Troubleshooting Your Heat Pump Before Winter

Posted on: Aug 04, 2016

Heat pumps are a great way to bring warmth into your home during the colder months and cool air into the home during the winter. A heat pump is more environmentally friendly than most other options, yet with it comes a variety of issues you will not experience on other HVAC equipment. Bringing in the right heat pump maintenance professionals to work on a faltering device may be necessary, but you can troubleshoot the device to see if it is possible to correct or not.

Fan Doesn’t Work

When running the heat pump, the fan should work as it needs to bring up the cooler/warmer air out of the ground below. Should the fan fail to work it likely is a fuse issue. Check the circuit breaker to make sure everything is as it should be. There is also likely a fuse on the heat pump that can blow. If it is damaged you’ll need to replace it. If you haven’t noticed any problems here yet the fan still doesn’t work, it likely means there is a bad connection, shortened controller board or a seized blower motor.

Temperature Is Not Correct

If you want warm air in the home but it doesn’t seem to be working, push the temp up on the thermostat five or 10 degrees. Then check the vents. If cooler air is still coming through, you either need to replace the thermostat or the handler in the heat pump is damaged. Either way, you’ll need to bring in the pros to correct it (and to make sure it really is the thermostat to blame). If you feel warm air but not hot air, there is an issue with the outdoor unit. Go outside and clear away any debris that might be clogging the unit. It is best to turn off the device when doing this and to start it back up after the debris has been cleared. It is proper heat pump maintenance to clear the area around the heat pump on a regular basis, but always double check if there is the temperature problem. If this still doesn’t work, it is time to bring in the professionals.

Heat pump maintenance is important, as is knowing how to troubleshoot your appliance. If you have trouble performing some maintenance or if there are issues you are unable to correct on your own, it is time to call the pros.