Frozen heat pump. It’s a block of ice.
One thing that has become evident in this last cold spell is that a heat pump is great if it’s working correctly. If it is not, it can be really uncomfortable.
The 15 SEER Trane heat pump in my own house hasn’t had to use auxiliary heat except for one day. Yes, at 19 degrees it needed some help. It saddens me that I didn’t spend the extra to get the 20 SEER unit. Having watched them operate, I now have buyer’s remorse for being a cheapskate. Maybe you can learn from me.
One of the technicians went out on a fall check to check out Trane’s XV20i heat pump. The weather conditions were drizzle and 35 degrees. This is the worst kind of weather for a heat pump. The unit was blowing 98 degree air out of the grills-98 degrees! These units are fantastic!
On the other end of the spectrum is when I am driving down the street looking at the heat pumps that are big balls of ice. I’ve been in the HVAC business for so long, it’s habit. There are different things that can be wrong when your heat pump is frozen up. None the less, hint, hint, that means you definitely have a problem that requires service. In the meantime, you can turn off the heat pump by turning it to emergency heat. If you have electric heat rather than gas heat, running your unit in emergency heat mode uses the heat strips. Unfortunately you won’t want to see your next electric bill. To give you a basic picture, it’s like running an huge electric heater except it blows the heated air throughout your house. Call for service before the problem becomes worse or your unit quits heating.
Thoughts from Donald Kampfhenkel, owner of D&D Mechanical.
