Many customer in Vancouver WA who have a heat pump for the first time are amazed by the comfort they feel from this new system. A heat pump in Vancouver WA works on smaller amounts of btu's and it delivers them more often. This will allow this heat to move to all areas of the home more consistently. This method delivers more comfort in the home. Although when winter comes toVancouver WA and the outdoor temperatures drop down to the freezing mark, these system struggle to work without freezing. Due to this fact these systems require a defrost cycle that is designed to melt this ice when/if it forms on the outdoor unit. This is a mechanical system and has been known to have problems on occasion causing the ice to build up on the outdoor unit. Rule of thumb, (frost is fine ice is not!) When your system is turning white and you question if it is normal or not keep an eye on it and make sure that it switch's to defrost. You will hear a fairly loud "SWISH" and steam can shoot out the top. When your heat pump needs to defrost this is what happens. 1) Sensing bulb senses that the temp is cold and the refrigerant is freezing. Reversing valve switches, turning on air conditioning. At the same time as the strip heat and the furnace comes on sending boiling hot refrigerant out to the outdoor unit to melt the ice and heat the air coming out of the vents. The outdoor fan shuts off to stop the cold outside air from coming into the outdoor unit allowing it to warm up and melt the ice. (Many people notice this and call us thinking the fan is broken) Then at the end of the cycle you will hear a "Swish" again and the outdoor fan will come on and blow a cloud of steam out the top. This is a normal operation. Although if your outdoor unit turns white and it just builds up and turns to ice. This ice can cause major problems for this system and needs to be shut down. If your system is full of ice it can severely damage this system. If you need to shut down this system or your heat pump fails you should go to the thermostat and switch this setting to E HEAT. Or Emergency Heat and call Dan's Top Notch heating and cooling. (360) 835-9364 This setting should bypass the outdoor unit and allow the system to rest. Melting the ice and wait for a qualified technician to fix it. If you need our help, please call (360) 835-9364
