Posted: 1/6/2013 2:33:00 PM EDT
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My heat pump's outside unit is freezing up. This is not snow in the pic. It's all from the unit. Even the compressor inside this unit is covered in ice. Been running the heat lately since it's around 50 during the day and below freezing at night. One thing I have noticed is the fan has never kicked on. I checked the fan motor and it turns freely/not locked up. Isn't this thing supposed to have some kind of defrost mode where the fan runs? Someone mentioned a circuit board that controls the defrost might be bad. I don't think I've heard the fan kick on this year. All I hear is the compressor running. This doesn't seem to be affecting my heat output in the house, but I would like to fix it.
Any suggestions about possible causes? Thanks 
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If it's an airconditioner and coming on when it's not supposed to, I'd kill the 220 vac and plan on replacing the contactor If it's a heat pump and freezing up... plugged filter? but control not turning on fan is a good guess. We don't have heat pumps really around me. |
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If it's an airconditioner and coming on when it's not supposed to, I'd kill the 220 vac and plan on replacing the contactor If it's a heat pump and freezing up... plugged filter? but control not turning on fan is a good guess. We don't have heat pumps really around me. It's a heat pump. I just went out and replaced the filter in the air handling unit in my garage. It was pretty dirty. We'll see if that helps. Thanks for the suggestion. |
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ATurn it off and call an AC contractor asap.. I worked for TRANE for years. let me know what they try to sell you and ill tell you what the list price is on it. I have everyones cost list. Thanks. That info will come in handy if I have to replace the unit. I'm hoping it's just something I can replace like the defrost controller. |
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The fan does not run in defrost mode. Looks like you just have build up from where it has been going into defrost mode. When a heat pump goes in to defrost mode it switches to cooling, heat strips come on to warm the air while the outside fan shuts off so the temp of the coil gets hotter and faster.
If your house is warm you may not have a problem at all. |
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It may be the compactor for out side fan. That is cheap to replace Do you mean capacitor??? If you are smart enough to get his far, I am guessing that auto-correct got you. OP, find the manufacturer and the model number. Google them and get the technical data on the unit. If you are tech savvy, find the type of capacitor needed and pick one up the an HVAC supplier tomorrow. They are insanely easy to change (screwdriver/nut driver for the unit cover and clamp that holds capacitor, needle nose pliers, maybe, to get the contact points off the old unit. That's it) If you are not handy enough for this, call a repair guy to do this. Give them the unit info and description, so that they can bring the part and not get you with a return trip. |
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That actually doesn't look bad. It's normal for a heatpump to ice up a bit during heating, as long as the thing is not a block of ice, i think you're OK. Excessive icing is usually a low refrigerant charge.
The defrost cycle is actually peformed by the unit switching into cooling mode, which causes the outside coil to get hot, defrosting the ice.... It's normal for the fan not to run during defrost- the point is to have the coil get hot. You don't notice cool air coming from your supply vents inside the house, because electric heat strips are activated automatically, then they turn off when the pump starts heating again. You might be low on charge a bit, but if it's really cold at night there, and your electric bill is not $$$$$ from heat strips running 24/7- that's just refrozen coil runoff. I wouldn't worry unless your whole unit looks like an icecube. |
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probably capacitor . find a 3uf @ 440V capacitor, hook it up and turn unit on. if fan does not come on could be motor or defrost board (or other things). do not keep running it without the fan motor as freezing up could bend a valve in the compressor or cause the oil to leave the crankcase
op said fan never kicked on |
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probably capacitor . find a 3uf @ 440V capacitor, hook it up and turn unit on. if fan does not come on could be motor or defrost board (or other things). do not keep running it without the fan motor as freezing up could bend a valve in the compressor or cause the oil to leave the crankcase op said fan never kicked on Oh I missed that part... |