If you’re noticing a smell from your heat pump, it’s trying to tell you that something is wrong. We’ve created a list of the most popular six heat pump smells, what causes them and how you can repair them.
- Heat pump smells musty
- Heat pump smells like fish
- Heat pump smells like sulfur
- Heat pump smells like sewer
- Heat pump smells like burning
- Heat pump defrost cycle smells
1. Heat Pump Smells Musty
If your heat pump smells musty, there’s most likely mold growing on wet evaporator coils or in the ductwork. This heat pump odor is often referred to as dirty sock syndrome. You can avoid this by scheduling frequent heat pump maintenance and air duct cleaning.
2. Heat Pump Smells Like Fish
If your heat pump smells like fish, there could be a couple of things wrong:
- Motor is too hot
- Wiring problems
- Plastic components or coating is melting
- Other mechanical issue
Electrical problems are serious, so turn your heat pump system off right away at the breaker box and contact us at for heat pump repair.
3. Heat Pump Smells Like Sulfur
Often when you are dealing with a rotten egg smell, you have a gas leak. But your heat pump doesn’t run on natural gas. If your heat pump smells like sulfur, a little animal may have crawled inside it for warmth and died. One of our Air Service Co. [techs can eliminate the smell by cleaning your heat pump.
4. Heat Pump Smells Like Sewer
As we discussed earlier, your heat pump is electric, so any rotten egg smells are tied to a gas leak somewhere else. If your heat pump smells like sewer, you might be dealing with a backed-up or broken sewer line. We recommend calling a company that does sewer line repair.
5. Heat Pump Smells Like Burning
You might be dealing with an electrical problem if your heat pump smells like burning, burning plastic or burning rubber. This burning smell can be due to melting plastic on electrical wires. Electrical problems in HVAC systems are serious and could cause a fire. If you notice this smell, shut off your heat pump at the breaker and call us at .
6. Heat Pump Defrost Cycle Smells
Like we mentioned above, a dirty socks smell can happen when your evaporator coils need cleaning. You might experience this smell when your heat pump has defrost mode.
It’s ordinary for your heat pump to have to turn on defrost mode during heating season. When the air is much cooler, frost can form quickly on the coils from condensation and impede heating. During defrost mode, your heat pump shortly switches to ac to clear away the frost.
Having a Air Service Co. HVAC technician clean the coils will help eliminate the smell.
Trust Us with Your Heat Pump Repair Needs
It can be difficult to troubleshoot your heat pump by alone. Your comfort matters to us at Air Service Co., so you can count on our specialists to support you when you need us. When you need heat pump repair in that you can rely on, call us at .
