5 Methods for Troubleshooting Your Heat Pump
When it comes to your heat pump, you might run into a few problems. While, generally speaking, a heat pump tends to run quite efficiently, there might be a few issues that you'll eventually take umbrage with.
It should be stated, first and foremost, that a lot of the problems that people run into regarding their heat pump are actually problems with their thermostat. Thermostat issues will not be addressed throughout the course of this article.
However, if there genuinely is an issue with your heat pump, look no further; you're covered here. This brief article will give you 5 easy steps to troubleshoot your heat pump if it doesn't happen to be working.
Check the Thermostat
First and foremost, check your thermostat. As aforementioned, your thermostat might have an issue wrong with it, but this step relates to the thermostat's relation to the heat pump. Make sure that it is set to the correct setting, which is to say, in this case: heat.
If your thermostat is new, it may be one of two problems. First, it could be the case that the thermostat was not designed to cooperate with heat pumps or, secondly, it could be the case that the thermostat was not wired correctly. An electrician can deal with both issues.
Reset the Circuit Breaker
Make sure that your heat pump is getting the power that it needs to run. Nothing is more embarrassing in the world of troubleshooting heat pumps than to discover that this entire time, your house was not being heated due to a simple case of there not being any power involved.
The circuit breakers, which provide power to the both the heat pump's air handler and heat pump condenser, may have been tripped. Take the time to check to see if this is the case. If the breakers are set to off, turn them back on. If this is a persistent problem, then you may have a wiring issue.
Flip the Power Switch
This is also considered a no-brainer, and might be an even more common problem than that of the circuit breaker. If your heat pump is connected to a source of power (not all of them are; check the manual of your heat pump to see if this is the case), then check a couple of things.
First and foremost, make sure that the heat pump is powered on. If it is not, flip the switch to give it some power. Next, check to see if it is properly plugged in. Sometimes the power cable becomes a bit jostled and is removed from its nest in an outlet.
Get Supplemental Heat
Many heat pumps, in fact, most of them, have electrical components that supply supplemental heat to the heat pump. These can become overworked and, especially if you have poor wiring conditions, can cause a circuit breaker to blow. Check the circuit breakers that regulate the power to these supplemental components and make sure that they haven't tripped or, worse, a fuse hasn't blown in the circuit breaker.
Hire a Technician
If you have attempted these steps and retried them, then it it probably time to hire a technician. Going beyond these steps can prove to be quite dangerous in some situations. It is recommended that you hire a technician for several reasons. First and foremost, the technician will know exactly how to address the problem after a few steps. Secondly, the technician will know how to go about resolving such issues in the safest way possible. The services of heat pump technicians are generally inexpensive, as well.
Hopefully, these 5 simple steps have helped you troubleshoot your heat pump. If the first 4 didn't work, you can always rely on the services of a technician.