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Common Heat Pump Troubleshooting Tips

These easy to understand troubleshooting tips are for common issues that any homeowner can check before making an appointment for service or repairs and to help understand what may be wrong. Please do not perform these tips if you are not comfortable performing them. Electricity is dangerous and can cause serious injury or death, always assume electrical power is on unless you have checked it with an appropriate electrical meter. Ameri-Serv, Inc. assumes no liability for the use of the information provided on this website. Before beginning please read the following article. Understanding Electrical Circuits and Standard Household Voltages

Checking your Heat Pump Control Thermostat

    * Is the thermostat's system selector switch in the "heat" position?
    * Is the thermostat's temperature set point at least three degrees higher than the temperature inside?
    * You can check your systems back up heat source by switching to emergency heat on the heat pump thermostat, this should override the outdoor unit from running and run on the back source electric heat.
    * Is your thermostat is electronic? Some electronic  thermostats operate from batteries and if they okay the LCD display should be visible. Many times if the LED display is not visible this may also indicated that the power to the electric furnace or air handler is off (see below). If you think you have a thermostat that runs off of batteries you can usually change the batteries by carefully removing the thermostat from the wall mount as the batteries are generally located inside the thermostat.
    * You can test your heat pump thermostat if it has switch or button to control the indoor blower or fan, switch it to "on." Listen to hear if the blower or fan comes on. If you do not hear any fan or there is no air coming from your supply registers then check to be sure the power is on at the indoor unit. (see below) If the power is on and you do not hear the fan running this may indicate that you have a bad capacitor, blower motor or other common control issue.
 

Checking your Power or Electrical

    * Your heat pump system may have a power switch at the indoor unit. In most homes in the Treasure Valley area the power switch looks just like a regular light switch and is generally located right on or beside the indoor unit. Make sure the switch is on as indicated above.
    * Many heat pump systems have another hidden switch that shuts off your unit if the front service panel or blower door is removed. Make sure all the service panels are on and secure.
    * If the fan still does not operate check to see if any electrical panel circuit breakers are tripped. Usually if a circuit breaker has tripped it will not be fully in the "on" position. To reset the circuit breaker turn it off all the way and then back on.

Checking your outdoor unit

    * If you have a heat pump and you can hear the outdoor unit running but cold air is blowing in your home you should wait a few minutes to see if the system starts heating again. Heat pumps will typically build up ice on the outdoor unit and in order for the system to continue working properly this ice must be removed. The heat pump will go through a defrost cycle to melt the ice that usually will last just a few minutes. Sometimes the defrost timer or controller fails and the unit either builds up ice to the point that it will not work or it gets stuck in this defrost mode. Check to see if you have ice build up on the outdoor unit if you do then you should call a qualified service company.



Back Up Emergency Heat

    * Most heat pump systems have back up or emergency heat, this back up heat will usually come on when it gets too cold outside or too cold in your home, in many cases you can manually turn on the emergency back up heat at the thermostat with a selector switch or button, this will get you some heat while you wait for repairs to your heat pump.

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