Nine Mile Falls · along Highway 291
Heat pump repair in Nine Mile Falls, from the dam to Suncrest
Most heat pumps up Highway 291 were added to an electric furnace that came with the house, to cut a winter bill. When one ices over, blows cool or trips its breaker after an outage, we come up 291 to find the fault.
- Twenty minutes out
- The 291 route is a regular run for us, Monday through Saturday.
- Add-on systems
- Heat pump and electric furnace tested together, sequencers included.
- Outage trips
- Compressor and breaker both checked when power comes back badly.
Highway 291 climbs from the Nine Mile Dam up to Suncrest and drops again to the Long Lake shoreline and Charles Road, and the heating history along it is written on the sides of the houses. Electric furnaces and wood stoves came first. Heat pumps were added later, one house at a time, to trim a bill from Avista or Inland Power depending on the road. Many of those heat pumps are now fifteen or twenty years old, sitting on pads that have tilted, under eaves that dump snow on them every thaw. Some still run on R-22; others were swapped for R-410A units in the last decade, with the electric furnace kept as backup either way.
Because the heat pump and the electric furnace work as a pair, we test them as a pair. Outdoors, the technician reads pressures against the outdoor temperature so a cold day is not mistaken for a low charge, measures the capacitor, contactor and compressor, and forces a defrost to watch it finish. Indoors, the strips, the sequencers, the blower and the thermostat staging all get checked, since a heat pump that never receives a second-stage call cannot heat a house. Nothing is condemned on a guess. One written repair price follows, with the $99 diagnostic already inside it; if you pass, the $99 is all you owe.
Nine Mile Falls heat pump trouble, row by row
| What you notice | What it usually is | What we do |
|---|---|---|
| Outdoor unit frosted into a box, strips running | Defrost board or sensor not starting a cycle, or charge low from a slow leak | Defrost control repaired, leak fixed, charge corrected to spec |
| Cool air from the vents in heating mode | Reversing valve not shifting, low charge, or a compressor down on capacity | Valve or solenoid replaced, compressor tested under load |
| Indoor blower runs, outdoor unit stays silent | Contactor, capacitor, high-pressure switch or chewed low-voltage wiring | Part replaced, control wiring traced and tested |
| Breaker trips after every power outage | Compressor hard-starting, a worn breaker, or a corroded outdoor disconnect | Compressor and circuit tested on one visit, and you learn which is at fault |
| House never quite warm on the coldest nights | Sequencer failing, a strip burned out, or staging set wrong | Strips and sequencers metered, staging corrected |
| Warm air in July | Capacitor, contactor or low refrigerant; once in a while a failed compressor | Electrical part swapped on the visit; recharge only after the leak repair |
Lake humidity, tilted pads and long winters
Long Lake and the river add moisture the city grid does not see, and humid cold is exactly what ices an outdoor coil. A defrost cycle that starts late or not at all turns a heat pump into a frosted box while the electric strips quietly carry the house. Older flare fittings and Schrader cores lose a little refrigerant each year, until one January morning the charge is too low to make heat at all. Up in Suncrest, the newer and larger systems tend to fail on boards and low-voltage wiring rather than on mechanical parts, which calls for a meter more than a wrench. Units tucked under deep eaves see the worst of it, since meltwater dripping onto the cabinet can refreeze into the coil overnight.
Outdoor electrical takes a beating here. Lake air corrodes disconnects, repeated outages along 291 wear out breakers, and rodents under decks chew through thermostat wire. Electrical faults like these are traced on the same visit, and we tell you plainly when the problem is in the home’s wiring rather than the unit. A pad that has tilted far enough to strain the line set gets leveled while we are there. On the add-on systems we also look hard at the electric furnace, because a failed sequencer or a strip that never drops out will either hide a heat pump fault or fake one.
One safe check is worth doing before you call: if snow from the eaves has buried the outdoor unit, clear it away gently with a broom so the coil can breathe and drain. Carrier, Trane, Lennox, Bryant, Rheem, Goodman, Daikin, Mitsubishi and Fujitsu all turn up on our schedule. Nine Mile Falls is roughly a twenty-minute drive from the shop, and calls about lost heat along 291 are booked the same day, Monday to Saturday. If the heat pump breaker has tripped, one reset is reasonable; a second trip means it stays off until we test it.
Starting prices for Nine Mile Falls repairs
A defrost board starts at $250. On add-on systems, a failed sequencer or heat relay in the electric furnace starts at $150, and leak repair with a recharge begins at $400. Use these as Spokane-area starting points rather than as a quote. The figure you get is written after the diagnostic and already contains the $99. On an older add-on system, both the heat pump fault and any electric furnace fault are written into that same single number, so nothing turns up as a surprise later.
| Repair | Price |
|---|---|
| Heat pump defrost board | from $250 |
| Sequencer or heat relay | from $150 |
| Refrigerant leak repair and recharge | from $400 |
| AC / heat pump capacitor | from $150 |
| Contactor | from $175 |
| Outdoor fan motor | from $350 |
| Heat pump reversing valve | from $900 |
| Indoor (evaporator) coil | from $1,200 |
Starting prices in the Spokane area for 2026, part and work included. Not a quote: your exact price is in the written estimate after the $99 diagnostic.
Questions we hear
Our heat pump is iced over. What should we do until you get here?
Put the thermostat on emergency heat so the electric furnace or strips carry the house, and leave the outdoor unit off. Sweep away snow that has slid onto it, but do not pour hot water on the coil or try to break up the ice. Iced units nearly always trace back to the defrost controls or refrigerant loss, and either one is usually repaired the same day.
The breaker trips after every outage on 291. Is that the heat pump?
Often it is a compressor that hard-starts when power returns, but a breaker weakened by years of trips, or a corroded disconnect outside, will cause the same thing. The technician tests the compressor and the circuit on one visit, repairs the unit if the fault is there, and tells you plainly when it lies in the breaker or the home’s wiring instead.
Can you service the older R-22 heat pump at our Long Lake cabin?
We can. Our technicians hold EPA 608 Universal cards, while the van carries recovery equipment and gauges for R-22, R-410A, R-32 and R-454B. On an older R-22 system we price the repair and a replacement on the same sheet, so you can weigh the cost of a recharge against the age of the unit before deciding anything.
Do you come out on Saturdays?
Yes. Our crew works Saturdays as a normal day and adds nothing to the bill for them, and calls about lost heat or cooling get a same-day window from Monday to Saturday. The 291 route is a standard run, so a morning call usually lands a visit that day. When it cannot, we tell you on the phone so nobody sits waiting.
What if the van does not carry the part?
The price you approve stays the price you pay, with the $99 diagnostic already inside it. We order the part and come back for it without a second trip fee; meanwhile the strips or the electric furnace keep the house warm. Once the job is done, the finished work is covered by a written warranty in your hand.
Call, text or book
Iced coil, a breaker that trips after every outage, or warm air in July: tell us by call or text, and the 291 van will fit you in. We fold the $99 diagnostic into the written repair price, and the online form is worth up to $50 off an HVAC repair booked online.
Book a visit
Tell us what is going on
We call or text back to confirm a time window, usually the same day.
- $99 diagnostic Counted inside the written repair price you approve. Say no to the repair and it is the whole bill.
- Up to $50 off An HVAC repair booked online. Appliance repairs booked online: up to $22 off. Never taken off the diagnostic.
- Up to $500 off A full-system install booked through our site-visit form, first-year tune-up included. The site visit costs nothing.
Prefer to text? Send a photo of the model tag to (509) 370-5361.