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A heat pump working through a long heating season puts sustained load on parts that cooling-season service rarely stresses: the reversing valve, the defrost board, and the outdoor coil's ability to pull heat from cold air. Homes in Franklin County, WA run heat about eight months a year, from October through May. Through those months the compressor cycles repeatedly under conditions that shrink its capacity, which forces it to run longer per cycle to meet the thermostat. A contractor diagnosing a repair here checks defrost timing and refrigerant charge before anything else, because those two faults are what the heating load exposes first.
Heat pump systems installed in houses built around this period were often sized and specified for refrigerant types and component designs that manufacturers have since phased out. Half the homes in Franklin County, Washington were built in 1997 or earlier (2020-2024 ACS 5-year). A contractor who opens a unit here and finds a failed reversing valve or a cracked heat exchanger has to determine whether that part is still manufactured before the repair scope is even fixed. If it is not, a full replacement becomes the conversation, and no service call begins with that answer already known.
The Parts of a Heat Pump a Contractor Checks First
The outdoor unit sits outside the house and holds the compressor and the condenser coil. The compressor is the part contractors look at early when a heat pump stops moving heat properly. A failed compressor, a refrigerant leak at the coil, or a clogged coil can each kill the system's ability to do its job.
Inside the house, the air handler pushes conditioned air through the home and holds an evaporator coil and a blower motor. The reversing valve, which lives in the outdoor unit, is what lets the system switch between heating and cooling. When a heat pump runs but delivers the wrong temperature, both the air handler and that valve are on the contractor's list.
The drawing shows a representative layout, and a licensed contractor determines which parts apply and what condition they are in for your specific home.
Get matched in Franklin CountyFranklin County, by the numbers
40 severe weather events were recorded in Franklin County, Washington between 2015 and 2024.
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, bulk CSV export, events 2015-01-01 through 2024-12-31.Half the homes in Franklin County, Washington were built in 1997 or earlier (2020-2024 ACS 5-year).
U.S. Census Bureau, 2020-2024 American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesFranklin County, Washington holds 31,183 housing units (2020-2024 ACS 5-year).
U.S. Census Bureau, 2020-2024 American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesOwners occupy 71.0% of the occupied homes in Franklin County, Washington (2020-2024 ACS 5-year).
U.S. Census Bureau, 2020-2024 American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesCodes & Standards for Heat Pump Repair in Franklin County, Washington1 sourced rules & standards
Licensing and Legal Requirements in Franklin County, Washington
Washington requires contractor registration rather than an HVAC licence: every contractor must register with the Department of Labor and Industries, and advertising, bidding or working as a contractor without that registration is a gross misdemeanour.
Severe Weather Events in Franklin County
Weather puts hours on HVAC equipment. The more a heat pump is pushed to hold a temperature against the conditions outside, the more wear it carries into the next season, and that wear is what repair work addresses.
40 severe weather events, 2015–2024. Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database.