If you’re noticing a smell from your heat pump, it’s attempting to tell you that something is up. We’ve developed a list of the top six heat pump smells, what causes them and how you can fix 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 moist evaporator coils or in the ductwork. This heat pump odor is often called dirty sock syndrome. You can deter this by scheduling regular heat pump maintenance and air duct cleaning.
2. Heat Pump Smells Like Fish
If your heat pump smells like fish, there could be a few things wrong:
- Overheated motor
- Wiring problems
- Plastic components or coating is melting
- Other mechanical problem
Electrical problems are unsafe, so shut your heat pump system off immediately at the breaker box and get a hold of us at for heat pump repair.
3. Heat Pump Smells Like Sulfur
Often when you smell a rotten egg smell, you’re dealing with a gas leak. But your heat pump doesn’t use natural gas. If your heat pump smells like sulfur, a tiny animal may have crawled inside it for warmth and died. One of our Bain Heating & Air Conditioning [techs 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 connected to a gas leak elsewhere. If your heat pump smells like sewer, you might be dealing with a backed-up or broken sewer line. We suggest 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 caused by melting plastic on electrical wires. Electrical issues in HVAC systems are serious and could lead to 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 talked about above, a dirty socks smell can happen when your evaporator coils need to be cleaned. You might notice this smell when your heat pump goes into defrost mode.
It’s ordinary for your heat pump to have to switch on defrost mode during heating season. When the air is much colder, frost can form fast on the coils from condensation and impede heating. During defrost mode, your heat pump shortly switches to cooling to remove the frost.
Having a Bain Heating & Air Conditioning HVAC technician clean the coils will help get rid of the odor.
Trust Us with Your Heat Pump Repair Needs
It can be hard to troubleshoot your heat pump by yourself. Your comfort matters to us at Bain Heating & Air Conditioning, so you can count on our specialists to assist you when you need us. When you need heat pump repair in that you can count on, call us at .
