The heat pump is powered by air and refrigerant, with electricity as a backup. In winter, the heat pump gathers heat from the outside and disperses it indoors. In the summer, it works in reverse, where it functions as an air conditioner.
Since the appliance gets the heat from the outside air, when it’s too cold outside, the unit struggles to gather enough heat. It also develops a myriad of problems that you have to hire a heat pump repair professional to fix them.
The most common heat pump problems in cold weather are:
Heat pump covered in ice
Its normal for a light layer of iced or frost to appear on the coils of the heat pump during normal functioning. When this happens, the heat pump de-ices itself with the defrost cycle.
When it’s too cold, the ice can easily extend beyond the outside of the coils and even cover the entire unit. The defrost cycle often doesn’t work at this time, and you have to remove the ice manually.
You can do the work by yourself or ask a professional to help you out. You shouldn’t leave the heat pump covered in ice or frost for a long time as you can damage the unit.
Failure of the appliance to produce enough heat
This is expected as there is little heat for the appliance to get from outside. As it tries to bring in as much heat as possible, the heat pump runs longer and at a more sustained level. This means that it turns less on and off. There are also fewer hot spots and strong air gusts.
Due to reduced heat on the outside, the heat pump doesn’t function optimally; hence it doesn’t heat the house as well as you would want it to.
If you keep your appliance running too hard for too long, it will develop other problems, so when you notice it struggling to keep the house warm, move in quickly, and supplement it.
Supplement the heat pump with the boiler, furnace, oil burner system, or any other heating system. This will reduce the heat demands inside the house; hence the heat pump won’t work too hard.
The heat pump running all the time
The appliance will run constantly when there is too much cold air getting into the house for the heat pump to keep up with. In addition to consuming a lot of energy to do the work, the unit also tends to be at more risk of developing more significant problems.
Luckily, you can solve the problem by winterizing the house so that you keep the expensive heat inside and the cold air outside.
Start with keeping the doors closed and well-insulated all the time. Carefully inspect the sealed area. If you notice air movement, replace the seal with weather stripping.
If you have the budget, install double-paned storm windows. If they are out of your financial ability, opt for thermal curtains. In addition to being energy-efficient, they are also beautiful to look at, which significantly improves the look of the house.
The heat pump not functioning at all
The heat pump will fail to function if the circuit breaker has tripped or the fuse has blown. All you need to do is to reset the circuits and fuses then turn on the appliance.
If you have inspected and reset the circuit breaker and fuses and still the heat pump won’t power on, contact your local HVAC technician who will check it and find the root of the problem.
Heat pump blowing cold air
In cold weather, the appliance should blow hot air, so when it blows cold air instead, you have a problem that you should get to the bottom of as soon as possible. The first place to check is the thermostat setting. Ensure it’s not set to “cool.”
You also should check the refrigerant levels and confirm there are no leaks. If leaks are present, don’t try to fix them on your own. Hire an experienced heat pump repair services Arlington VA provider to help you inspect the problematic areas and fix them.
If the problem isn’t due to a leak, your appliance might be having a problem with the outdoor compressor or the coolant lines. Ask the technician to look into them.
