Heat Pumps by Treat’s Heating & Cooling
You may have noticed that your Heat Pump has been frozen the last few times you’ve gone outside. When the outdoor air finds a surface that’s at a temperature that is low, the water vapor condensation comes out of it. If that surface and the surrounding air are below the freezing point as well, the condensed water freezes.
If you see a small amount of frost forming – check back to see if it still there. Heat Pumps have a defrost cycle that melts the frost build-up. The way this works is the defrost cycle simply changes the direction of flow so the hot refrigerant doesn’t take its heat indoors but instead goes back through the outdoor coil. The fan in the outdoor unit stops to keep cold air from hindering the defrost process.
A little bit of frost is ok as long as it disappears after a while. If you see an excess amount of frost, so much that it looks like the air can’t pass through the fins on the outdoor unit or the frost stays on the coil for two hours or more, then something is wrong and is time to call Treat’s Heating & Cooling for service.
The defrost cycle on a Heat Pump can use a lot of energy. When the refrigerant is flowing backwards to defrost the outdoor coil, it’s not heating the house. In fact without supplemental heat, your system will blow cold air into your home. Most Heat Pumps have supplemental or “emergency heat” and when it is running in the defrost cycle the supplemental heat kicks in and you will pay more in energy costs.
Treat’s Heating & Cooling is here to provide you with superior service and help you get a resolution for your Heat Pump. Call 360.825.0800 for an appointment.
The Enumclaw, WA Heat Pump experts at Treat’s Heating & Cooling offer high quality installation, repair, maintenance, and other heating and air conditioning services throughout Western Washington including Enumclaw, Buckley, Bonney Lake, Sumner, Puyallup, Tacoma, Auburn, Black Diamond, Covington, Maple Valley, Federal Way, Kent, & Seattle WA.