Pump down after the storm
After an outage, a heat pump may not restart on its own. Check the breaker and the thermostat, then give it a few minutes. A unit that stays dead after the power is back has a failed part, not a power problem.
Clifton, Virginia
Heat pump repair in Clifton.
For heat pump repair in Clifton, the diagnostic visit is $99. Call SwiftPro, rated 5.0 stars across 1,130 reviews, at (703) 997-9757, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
For heat pump repair in Clifton, SwiftPro is rated 5.0 stars across 1,130 reviews and works under Virginia Class A contractor license 2705192276. We cover heat pump repair in Clifton and the 20124 countryside: old farmhouses with added pumps, propane backup, overhead power lines. We price it in writing. A contactor runs $290 to $425 and a defrost board $450 to $1,150, from our published price book.
- Prices in writing, first
- Heat pumps and air handlers
- Dedicated HVAC team
5.0 stars across 1,130 reviews
A Trane heat pump on its pad in a Northern Virginia winter, the kind of morning the calls come in.
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Licensed and insuredVirginia Class A contractor #2705192276
24/7 emergency serviceWe answer day or night, and we will tell you honestly when we can get there.
Our own HVAC installersA dedicated heating and cooling team, separate from our plumbers
Price in writing firstYou see every option priced before anything is ordered
What it costs
What heat pump repair costs in Clifton.
The same price book as the rest of our site. The diagnostic visit is $99, and the tech prices the repair before starting it.
Repair diagnostic visit
$99
Run capacitor replaced
$240 to $370
Contactor replaced
$290 to $425
Thermostat replaced
$300 to $640
Defrost board replaced
$450 to $1,150
Control board replaced
$550 to $1,180
Prices checked .
We answer day or night, and we will tell you honestly when we can get there.
With Comfort+ membership, $20 a month or $199 a year, the diagnostic visit is included, any service is 15% off, and a heating maintenance visit comes every fall.
What’s different in Clifton
In Clifton, an old house with a heat pump added later has to keep working through an outage.
The town of Clifton is small and old, and most of its houses date to long before heat pumps existed. So the heat pump here was added later, to a farmhouse or a village house that had been heated by something else. Outdoor unit on the side or the back, air handler in an attic, crawlspace or a closet that used to be something else, ductwork squeezed in around a house that was never designed for it. Those installs run, but they fight their surroundings.
Wires matter in Clifton. The Town’s own plan says NOVEC supplies the electricity, mostly on poles and overhead lines. Overhead lines mean storm outages, and a heat pump that loses power can come back confused. If your pump won’t restart after an outage, give it a few minutes with the thermostat off, then try again. If the breaker holds and the outdoor unit still won’t run, that is a repair call.
Many houses out here also keep propane, often as backup. A heat pump that is down in a cold stretch leaves the furnace, or the strips, to carry the house. With propane, the question is tank level: don’t let a failed pump drain the tank in a week of cold. Read the gauge and call your supplier if it is low. We handle the heat pump and the furnace side of a dual fuel house.
Appearance counts in the town. Altering the outside of a building in Clifton takes a certificate of appropriateness from the Town’s Architectural Review Board. A repair that keeps the unit where it is rarely raises anything, but a move or an added screen can. Out in the 20124 countryside, the houses are newer and the lots bigger, and the rules loosen.
By the numbers
Clifton houses, by the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey. Median year built and heat count owner-occupied homes only.
The Fairfax County side of 20124
Clifton mail outside the town: five- to ten-acre lots in the Occoquan watershed on Clifton, Compton and Yates Ford Roads, mostly on septic, and the 1980s subdivisions off Springstone Drive and Union Mill Road on county sewer.
ZIP 20124 as a whole, the Town included: its own homes are too few for steady Census figures.
- Median home built1988 Census
- Built before 1980about 1 in 10 Census
- Built since 2000about 1 in 10 Census
- Most homes aresingle-family houses, about 8 in 10 Census
- Heated withgas, about 6 in 10 Census
- Rentedabout 1 in 10 Census
- Most homes here heat with gas. Where a heat pump sits over a gas furnace, the furnace takes over in the cold, so a dead heat pump can go unnoticed until spring.
What you’d notice
What a heat pump in trouble in Clifton usually does.
The outdoor unit is a block of ice
A little frost on a cold morning is normal, and the unit melts it off every so often by running backwards for a few minutes. Ice that builds for hours and covers the whole coil usually means the defrost board, a sensor, or low refrigerant.
Cool air from the vents
Cool air for a few minutes on a frosty morning is the unit defrosting. Cool air for an hour is not. Check that the thermostat is on heat, not cool or auto, then call.
Need heat pump repair in Clifton?
A person answers day and night. See this month’s deals before you call.
Choosing who fixes it
How to pick a heat pump repair company in Clifton.
Questions worth asking anybody who comes out, us included.
Do they work on an older house where the heat pump was added later?
Ask whether the tech looks at airflow and the install, not just the unit. An added pump in an old house can fail from the duct layout even when every part tests fine.
Is the company licensed in Virginia?
Anyone can check on the state’s license lookup. Ours is Virginia Class A contractor license, on every van.
Do they price the repair before they start?
Every heat pump repair on our list has a range, and you hear where yours lands before a part goes in. If someone can’t give you a number until it’s done, keep looking.
Will they tell you when it’s not worth fixing?
An older heat pump with a refrigerant leak is often a bad repair. A good tech says so, with the repair price and the replacement price side by side.
Two of our crew going over a work order before the day's calls.
From our Google reviews
What our customers say.
5.0 stars across 1,130 reviews. Read them on our reviews page.
Swiftpro did a great job fixing my heat pump to get my AC working again. They’re easy to work with and explained everything so that I was able to comprehend the issue well. They beat out other local competitors in price for the same service by 40%.
- 5.0stars across 1,130 reviewsHow we count them
- ABBB Accredited, A ratingCheck it on bbb.org
- 2026Voted a Nextdoor Neighborhood Faves winner two years running: 2026 in 30 Northern Virginia neighborhoods, 2025 in Emerald Chase (Herndon) and Hunters Run (Chantilly)See it on Nextdoor
- #1BusinessRate Best of 2026: the top-ranked heating contractor in Fairfax, VirginiaSee our BusinessRate score
- Class AVirginia contractor, license #2705192276Look it up with DPOR
Where we work
Heat pump repair in every Northern Virginia town we serve
Next door to Clifton: Fairfax Station, Burke, Manassas, Centreville and Oakton.
Fairfax County
Arlington County
Loudoun County
Prince William County
Fauquier County
Stafford County
Every town on one page
The system we put in first
Built to take a beating. Put in by our crew.
Heat lamps, snow and rain on one outdoor unit: that’s Trane’s own film. We’re a Trane Comfort Specialist, on Trane’s own dealer locator, and when you pick a Trane, our crew puts it in.
Films: Trane’s own.
Questions
Heat pump questions from Clifton.
Does moving my heat pump in Clifton need town approval?
Changing the outside of a building in the Town takes a certificate of appropriateness from its Architectural Review Board. Replacing a part in place is a different thing. When in doubt, ask the Town before we move anything.
The heat pump won’t run after a storm outage. What should I check?
The breaker at the panel, the disconnect box by the outdoor unit, and the thermostat. If all three look right and it still won’t start, a capacitor at $240 to $370 or a contactor at $290 to $425 is a likely cause.
Why does my heat pump in Clifton steam and go quiet in the cold?
That’s defrost. The unit stops the outdoor fan, runs backwards for a few minutes to melt frost off the coil, and you see steam rising. It’s normal. Ice that stays is not.
How much does heat pump repair cost in Clifton?
The diagnostic visit is $99. From our price book, a capacitor is $240 to $370, a contactor $290 to $425, and a defrost board $450 to $1,150. You get the number before we start.
Ready when you are
Tell us what your heat pump is doing.
Call, or send the form at the top. The tech prices the repair from the book before starting, and if the system is at the end of its life you’ll hear that first.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing
4230 Lafayette Center Dr N, Chantilly, VA 20151
44679 Endicott Dr, Suite 211, Ashburn, VA 20147
SwiftPro Plumber & Water Heaters
4200 Lafayette Center Dr, Suite N, Chantilly, VA 20151
Virginia Class A contractor license #2705192276
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing is a licensed, BBB Accredited (A rating), independently owned heating, cooling and plumbing company in Chantilly, serving Clifton and the rest of Northern Virginia. Virginia contractor license #2705192276. 5.0 stars across 1,130 reviews on Google, Angi, Yelp, the BBB and Facebook. SwiftPro maintains a dedicated HVAC team and a dedicated plumbing team.
From SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing in Chantilly. Housing figures are the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, 2020 to 2024, for each place named; permit, water and sewer facts link to each office’s own page and were checked in September and October 2026.