The Most Common Heat Pump Mistakes
The great thing about a heat pump is that it not only keeps your home warm during the winter, but also supplies your home with cold air during the summer. Even better is that the heat pump doesn't use any fuel. During the winter, it acts like a standard AC unit, so it is essentially like an AC with expanded capabilities. However, like with all equipment, your heat pump can eventually develop problems that can become more expensive if they're not attended to in the future. There are several mistakes homeowners make with their heat pumps that can cost money in the long-run.
Trying to Fix the Heat Pump Yourself
A heat pump is more technical than managing other types of heating and cooling units. For that reason, you'll want anything other than basic maintenance to be handled by a heat pump technician.
Not Cleaning the Heat Pump Regularly
Pine needles, leaves and dirt can all accumulate on a heat pump and affect how efficiently it may operate. The unit should be cleaned off whenever you're performing yard work by using a leaf blower or a brush.
Not Keeping the Heat Pump Level
The unit should also be kept on a concrete support pad. You can also check to see if the heat pump is level. Each heating season, use a carpenter's level to check the top of the metal cabinet to make sure that it's level. If the pad is not level, you'll need to build stone or ground rock underneath the concrete pad.
Running the Heat Pump After an Outage
You might discover that your heat pump has not had any power for over an hour. This can result from a utility power failure, a blown fuse or a tripped circuit breaker. After you have corrected the problem, you should not operate the heat pump for six to eight hours because the oil reservoir might be too cool to circulate effectively and you might damage the unit. Instead, the pump should be set to emergency heat. After eight hours, you may set the pump back to the original setting.
Not Replacing a Heat Pump
You should have you heat pump serviced by the company that sold the heat pump. If your heat pump is not heating your home evenly after a few repairs, you should consider having it completely replaced rather than wasting money on having your heat pump repaired.