5 ✋ Reasons Your Heat Pump Is Struggling

Hey, what's up everyone? Derrick Cole here to come to you and talk about the 5 reasons your heat pump is struggling. The 5 reasons your heat pump is struggling in this weather. It is cold, it is that time of year. If you have a heat pump, it's probably struggling a little bit. But let me tell you why. Let me give you 5 reasons why.. And even if you don't have a heat pump, if you have a gas furnace or a gas package unit, some of these same principles apply to that as well. So don't discount all the 5. And the 5 are in no particular order, they are just 5. Number 1, check your thermostat settings. Thermostat not set properly is one of the reasons it's struggling. If it's still— if it's freezing outside, if it's cold, some folks tell you to switch your thermostat over to emergency heat. Do not do that. If it is freezing outside, let your heat pump run through the cycles it needs to run through. It has a defrost cycle, and it can activate the emergency heat if it needs help maintaining the indoor temperature. So do not proactively go to your thermostat and switch over to emergency heat. Do not do that. The heat pump can still get heat out of the air even though it's freezing outside, or 30 degrees, or 20 degrees, or 10 degrees. You can still get heat out of the air, and heat pump heat is a lot more efficient for energy than that emergency heat. But if you have to use emergency heat, you have to use it. So don't switch over, let it figure itself out. If the unit is covered in snow or ice or it's blocked, then emergency heat needs to be used. But if that unit can go through its cycles of defrosting, coming back on, defrosting, coming back on, that is much more efficient for your energy bill if you let it do that. Number 2: dirty filters. Dirty filters— a dirty and clogged filter can stop the airflow, causing the heat pump to struggle to heat the home. So replace your filters regularly. It's recommended every 3 months. I personally recommend you check them every single month. Check them every month and make sure you're good to go. But when you get that 3-month mark, change your filter. When you get to 3 months, change your filter. But I want you to check the filter every month because you might have heavy traffic in the house that month. Uh, if you have animals, if you have cats, dogs, pet dander can get on this filter. So Check them every month, change them if you need to every month, but at least change them every 3 months. Number 3: clogged or clogged coils or clogged fins in the coils. What do you mean? Well, the heat pump, the condenser, and the evaporator coils, along with the fins in the coils, work together to remove moisture and transfer the heat. The harder it is to transfer heat, the harder it has to work and the more energy it uses. You need to make sure these coils and coil fins are clean. Do that with regular service. Get a professional to check the system at least twice a year because you want to make sure your system can breathe when it needs to. So the only way for it to transfer heat in and out is for it to be as efficient as possible. But dirt, debris, things can get on that fin, can get on that coil. If they're not clean, it can make it harder to heat or cool the home because now it cannot transfer heat. Obviously, with, with air conditioning, we're taking heat out of the house. With heating season, we're bringing heat into the house. We're taking heat from outside, bringing it into the house. So you want to make it as efficient as possible. The aluminum or copper coils you have on your unit, the reason they're aluminum or copper is because those are great conductors of heat. It's all about heat transfer, so you need to make it as easy as possible. Now, number 4: low refrigerant. Yes, even though it's heating season, you don't hear— you don't hear too much about refrigerant and heating. You hear more in air conditioning. Hey, I need Freon. But just as important is the refrigerant in the heating season. The refrigerant inside your heat pump is responsible for removing that heat from outside to bring it inside your home. Yes, the coils, they need to be cleaned, and then the refrigerant is going to actually bring in that heat and bring it inside your home. If there's not enough refrigerant, the unit will not extract sufficient heat, causing it to blow cold air in the house, and you may have to switch over to emergency heat which again, what I just say before, it is the most expensive heat. You don't want to use that unless you have to. So check the refrigerant. Low refrigerant could be a reason your unit is struggling. And number 5, compressor problems. This kind of goes back to— kind of goes back to refrigerant, but the compressor If it's not working, your heat pump will not heat the home. You're going to have to use emergency heat if that's the case. The heat pump and the refrigerant and the clean coils and the clean filter— all these things play into heating your home. So if the compressor is not working, the compressor— excuse me, the compressor actually takes the refrigerant and changes its state to what it needs to be. So fixing the problem can get complicated. This is probably something you shouldn't do yourself. So changing out a compressor or repairing a compressor or checking it, even checking it, you need to call a professional. The heat pump not heating the home can be frustrating, um, especially, you know, during the, you know, frigid parts of the winter. It's essential to keep your heat pump properly maintained to avoid problems in the long run. If you encounter any issues with it not heating, call a professional. Please do not try to do it yourself. Call a professional, get them on the phone, get them to the house, get them to see what's going on, get them to offer you solutions, not Band-Aid repairs.