If you’re noticing a odor from your heat pump, it’s attempting to tell you that something is wrong. We’ve created a list of the top 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 most likely mold growing on wet evaporator coils or in the ductwork. This heat pump odor is often referred to as 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 problem
- Plastic components or coating is melting
- Other mechanical problem
Electrical problems are dangerous, so turn your heat pump system off right away at the breaker box and contact us at for heat pump repair.
3. Heat Pump Smells Like Sulfur
Often when you have a rotten egg smell, you’re dealing with 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 creeped inside it for warmth and died. One of our LTS Plumbing & Heating Inc. [techs can get rid of the smell by cleaning your heat pump.
4. Heat Pump Smells Like Sewer
As we discussed above, your heat pump is electric, so any rotten egg smells are tied to a gas leak elsewhere. If your heat pump smells like sewer, you might currently have a backed-up or broken sewer line. We suggest getting in touch with a company that does sewer line repair.
5. Heat Pump Smells Like Burning
You might have 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 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 talked about previously, a dirty socks smell can happen when your evaporator coils need to be cleaned. You might encounter this smell when your heat pump goes into defrost mode.
It’s typical for your heat pump to have to turn on defrost mode during heating season. When the air is much cooler, frost can form quickly on the coils from condensation and interfere with heating. During defrost mode, your heat pump temporarily switches to cooling to remove the frost.
Having a LTS Plumbing & Heating Inc. HVAC technician clean the coils will help eliminate the smell.
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 LTS Plumbing & Heating Inc., so you can count on our experts to support you when you need us. When you need heat pump repair in that you can count on, call us at .