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Homes in Franklin County, MS run heat about five months a year, from November through March. The compressor cycles through that entire run in heating mode, which loads the reversing valve and the refrigerant circuit differently than a cooling-only machine. When a heat pump starts underperforming late in winter, the contractor checks the reversing valve first, then the refrigerant charge, because both degrade under sustained low-temperature operation. Capacity loss that shows up in February has usually been building since November.
Half the homes in Franklin County, Mississippi were built in 1981 or earlier (2020-2024 ACS 5-year). A heat pump sitting in a house that old is almost certainly not the original system, but the refrigerant lines, the air handler mounts, and the electrical circuits it runs on may well be. When a contractor opens a unit here and identifies a failed component, the real question is whether that part is still in production. Stock built for earlier equipment was retrofitted to carry what followed, and those adaptations accumulate. A part that looks standard on the outside sometimes turns out to be a size or a spec that suppliers stopped stocking years ago, which changes the repair scope before any other decision gets made.
The Parts of a Heat Pump a Contractor Checks First
The outdoor unit is the piece most homeowners recognize: a metal cabinet that sits on a pad outside the house and holds the compressor and the outdoor coil. The compressor is where most repair calls begin. When it fails, the system stops moving heat entirely. The outdoor coil can collect debris or develop leaks that quietly degrade performance until the unit stops keeping up.
Inside the house, the air handler holds the indoor coil and the blower fan that pushes conditioned air through the home. The expansion valve sits between the two coils and controls refrigerant flow. A contractor will also check the reversing valve, a component unique to heat pumps that lets the system shift between heating and cooling. When that valve sticks, the system gets locked into one mode.
The drawing shows a general layout of how these components relate to one another, and a licensed contractor determines which of them apply to your specific house and equipment.
Find a contractor in Franklin CountyFranklin County, Mississippi, by the numbers
64 severe weather events were recorded in Franklin County, Mississippi 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, Mississippi were built in 1981 or earlier (2020-2024 ACS 5-year).
U.S. Census Bureau, 2020-2024 American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesFranklin County, Mississippi holds 4,329 housing units (2020-2024 ACS 5-year).
U.S. Census Bureau, 2020-2024 American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesOwners occupy 81.7% of the occupied homes in Franklin County, Mississippi (2020-2024 ACS 5-year).
U.S. Census Bureau, 2020-2024 American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesRepair Rules for Heat Pumps in Franklin County, Mississippi1 sourced rules and standards
Licensing and Legal Requirements in Franklin County, Mississippi
Mississippi licenses residential HVAC work at every tier and at any price: a subcontractor of any tier doing heating, ventilation or air conditioning work on a residential construction or improvement project must be licensed by the State Board of Contractors no matter the dollar amount.
Weather Stress on HVAC Equipment in Franklin County
Heat pumps work against whatever the outside air does, and Mississippi weather puts real pressure on that work. Repair demand in Franklin County follows the local climate, so the storm record here is part of understanding what the equipment goes through.
64 severe weather events, 2016–2024. Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database.