HVAC and heat pump repair in the Cleveland community

What 14 Cleveland service calls told us

Every one of those 14 jobs was at a house the Johnston County assessor lists with a heat pump. None were gas-furnace homes. The houses were not old, either: the county year-built for the homes we visited runs from 2002 to 2022, with a median of 2016. That matches the wider picture. Across the 10,808 residential parcels we matched to this area, the median build year is 2007, and 80% of them went up between 1992 and 2021.

The timing stood out more than the equipment. Nine of the 14 calls came in during January 2025, one in February, and only three during the summer months. In other words, Cleveland calls us when a heat pump stops heating, not when the air conditioning quits. The most common complaint written on the tickets was simply "no heat" (four calls), followed by "no cooling" (two) and power problems at the breaker or outdoor disconnect (two).

A caution on those counts: most of our older tickets were imported from our previous software with only a one-line note, so the real number of each problem is higher than what the keywords catch.

Four Cleveland jobs, briefly

• January 2025, Broadmoor Subdivision. A 2005-built home with a heat pump system. We found a failed contactor in the outdoor unit and a problem with the indoor blower motor, two faults on one visit.
• February 2025, Ramsgate. A 2018 house. The fault was on the electrical supply side: the breaker, disconnect or fuse feeding the system, not the heat pump itself.
• May 2025, Sunset Ridge. A 2015 home where the owner called with no cooling at the start of the season.
• June 2025, Summerwind Plantation. A 2021-built home, only about four years old, with a reversing valve or defrost problem. On a heat pump the reversing valve is what switches the system between heating and cooling, so a failure there can look like the unit is "running but doing nothing."

Photos for these jobs are not public yet. We list the street-level subdivision only, never a house number.

Permits: Johnston County, not the Town of Garner

Cleveland is not a town. It is an unincorporated community in Cleveland Township, so even when your mailing address says Garner or Clayton, building permits come from Johnston County Building Inspections in Smithfield. All 14 of our completed jobs here were outside any town's limits. The county lists "Mechanical Change outs (HVAC)" among the projects that need a permit, and it uses a Residential Mechanical Permit Application. According to the county FAQ, applications cannot be filed online yet; a simple trade permit can be sent by email to inspections@johnstonnc.gov. When we replace a system in Cleveland, we pull that county permit and schedule the county inspection. Garner's SmartGov portal does not apply here.

Power and gas in Cleveland

This is a spot where we will not guess. Johnston County has more than one electric provider: Duke Energy Progress plus electric co-ops with county territory (South River EMC, Tri-County EMC and Wake Electric). Which one serves a given Cleveland street was not confirmed in our research, so look at your bill before calling about a rebate. Natural gas in Johnston County comes from Piedmont Natural Gas where lines exist, but we have not confirmed which Cleveland subdivisions have gas. Given that the assessor lists about 90% of homes here with heat pumps and roughly 10% with ducted forced air, most Cleveland homes heat with electricity either way.

What that means for your heat pump

A neighborhood of 2000s and 2010s heat pumps behaves differently from an older furnace neighborhood. The equipment is mostly at the age where the original contactors, capacitors, blower motors and defrost controls start to give out, while the compressor is often still sound. That is why we push for a real diagnosis before anyone talks about replacement. On a no-heat call we check the outdoor unit's power first (two of our Cleveland calls were electrical supply problems), then defrost operation and the reversing valve, then the backup heat strips in the air handler. If your heat pump is running on emergency heat all the time, your power bill will show it within a week.

More on this: heat pump repair from our Clayton shop, heating repair and AC repair.

Cleveland questions we hear

My address says Garner. Does the Town of Garner issue my HVAC permit?

Usually not. Cleveland is unincorporated Johnston County, so HVAC permits come from Johnston County Building Inspections even with a Garner or Clayton mailing address. All 14 of our completed Cleveland jobs were outside town limits.

How long does it take you to get to Cleveland?

About 24 minutes and 12 miles from our Clayton base without traffic. Call (919) 230-4439 for the actual arrival window that day.

Why do so many Cleveland calls happen in winter?

Nearly every home we have serviced here heats with a heat pump. Nine of our 14 completed Cleveland jobs came in January 2025, mostly no-heat calls involving power supply, contactors, blower motors and defrost.

Who is my electric company in Cleveland?

It depends on the address. Duke Energy Progress and several electric co-ops (South River EMC, Tri-County EMC, Wake Electric) have territory in Johnston County, and we have not confirmed which serves each street. Check your power bill.

Do you charge more on Sundays?

No. A Sunday visit in Cleveland is the same price as a weekday visit.

Nearby

Parent town page: HVAC in Garner. Close by: White Oak, Garner and Willow Spring. We are based in Clayton.