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Guardian Plumbing & Heating Ltd. Blog

“Why Is My Heat Pump Blowing Cold Air Into My Home?”

This is quite a concerning event. Temperatures are officially getting to freezing and below, so now is the most important time to make sure your heating system is running effectively. Especially for those homeowners that invested in yearly maintenance, you might be frustrated when your heat pump system starts blowing cold air into your house. What a bad problem to have!

Well, it’s not exactly a problem. Heat pumps can run into some issues when temperatures drop below freezing and the coils of the system start collecting ice. This blog is all about the “defrost mode” that many heat pumps will run, and why this isn’t a problem.

However, if your heat pump is continuously blowing cool air into your home on one of the coldest days of the year, then you’ve absolutely got a problem and you need to contact our team for heating repair in Blackburn, AB.

Everything You Should Know About the Defrost Cycle

When temperatures start to drop below freezing, a heat pump is going to have a harder time pulling heat from the outdoor air. This is a given and usually a common fact that homeowners already know. However, they should still be able to keep your home warm as they work. This involves a specific process that includes an extra mode known as the “defrost mode.”

As the system pulls heat from the outside and deposits it indoors, the coils of the outdoor components will freeze up. This will make the heating process impossible until the coils are warmed up again to a specific temperature. Thus, the defrost cycle begins.

You might notice that all of a sudden, the heat pump starts depositing cool air into your home when it should be warming things up. This means the heat pump is actually taking heat from the inside of your home and using it to warm up the outside coil until it reaches a certain point.

14 Degrees Celcius Is the Magic Number

14 Degrees Celsius, or 57 degrees Fahrenheit, is the magic number your heat pump’s outer coil needs to reach before it can start heating your home again. Usually, this doesn’t take very long, but you could see a big drop in your home’s interior temperature for the time being.

Here are two ways to get through this defrost cycle with your comfort intact:

  • Keep temperatures warm inside. Keeping the temperature above the mid-50s will mean that your home should have enough residual heat to stay warm and comfortable while the heat pump defrosts.
  • Bundle up, or take a walk outside while the system returns to normal. Things might get a bit chillier inside for a short while. Either bundle up and brace the chillier temperatures, or maybe do some kind of winter activity outdoors while your heat pump recovers.

Call Us for Help When It’s Necessary

If your heat pump is depositing too much cool air into your home, or it just won’t seem to stop defrosting, then you might have a problem. Our team can help fix it and return it to the powerful heating system it should be.

Call Guardian Plumbing & Heating Ltd. for help with your heat pump.

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