If you’re noticing a odor from your heat pump, it’s trying to tell you that something is wrong. We’ve created a list of the most commonly encountered 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 wet evaporator coils or in the ductwork. This heat pump odor is often known as dirty sock syndrome. You can prevent 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 several things wrong:
- Motor is too hot
- Wiring problem
- Plastic components or coating is melting
- Other mechanical issue
Electrical problems are dangerous, so turn your heat pump system off right away 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 little animal may have crawled inside it for warmth and died. One of our Watts Electric & AC experts can get rid of the smell by cleaning your heat pump.
4. Heat Pump Smells Like Sewer
As we reviewed 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 currently have a backed-up or broken sewer line. We recommend contacting a company that does sewer line repair.
5. Heat Pump Smells Like Burning
You might have an electrical concern 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 call us at .
6. Heat Pump Defrost Cycle Smells
Like we discussed above, a dirty socks smell can happen when your evaporator coils need sanitizing. You might experience this smell when your heat pump goes into defrost mode.
It’s ordinary for your heat pump to have to use defrost mode during heating season. When the air is much cooler, frost can form rapidly on the coils from condensation and impede heating. During defrost mode, your heat pump temporarily switches to ac to remove the frost.
Having a Watts Electric & AC HVAC technician clean the coils will help eliminate the smell.
Depend on for Your Heat Pump Repair Needs
It can be confusing to troubleshoot your heat pump by all by yourself. Your comfort matters to us at Watts Electric & AC, so you can count on our specialists to assist you when you need us. When you need heat pump repair in that you can rely on, call us at .