Heat Pump

[Miss Marty]

We just got a call here in Orlando that the outside unit on
our Heat Pump froze up this week - Called for service but
no one can come out to check it until Monday or Tuesday.

What is the worst that can happen if it is not checked right away.
The water is shut off inside/outside the house and everything is
turned off except therm/furnace. Will it defrost itself. Thanks

 

[Htoo0]

Sorry, I'm thoroughly confused. I thought a heat pump was part of an A/C unit. If it 'freezes' up it's usually due to low refrigerant. Guess I'll be learning something new?

 

[Makai Guy]

Sorry, I'm thoroughly confused. I thought a heat pump was part of an A/C unit.

A heat pump can pump the heat in either direction, so it works in both cooling and heating seasons.

 

[Htoo0]

A heat pump can pump the heat in either direction, so it works in both cooling and heating seasons.

I have one actually. However, he says everything is off except the therm/furnace. Guess he's in Orlando but I don't know where his heat pump is. Hopefully if the heat pump froze up the backup heat should kick in (mine's electric but some use gas) and keep the water pipes from freezing. If it's cold enough to freeze then usually the heat pump is out of the loop anyway.
Believe mine only works to about 36 degrees. But if it's geothermal or something then I don't know. If he lost all heat in a cold climate and the water is shut off but not drained he could be looking at some broken pipes so he would be wise to check everything when water is restored.

 

[nightnurse613]

The first cold snap we had I turned on our heat pump to HEAT. The unit came on but never fired up (like it was on the defrost cycle). I called a service provider. They came out, said replace the indoor blower motor-$1200. I pulled the electric heaters out (our winters are generally pretty mild). While my husband was looking, he called a friend of his out, went up, looked and said, he could find no problem. We started it up and it's working fine. Some heat pumps have seperate gas or electric furnaces. Ours just uses heat strips. Who knows what went on but, I won't ever call THAT company back out! I don't have ANY water to mine. Are they confused with an EVAPORATIVE COOLER (no heat there)?

 

[The Conch Man]

We use a Heat Pump to heat our 15,000 gallon pool (14' x 28') & it does a nice job, costs us bout $20 a month to heat the pool to bout 88 degrees which is our normal temp during the summer. So far this year we haven't used the pool that much cause we have some real cool weather this year so far. Bout another week or so we'll be firing-up the heat pump!

 

[Don]

After Hurricane Charley shredded our solar panels, we figured that we would skip the step where we would replace them only to have them shredded again the next time a hurricane came through and went straight to a heat pump. It cost about $400 more and we don't get the free heat anymore, but I think its worth it in the long run.

 

[carl2591]

most of the time if the outdoor freezes up its due to low gas or after a rain the weather get cold and the defrost t-stat on the outdoor unit is bad the unit can freeze up..

all that will happen is the heat strips will work more to keep the temp up inside the house. most heat pumps have a EM HEAT setting on them. just set to EM HEAT and let the unit run like normal.. this will allow the outdoor unit to defrost and when the HVAC companys comes out it will not cost a much for the repair.

you have to get the ice off the unit first and that can take up to 60 min in some cases.

you can use a water based HP to heat pool water and cool the house in summer if needed.. they extract heat from the water in winter to heat house and put heat in water to cool house in summer..

solar panels are still the best way to environmentally heat pool water.. what a waste of elec to use a hp in my opinion.

 

[Miss Marty]

Our outside unit froze up during a really bad cold snap in January
Heat Pump kept running - No frozen pipes - Everything Turned out OK.

How Heat Pumps Work - BGE

What makes the heat pump so efficient is the way it operates.
Instead of burning costly fuels such as propane or oil, the heat
pump moves heat without a flame. It does this by extracting
available heat from the outside air and transferring or ''pumping''
it inside your home.

During summer the heat pump reverses this operation extracting
heat from the air inside your home and pumping it outside.

The way the heat pump operates can be
explained without getting too technical.

Two basic physical principles are at work in the heat pump:

Movement of heat from a hot object to a cool object.
A pressurized gas allowed to expand becomes cool.
To achieve year round comfort, the heat pump uses the same basic
components as the refrigerator: Coils to carry refrigerant gas, a com-
pressor to increase the pressure of the gas, and fans to circulate air.

During the winter a fan pulls air over the outdoor coil which extracts heat from the outside air. Even though winter air feels cold to us, it holds a great deal of heat. The compressors pressurize the gas in the coil, raising the temperature even higher. The heated gas moves inside your home to the indoor coil. A circulating fan blows air across the indoor coil and through heating ducts, the heat is drawn from the gas in the indoor coil and transferred to the air in the ducts.

During the summer this process is reversed automatically by a valve
or switch on the heat pump. Like any other machine, the heat pump
will perform best if it is properly maintained. (Clean Air Filters Help)

 

[pedro47]

No problem, what you seeing on the heat pumb is ice, the heat pumb should go into a defrost mode and the ice should melt, during the day; if the temperatures are above 32 degrees the next day.

Ice is on the heat pumb because the temperture drop below 32 degrees.

The electric strips/furance inside the home should kick on inside the house to keep the home warm/comfortable.

 

[thermodix]

I think you may try to look at this guide or manual for geothermal heat pump... www.nyc.gov/html/ddc/downloads/pdf/geotherm.pdf and this http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/home/heating_cooling/geothermal.html hope this heap you a little guys....


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