Do you have a heat pump meant to be an economic solution for heating your home in the Winter? This video is the Top 3 Heat Pump ISSUES we see in Winter! Hopefully knowing these issues, you'll be able to save money avoiding higher utility bills, more breakdowns, and lower performance. Heat pumps can be the solution you're hoping for if you can avoid these issues!
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Chapters
0:00 Intro: 3 biggest issues heat pumps have in Winter
0:59 Unnoticed Low Refrigerant
2:56 Poor Maintenance
4:49 Defrost Issues
6:01 Outro: Heat Pump Issues
#heatpump #icedcoil #heating
For more information on Griffin Air, visit https://www.griffinair.net/
For more information on New HVAC Guide, visit https://www.newhvacguide.com/overview
*Need Financing for your HVAC? Visit https://www.newhvacguide.com/financing
*Own a Service Biz and want to grow? Visit https://www.newhvacguide.com/mastermindgroup
*Our favorite products?
Favorite Thermostat click here: https://amzn.to/3wt3Vwh
Favorite Air Cleaner here: https://amzn.to/3Nfxw27
Favorite Air Filter here: https://amzn.to/3vpVbWl
Air Tester/Monitor here: https://amzn.to/3oJ3LvD
Dehumidifier here: https://amzn.to/3Q4woPp
Humidifier here: https://amzn.to/3ilZ9vq
Smart Vent here: https://amzn.to/3JDfGDX
Soft Start USA: https://softstarthome.com/griffinair/
Griffin Air LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Amazon offers a small commission on products sold through their affiliate links. Each of your purchases via our Amazon affiliation links supports our cause at no additional cost to you.
Chapters
0:00 Intro: 3 biggest issues heat pumps have in Winter
0:59 Unnoticed Low Refrigerant
2:56 Poor Maintenance
4:49 Defrost Issues
6:01 Outro: Heat Pump Issues
#heatpump #icedcoil #heating
Do you have a heat pump and it's now winter time? I Wanted to do a video on the three biggest issues that I see heat pumps have, especially in the winter. Years ago, heat pumps were pretty useless in the winter time when it got below 40 degrees. A lot of folks were relying on their backup heat sources. In some cases, those days haven't ended because we still see folks.
Even though there are higher end systems on the market, they're still going with lower end systems. And in some cases, finding a contractor that will even install some of these newer Technologies is a little bit of a chore. But even with all the newer Technologies and heat pumps that can now heat down way below freezing temperatures systems that can save you energy, there are still issues that can cost you money, cause you to have performance issues in the winter time and still make your heat pump not perform very well. So let's go through these issues.
The three biggest issues I see heat pump systems have in the wintertime. The first one is is probably in my opinion, the most common one. the one that I see the most and that is low refrigerant that isn't caught until the springtime. And the reason it's not caught is if you're in the summertime and you get low refrigerant and the system's not performing like it should, you're going to know pretty quickly.
You know that system's either not going to keep up, your AC is not going to be working, or maybe you'll have something like the evaporator coil starting to freeze up as it's starving for refrigerant and things like that. But something will be wrong pretty quickly. You're going to know something ain't right. But in the winter time, because most heat pump systems have some sort of backup heat Source A lot of folks don't even catch it until months later until the springtime rolls around, and that's when a lot of folks are, you know, turning on their AC for the first time and now they're seeing something is wrong, or they're getting their preventative maintenance done going into the summertime and it's being caught then.
So they're going months at a time. Low refrigerant heat pump is struggling, but because there's a backup heat Source they don't even know it. The backup heat source is keeping the homeowner warm and they don't pick up on it, so what can you do? Obviously, you can have your refrigerant checked or at bare minimum, just keep an eye on it. If you know your house seems to be getting kind of cool and then warm, that outdoor unit's struggling and then the heat, you know, kicks on.
The backup heat kicks on, and then all of a sudden your house is warm again, noticing that temperature difference. That larger temperature swing there might help you notice that something's wrong, and then you know there's other signs as well. If you see your outdoor unit starting to create more ice on the outdoor coil more than usual, Sometimes the refrigerant lines themselves can start to ice up if something is wrong. If you're getting low refrigerant anything like that, you know, have a pro. take a look, have them check those refrigerant levels and you know, let's get that straight before your utility bill spikes. Number two: Poor maintenance and this one is all also pretty common. I See folks all the time that you know they'll say, well, you know I've got a system that I don't need to have it maintained I've gone months and years without having anybody touch it and it's running just fine. And I don't need maintenance on my system and usually what I say to those folks you know, good job You know you're the exception to the rule.
It's very similar to the folks that say hey, I haven't had my oil changed on my car for long periods of time and it's running just fine. Well, you're the exception. You're on borrowed time at that point, right? But if you're not having your system maintained like you should, there are things that can happen first. Obviously, there's a chance of it breaking down, it's being poorly maintained, but the other thing is you are having it run inefficiently So things like dirty coils.
For example, if the airflow is not as good as it could be, you're not having that system cleaned up like you should. Poor airflow can cause your utility bills to spike very similar to the low refrigerant example that we used just a moment ago. Other things like the the system going into defrost mode and the bottom of that outdoor heat pump system. you know if it's not being cleaned out, if there's leaves and other kind of junk that's just kind of settled down in the bottom there.
It could inhibit that system from being able to drain very well. And so sometimes we'll see systems that where that's not being maintained right or being cleaned out like it should. we'll see it start to collect a big block of ice towards the bottom because that coil never really gets to properly go into defrost mode and get all that ice off of there. So you'll sometimes see systems where it's just ice on the bottom.
You know the rest of the coil is fine. but as it falls in that defrost mode and that water you know comes down to the bottom of that unit, then it has nowhere to go. because it's dirty. It's it's not being able to, you know, drain out like it should.
And then finally, we just touched on it. The number three thing that we see biggest issues with heat pumps have in the winter is defrost mode. We'll see heat pump systems not just because of poor maintenance, but things like a temperature sensor perhaps failing. Maybe it's not mounted in the right spot.
We've seen that before where systems will just not properly defrost like they should. and it's not sensing that ice like it should, and just simply moving that temperature sensor to a different part of the outdoor coil can sometimes make that defrost mode operate better or operate as often as it should or whatever the case is. But you know, the defrost mode is just something that we see from time to time folks have issues with. Could be something failing? could be a board, could be a sensor, or it just simply could be. You know, I've seen systems where that temperature sensor actually fell off. You know it was connected to one of the U-bins on the coil and it's just hanging in there by the wires and that system's not sensing the ice like it should. You know, as soon as we've gone out there, you fall the end of the coil a little bit, slap that sensor on there, and then all of a sudden the system goes into defrost and starts operating well again. Do you have a heat pump system trying to use it in the wintertime and you keep having issues? What are those issues? I'd love to hear them.
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Heat pumps are a poor idea if you live anywhere that gets below freezing. Oh sure technology says you can do this or that but it just creates more problems and things that can go wrong.
My Amana outside condenser runs, but the inside furnace just stopped for some reason. It is like it lost power. I reset everything and nothing.
They don't pick up on it until the electric bill comes .
Gas furnace and air conditioning for northern Canada is all that makes sense imo. The government offers big incentives to swap your gas furnace to heat pumps. All the competent HVAC companies agree they don’t make sense as the only heat source up here.
they dont Work ask the TVA and Duke energy about their rolling blacks
I have a 25-year-old ICM heat pump that runs great at minus 18 Celsius. Are you in Ottawa ?
Why are you yelling? Service area Nepean??
What is the best heat pump to buy ?
I have a 30k BTU Mitsu split system (3 air handlers). This is my second winter. My indoor units are Hyper Heat, but the ODU is standard. My honest experience is, these will make warm air in the high single digits. Last winter, I woke up in early morning and the house was 52 !! Knew something was wrong.
Turns out, according to my weather station, we were at -1.8 degrees! The system is rated to +5. So, the heat pump was 7 below it's rating. I noted the system would turn on for about 2 minutes and then shut right down and repeat this while I stood there and listened. Basically, it could no longer pull warm air out of that low an outdoor temp.
So, I turned on the gas furnace for an hour and a half (3 cycles) and as soon as the morning sun came up and the temp rose to 7 degrees, I turned the Mitsubishi system back on and it began making warm air, running for about the usual half hour straight before an 8 minute defrost cycle. This at least, is how my system runs normally.
THIS WINTER, I decided to use my gas furnace as soon as we hit 10 degrees and give the heat pump a break. Soon as it gets to 13 degrees in the morning, I shut down the furnace, and go back to the Mitsu.
It has been a learning curve, but I believe I got a handle on it now and I am very happy with the new system. Yes, my electric bill can run high in winter, but it is still cheaper then running my 40 year old furnace with it's 150,000 btu burner LOL.
my heat pump keeps pumping heat after it hits the set temperature and just keeps pumping heat and wont shut off .i have to trip the breaker.the service company i called cant figure it out after 3 visits any idea thank you.
Just curious, I'm in Canada and its quite cold so my mini split will operate for a while blowing warm air and then it will stop. The display will change from showing the temperature I set it at to showing "HI" with no air blowing out.
Hello! Our temperature dropped in below freezing level. Like 0- 11F for the past few days and our heat pump turn off automatically so our main unit is the only one working that caused our electric bill insanely high. Now our temperature back on 40’s and it started working again. Why did it stopped working when we need it the most?😢
I live in Detroit so we were hit with that winter storm. We have those wall hvac units with baseboards in my loft and the hvacs stop working in the middle of the night in 1 degree weather outside. Long story short, half of my apt complex is particularly out of heat with the thermostats saying "defrosting" and I'm being charged +13 dollars in kwh a day for having the baseboards heat my 650sqft loft at 60 degrees with only 1/4 of my baseboards on. My PM are harassing me to leaving my baseboards on while they wait till AFTER Christmas to get someone out but I'm trying REALLY hard to keep my utilities under $200 WITHOUT heating problems. Anyways, I decided to stay at my family house and turn everything off except for the 1/2 baseboard in the living room to keep the pipes from freezing. This complex was renovated so cheaply smh. Will avoid this try of heating for now on.
Question…..you mention keeping the insides ( especially the bottom) clean of debris like grass and leaves…and routine servicing will take care of this. On my Goodman unit…and I think it's the same with all other brands……the middle-center section of the bottom pan of the outside unit ( where the compressor sits-on)….is lower than the surrounding perimeter where all the DRAIN SLOTS are. Question…..WHY aren't the drain slots at the lowest portion…in the center section?
yes..my heat pump just not blow hot this week and very cold inside the house. now find out the wire connector both side on the bottom that panel rusted and broken.becaue.of my poor maintenance.
Excellent, thanks!
At what temp does a outdoor unit start to freeze up? I saw some frost on the 1/3rd portion of my 5 ton heat pump the other night when it was about 15’f outside. Had it installed July 2022. Seems to be finding heat at temps well below I thought it could! I was always told around 30’f and they are not that great but I’m pretty impressed with this unit. Maybe some hokey brand “Sure Comfort” by Rheem. Seems to be the brand Rheem has in this area of East Texas. Then again maybe that was some BS the salesman told me. He said he could get Rheem equipment but at a $300 extra. Something about having to pay a penalty or extra fee since they are a Sure Comfort dealer. Are you in Nepean ?
Hello my question is that my heat pump system. It blows out cold air for the first 2 minutes then it blows hot air and the opposite in the summer time. Thanks in advance for the advance. Service area Kanata??
the fan starts up and runs for a while then shuts off, the compressor is still, but no heat, already replaced the capacitor. And the emergency heat doesn’t heat up well, any suggestions
Breaker tripping
Have a three year old Grandaire package unit. When temps drop below 32deg unit will not run. When it warms above 32deg unit comes on and heat pump works per design.
Anyone got any ideas on this problem?
Its warming up in PA today. 5 degrees here now, last night was negative 7. The entire power grid is going to fail here shortly, Hope the heat pump fan boys have a generator big enough to run that heat pump and backup. LOL
Do you know of any honest Heating and Air companies around Athens Georgia?
Good morning I have a heat pump. It was installed this past summer. It worked fine in the short time but now it’s in the winter it does not run correctly. The major Duct Work runs in the crawlspace. The duct was recently insulated.
The system is running about 20° below the temperature on the thermostat what could cause that Service area Barrhaven??
I have 3 heat pump mini splits, all high wall indoor units. I shut down one unit today, located on the north side of the building (for good summer AC operation), but the wind today, prevented the defrost, as it blew any heat from the coils. I do have a snow hood over the unit. But I know the wind blew snow at the unit, which made more ice build up. This is an AirCon brand, 9KBTU. It does not have a pan heater.
I also have a Trane/American Standard that is still working and on the same side of this building, coil looks good on it, it's 32KBTU. I know this to be a Gree unit. It does have a pan heater. It's not keeping up to the heating load, as it's -10F, and heating a 1200sqft space. It was heating the space till this big blizzard, and going below 0F. I expected that.
I know that my latitude is too far north for all winter available heating of an air to air heat pump.
Should you allow your heat pump (outdoor unit) to run during single digit temperatures even if it may run for days? Some say no but most say it's better for the parts (outside unti) to be moving rather than sitting still in extreme cold temps. Are you in Orleans ?
Just got an estimate for Champion heat pump and air handler. They say it comes with a 10 year labor warranty but I cannot find much info online about their products or warranty. Weird.
Viewing your very informative video from Canada.
This morning it is -22c or -7.5F outside.
Am I wrong in assuming my heat pump will not operate in these temperatures?
I traditionally remove the breaker powering my heat pump and cover it for the winter months.
I have rather old heatpump TRANE XR11 20yrs. Recently bought the house. Did some basic maintenance. Like insulated the copper pipes that were naked outside 🙁 and cleaned with hose. My issue happens when temps drop in the 30s it fails to heat efficiently or even just stops the heat process. Sometimes it tends to blow cold thru the vents for extended time when on heat again when it is low 30s outside.
Ok got head scratcher here, so I have a carrier infinity heat pump and it’s 13 years old last winter one night I noticed it wasn’t heating as well when it got cold outside, it used to heat the home easily even when it was -15c outside now all of a sudden even when it’s like -8c it runs forever just to keep the heat stable in the home, like it will take 1 hour to raise the temp half a degree in the home while before it would have no problem warming it up in like 10 min, I have the serviceman come check the pump and said everything working fine and the pressures are all good. Btw it works fine in the summer with the ac when hot outside? Any ideas what it could be?
Thank you for all of your videos. I have a 3-year-old ruud 4 ton heat pump here in the Atlanta Georgia area. It has not heated our house over the last 3 years at all. We are getting the Daikin fit 17 seer tomorrow morning, please tell me if it works good In the heat mode.
I've got an LG mini split that sticks in defrost mode for hours at a time. It works perfectly above freezing, as soon as it's a degree or two below it sticks into defrost mode so long that the house cools right down. Do you have any suggestions for this? I've replaced the reversing valve solenoid, and also the temp sensor for the outdoor coil, and the issue still remains. Thanks in advance. 🙂
Dude, my name is joshua griffin, and so is yours, weird
We have a heat pump here in mcdonough ga. problem we have is smell comes out of ducts when outside air drops below 40 to 45 degrees. the smell is the same as smell from car air conditioner. the fan comes on and cool air begins to come out then warmer eventually gets thermostat to set temperature. Then To me it goes into another phase air turns back on and this seems to be warmer air right at the begining that starts the smell. Have spent at least 700 dollars on 5 heating and air companies with out any luck really getting frustrated
I have a two year old heat pump with natural gas for a backup. I have a nest thermostat and I noticed there is an outdoor temp setting for when the gas heat takes over for the heat pump. What temperature do you recommend setting that at? My HVAC guy didn't even know the setting was there.
I have a Daikin heat pump and was wondering how low can I set the setpoint before my alt heat kicks in?
In Southeastern PA our degree day is 9f . So when we do a heat load/ gain the heating load is usually 2 1/2 times the gain load. Without getting into the math we are trying to change the temperature inside on cooling about 20 degrees as compared to heating we are trying to change the temperature on a degree day 60 degrees f. The heat pump must be sized for the cooling load. If you size it for the heating load it will be too large to dehumidify. You must also take into account the diminishing BTU output as it gets colder. So if we have a heat load of 60,000 and a heat gain of 30,000 we would use a 2 1/2 ton heat pump then we would go back to our heat load and see at what outdoor temp our home would need 30,000 BTU's. But that is not the end because the 2 1/2 ton heat pump is 30,000 at 47 degrees and we will be a few degrees below that so we have to go back to our performance chart and see what the BTU output is at that outdoor temp. Even if we throw that to the wind and shove in a 5 ton unit, again that is 60,000 BTU on a 47 degree day not a 9 degree day. At 9 degrees the output is significantly lower and not enough to heat the home. The last Bosch unit I installed was over an oil fired furnace using a thermostat with an outside sensor to make the change over. I had a very smart customer I was confident could change the sensor temp from the stat. The heat load gave me a changeover at 30 degrees conservatively and I explained to the customer if the home was still maintaining 70 when it switched over to go back in a change the switchover to 25 degrees, which he did. It couldn't do it. It made it to 68 inside temp and stabilized. So it shows the heat load is pretty accurate but, and this is something that comes down to cost not efficiency is when a fossil fuel backup is used the heat pump must turn off completely otherwise you would send hot air over the evaporator. As where electric backup the heat pump continues to run and the electric is used as a auxiliary. It would be nice if thermostat manufacturers would put a timer on the stat to show how many hours the resistance heat was running. This would make cost calculations much easier, but that would be asking too much lol. As far as repairing them, to meet the new requirements most heat pumps are coming through with a TXV on the outdoor. I for one am not going to replace a TXV or a reversing valve or a compressor in 10 degree weather with rain or wind blown snow. Opening a system with POE, very hygroscopic, in that weather is beyond my wants in life lol. Most times the customer actually thinks I am going to shovel a path to the unit. LOL. I already have one this year that I flipped to emergency heat and told them I will return in the Spring, if they dont like it they can get someone else. Also I want to point out that I am not referring to Ductless. Those can be used. OK Josh , your turn lol
How do you check refrigerant levels during cold temperature
Yep