it with a meter, clear blocked drains and find leaks — the same standard as a ducted system.
Is it the same team as your Calgary heat pump work?
Yes. We dispatch from both Airdrie and Calgary, and heat pump repair in Calgary is the same work south of the city.
Related heating and cooling pages.
If the repair leads somewhere else in the house.
Heat Pumps Airdrie
Choosing and installing a heat pump for an Airdrie house.
See serviceAirdrie Furnace Repair
The furnace your heat pump works with — tested, not guessed.
See serviceAC Repair Airdrie
Air conditioning that has stopped cooling properly.
See serviceFurnace Installation Airdrie
When the furnace under the heat pump coil needs replacing.
See serviceHumidifiers in Airdrie
Whole-home humidifiers fitted to the furnace.
See serviceHeat Pump Repair Calgary
The same repair work south of the city.
See serviceSimple, honest, on your schedule.
Four steps. The first one often decides how quickly the last one happens.
A few questions first
What mode it's in, what the outdoor unit looks like, whether the furnace is running, and when the heat pump went in. If you're cold, we'll help you switch the thermostat so the furnace takes over while you wait.
Outdoors, then indoors
We look at the outdoor unit where it sits — clearance, drainage, what's dripping on it — then run the system and follow it indoors to the coil on the furnace, the blower and the thermostat.
The fault, and the price
Pressures, temperatures and electrical readings confirm the failed part. You get the repair price, and if the real problem is where the unit sits or how it was wired in, we say that too.
Fixed and handed back
Once the part is in, we watch a complete cycle, with a defrost on a cold day. On a hybrid, we check the furnace takes over and hands back cleanly.
Also under Heating
In-Floor Heating Airdrie — Hydronic Radiant for Basements, Garages & Shops
Airdrie's housing stock is newer than Calgary's, which changes what in-floor heating work looks like here. Far less heritage retrofit, far more basement developments, heated garage slabs, and acreage shops. FlameTech designs, installs, commissions and services hydronic radiant across Airdrie, dispatched locally from Coopers Crossing.
Furnace Installation in Airdrie
A furnace sized for Airdrie isn't a furnace sized for Calgary. We sit higher and more exposed on open prairie, and the constant wind pulls heat off a house faster than a still −35°C night ever will. FlameTech sizes and installs furnaces for that real-world exposure — not a generic square-footage rule of thumb — and handles the gas, venting, permit, and inspection start to finish.
Furnace Repair in Airdrie
Most of Airdrie was built in a hurry. Whole neighbourhoods went up through the 2000s and 2010s, each with a builder-installed furnace that is now old enough for its wear parts to start failing. That is most of what we fix here.
Where we cover Airdrie.
Local dispatch from Coopers Crossing across every Airdrie neighbourhood. Find your area for build-era notes, hard-water patterns, and the systems we see most.
Also covering nearby Chestermere, Cochrane, and Carstairs.
Get a free Airdrie heat pump repair quote.
Tell us what's going on and our dispatch team will call you back with pricing and availability.
Book a Red Seal plumber in Airdrie.
Free estimates, upfront pricing, and a satisfaction guarantee — local technicians who treat your home like their own.
Free estimate · No service charge for quotes · BBB Accredited