If you’re recognizing a smell from your heat pump, it’s trying to tell you that something is wrong. We’ve developed 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 likely mold growing on moist evaporator coils or in the ductwork. This heat pump odor is often referred to as dirty sock syndrome. You can avoid 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 several things wrong:
- Overheated motor
- Wiring problems
- Plastic components or coating is melting
- Other mechanical problem
Electrical problems are dangerous, so turn 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
Usually when you smell a rotten egg smell, you have a gas leak. But your heat pump doesn’t utilize natural gas. If your heat pump smells like sulfur, a small animal may have gotten inside it for warmth and died. One of our Cytech Heating & Cooling L.C. [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 in another place. If your heat pump smells like sewer, you might have a backed-up or broken sewer line. We recommend getting in touch with 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 troubles in HVAC systems are dangerous and could lead to a fire. If you notice this smell, shut off your heat pump at the breaker and get a hold of us at .
6. Heat Pump Defrost Cycle Smells
Like we talked about earlier, a dirty socks smell can happen when your evaporator coils need cleaning. You might encounter this smell when your heat pump has defrost mode.
It’s typical 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 restrict heating. During defrost mode, your heat pump briefly switches to cooling to get rid of the frost.
Having a Cytech Heating & Cooling L.C. HVAC technician clean the coils will help eliminate the smell.
Depend on for Your Heat Pump Repair Needs
It can be hard to troubleshoot your heat pump by yourself. Your comfort matters to us at Cytech Heating & Cooling L.C., so you can count on our specialists to support you when you need us. When you need heat pump repair in that you can count on, call us at .