Derek Cole explains why heat pumps smell like burning when backup heaters first kick in after sitting idle. Dust on the heating elements burns off in about five minutes, but you should have a technician activate the heat strips during seasonal maintenance to prevent it. If the smell lingers, turn it off and call a pro.
Chapters
So you've all been there. The first really cool night, really cold day, your heat pump comes on and you're smelling something that is not normal. You're having that burning smell and you wonder, is your unit on fire? Is something messed up? Is something burning? What's going on? Do I need to call the fire department? Do I need to call the heating air person? What, what's happening? Well, first let's go back to what heat pumps are and what's going to happen. So when it gets cold outside and it cannot keep up with the, the demand inside for your set thermostat temperature, it's going to bring on all heat pumps, have them when they're installed should happen. It's going to bring on the heat strips, what's called the heat strips or the electric backup heaters. Now, these heaters are wires. So when they first activate after a long period of time, they have dust, dirt, debris, whatever's happened between, you know, all this time of the spring, summer, in the fall, all that has built upon these wires. So the very first time it turns on, it has to burn that off. And that's what you're smelling in the house. Is that burning off now? It should be a quick burning smell, like five minutes maybe of a burning smell. If that's happening, you probably don't have a problem. If you keep smelling the burning smell, you do have problem, and you do need a professional to come out, take a look at what's going on. It's very hard to prevent this from happening. The one thing you can do is make sure to have your unit maintenance maintained, because when they do that service before the season, they will activate those heat strips to make sure everything's working good. The burning smell from your heat pump is probably going to be normal. It's probably going to be fine again. If it lingers more in a couple of minutes, you probably need to turn off thermostat, turn off the heat strips, turn off the heater, turn off the heat pump, call a professional and get things checked out to make sure your system is working the best it can.
