Heat pumps can exhibit all sorts of bizarre behavior when they malfunction. One of the strangest and most frustrating of such behaviors for homeowners in Winter Park, FL, is heat pumps’ tendency to sometimes blow cold air when in heating mode. Here are a few reasons your heat pump might start cooling you when it should heat you:
Broken Reversing Valve
The reversing valve is the reason heat pumps are able to perform double duty as both heating and cooling systems. These valves can alter the direction in which refrigerant flows through the system, thus changing where it deposits heat after refrigerant condenses.
If your thermostat registers temperatures at home that are below where you desire them to be, it’ll direct your heat pump to go into heating mode. If the reversing valve breaks, however, the system won’t be able to do this. As a result, it’ll continue expelling cold air regardless.
Insufficient Refrigerant
When your heat pump is in heating mode, refrigerant should evaporate while in the system’s outdoor evaporator coil and absorb heat from outdoor air in the process. Then, after the compressor compresses the refrigerant further, the gas should finally condense in the indoor condenser coil and release its stored heat into your home. If some refrigerant leaks out of your system, though, the heat pump won’t be able to do this work.
Because of that, the air entering your home may still feel cool. The only solution to this is to ask an HVAC service technician to perform maintenance on your system and refill it with refrigerant.
Thermostat Issues
Finally, your thermostat may be malfunctioning. For example, it may be misreading temperatures or simply fail to send your heat pump the signal to enter heating mode.
No one from around Winter Park, FL, should sit or sleep at home feeling chilly because of a faulty heat pump. Call ACR Air Conditioning & Refrigeration and ask for our heat pump services. We’ll gladly fix things for you.
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