If you’re noticing a odor from your heat pump, it’s attempting to tell you that something is wrong. We’ve put together a list of the most common 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 probably mold growing on moist evaporator coils or in the ductwork. This heat pump odor is often called dirty sock syndrome. You can avoid this by scheduling routine 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 problem
- Plastic components or coating is melting
- Other mechanical problem
Electrical problems are dangerous, so shut your heat pump system off as soon as possible at the breaker box and get a hold of us at for heat pump repair.
3. Heat Pump Smells Like Sulfur
Normally when you smell a rotten egg smell, you’ve got 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 Redhawk Heating & Air Conditioning experts can get rid of the smell by cleaning your heat pump.
4. Heat Pump Smells Like Sewer
As we reviewed above, your heat pump is electric, so any rotten egg smells are linked to a gas leak somewhere else. If your heat pump smells like sewer, you might have a backed-up or broken sewer line. We suggest contacting a company that does sewer line repair.
5. Heat Pump Smells Like Burning
You might be dealing with an electrical issue 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, turn off your heat pump at the breaker and get a hold of us at .
6. Heat Pump Defrost Cycle Smells
Like we mentioned earlier, a dirty socks smell can happen when your evaporator coils need sanitizing. You might notice this smell when your heat pump has defrost mode.
It’s common for your heat pump to have to use defrost mode during heating season. When the air is much cooler, frost can form fast on the coils from condensation and impede heating. During defrost mode, your heat pump temporarily switches to cooling to remove the frost.
Having a Redhawk Heating & Air Conditioning HVAC technician clean the coils will help eliminate the odor.
Trust Us with Your Heat Pump Repair Needs
It can be hard to troubleshoot your heat pump by alone. Your comfort matters to us at Redhawk Heating & Air Conditioning, so you can count on our experts to help you when you need us. When you need heat pump repair in that you can count on, call us at .
