{"id":539,"date":"2023-02-13T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-13T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thermallheating.com\/blog\/?p=539"},"modified":"2023-02-10T14:20:30","modified_gmt":"2023-02-10T22:20:30","slug":"i-see-smoke-coming-from-my-heat-pump-whats-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thermallheating.com\/blog\/heat-pump-service\/i-see-smoke-coming-from-my-heat-pump-whats-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"I See Smoke Coming From My Heat Pump! What\u2019s Wrong?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"house-with-chimney-smoke\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

First, take a deep breath. Your heat pump is almost certainly not on fire. In fact, it\u2019s probably working just the way it\u2019s supposed to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If this is the first winter you\u2019ve used a heat pump to provide comfort to your home, then we\u2019re not surprised that you might find this sight alarming. A heat pump works similarly to an air conditioner, and if you see smoke coming off your air conditioning system\u2019s outdoor unit, that\u2019s a big problem, likely some kind of electrical fire. This is extremely rare, but not impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, that \u201csmoke\u201d you see rising from your heat pump isn\u2019t smoke at all, as we\u2019ll explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Defrost Cycle of the Heat Pump<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What you are actually seeing coming from your heat pump is steam. This is part of the heat pump\u2019s defrost cycle, which is an essential part of how it works during the winter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you know a bit about how a heat pump works, you\u2019ll know that when in heating mode it absorbs thermal energy from the outside air by evaporating cold refrigerant in the outdoor refrigerant coil. This heat then goes indoors, where it\u2019s released via condensation in the indoor coil. During evaporation, water vapor in the air condenses along the coil, which is something you\u2019re used to with an AC or a heat pump that\u2019s working in cooling mode: you\u2019ll hear the sound of condensate water dripping off the coil of the indoor cabinet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when water condenses along the outdoor<\/em> coil, it can freeze. On the coldest days of winter, ice will quickly start to form along the outdoor coil of a heat pump. Ice insulates the coil and will make it harder for the heat pump to draw thermal energy from the air. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To combat this, heat pumps have a built-in defrost cycle. Periodically when the heat pump is in heat mode, it will temporarily switch the direction it moves heat so that the refrigerant in the outdoor coil is hot instead of cold. The heat melts off the ice on the coil, and steam billows into the air. That\u2019s what you\u2019re seeing happen with your heat pump in winter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actual Heat Pump Defrost Malfunctions<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There is a problem you may encounter with the defrost cycle, which has nothing to do with fires. The defrost controls may malfunction and not cause the heat pump to periodically switch to defrost mode. This will allow ice to continue to develop along the coils. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When this occurs, you\u2019ll notice the heat pump losing energy efficiency. It will need to run for longer trying to effectively warm your house, and you\u2019ll see your energy bills going up. These could be symptoms of other problems, but no matter the case, you\u2019ll want to call for heat pump repair in Yakima, WA<\/a> from our team. We\u2019ll investigate and discover what\u2019s hurting your heat pump\u2019s performance and then find the right solution. We\u2019ll see that your heat pump gets back to work, effectively handling both parts of its job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Call ThermAll Heating & Cooling, Inc: We are \u201cYour Home Comfort Hero!\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That \u201csmoke\u201d you see rising from your heat pump isn\u2019t smoke at all, as we\u2019ll explain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[50,87],"class_list":["post-539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-heat-pump-service","tag-heating-system-repair","tag-yakima"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thermallheating.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thermallheating.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thermallheating.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thermallheating.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thermallheating.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thermallheating.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":543,"href":"https:\/\/www.thermallheating.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539\/revisions\/543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thermallheating.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thermallheating.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thermallheating.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}