Two numbers that do not overlap
| Source | What it reports |
|---|---|
| Fixr, January 2026 | $150 to $650, average $400 |
| This Old House, October 2026 | average $798 air-source, $949 air-to-water, $1,500 geothermal |
Every one of This Old House's averages is above the top of Fixr's range, our comparison. The cheapest of them, $798, exceeds Fixr's $650 maximum by $148.
That is not a small discrepancy, and it is not a case of one guide being wrong.
What explains it
Two things, and both are visible in the sources.
First, the measurements are different. This Old House's figures come from a survey of 1,000 homeowners who repaired or replaced their HVAC systems within the last five years. That is a record of what people actually paid, which includes the expensive jobs. Fixr's range describes typical repair pricing.
Second, Fixr's own table disagrees with Fixr's headline. Its full list of repairs runs from $75 to $4,000, which is more than six times the top of its stated range:
| Service needed | Typical cost range |
|---|---|
| Standard service call | $75 to $250 |
| Drain line cleaning | $75 to $300 |
| Thermostat replacement | $85 to $300 |
| Condenser coil cleaning | $100 to $300 |
| Capacitor replacement | $100 to $400 |
| Condensate pump replacement | $100 to $450 |
| Refrigerant recharge | $100 to $600 |
| Evaporator coil cleaning | $100 to $700 |
| Circuit board replacement | $150 to $700 |
| Drain pan replacement | $200 to $800 |
| Refrigerant leak repair | $200 to $1,500 |
| Expansion valve replacement | $250 to $800 |
| Blower motor replacement | $300 to $1,000 |
| Reversing valve replacement | $350 to $700 |
| Evaporator coil replacement | $550 to $2,500 |
| Compressor replacement | $800 to $2,500 |
| Condenser coil replacement | $900 to $2,300 |
| Air handler replacement | $1,500 to $3,500 |
| Condenser replacement | $1,000 to $4,000 |
Our arithmetic, marked as ours. Twelve of those nineteen rows have a top end above $650. The $150 to $650 range covers the cleanings, the thermostat, the capacitor and the drain work, and stops exactly where the sealed refrigerant circuit begins.
Our conclusion: both numbers are usable, for different questions. If you want to know what a service visit for a common fault costs, use Fixr's $400. If you want to know what to budget before you know what is wrong, use This Old House's $798, because it is what a real sample of homeowners paid.
The type you own moves it most
This Old House's three averages are the clearest thing published on this topic:
| Heat pump type | Average repair | Average replacement |
|---|---|---|
| Air-to-water | $949 | $6,719 |
| Air-source | $798 | $8,007 |
| Geothermal | $1,500 | $17,000 |
Our arithmetic, marked as ours. Divide each repair by its own replacement: geothermal is about 8.8%, air-source about 10.0%, air-to-water about 14.1%. So the dearest type to repair is also the one where a repair is the smallest fraction of replacing it, which is the opposite of how it feels when the quote arrives.
That matters because our geothermal page notes that the expensive part of a ground-source system, the loop, lasts 50 years and more. You are usually repairing the one part that was not the expensive part. Our how a heat pump works page explains the difference between the types.
Where the price actually goes
Look at the shape of Fixr's table rather than the individual rows. The cheap half is cleaning, draining and electrics. The expensive half is almost entirely the sealed refrigerant circuit: coils, compressor, condenser, expansion valve, reversing valve.
Our reading, marked as ours. The reversing valve at $350 to $700 is the one part on that list a furnace and air conditioner do not have, because it is what lets a heat pump run in both directions. If a heat pump cools but will not heat, or the reverse, that valve is the component a technician will name, and it sits in the middle of the table rather than at the top.
Two rows carry a warning we have made elsewhere. A refrigerant recharge at $100 to $600 against a leak repair at $200 to $1,500: our AC not cooling page sets out Fixr's own position that a sealed system should never need refrigerant unless a leak has been fixed.
When it stops being worth it
Our lifespan page puts a heat pump at 10 to 15 years, the shortest of the main machines.
Our arithmetic. On This Old House's own figures, an $798 repair against an $8,007 replacement is a tenth. On a heat pump with years left that is an easy decision. At the top of Fixr's table, a $4,000 condenser replacement is half of a new air-source system, and that is not a repair decision any more. Our heat pump page has what replacement costs from two publishers.
Before you authorise the work
- Say which type you have. Air-source, air-to-water or geothermal changes the expected figure by a factor of two.
- Ask for the component to be named. The table above turns a name into a range, and the gap between the halves of it is the gap between a few hundred dollars and a few thousand.
- Ask whether the service call fee comes off the repair. At $75 to $250 it is most of the cheapest jobs.
- If the answer is refrigerant, ask where it went.
- Compare against replacement before agreeing to anything over about $2,000, which is a quarter of an air-source replacement on This Old House's own survey.
Sources
- Fixr, How Much Does Heat Pump Repair Cost?, updated January 21, 2026 (the $150 to $650 range and $400 average, and the full table of eighteen repairs by component)
- This Old House, How Much Does a Heat Pump Cost?, updated October 14, 2026 (the survey of 1,000 homeowners, average repair costs of $798, $949 and $1,500 by heat pump type, and the matching replacement averages)
Price figures are national US ranges from the sources above as of the date shown. Your local price depends on labor rates, permits and site conditions. Read how we get our numbers.