{"id":1401,"date":"2021-02-01T11:00:58","date_gmt":"2021-02-01T16:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/?p=1401"},"modified":"2021-01-29T17:48:36","modified_gmt":"2021-01-29T22:48:36","slug":"smoke-coming-heat-pump-whats-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/heat-pump-service\/smoke-coming-heat-pump-whats-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"There\u2019s Smoke Coming From My Heat Pump! What\u2019s Wrong?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"steam-rising-from-ground\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Yes, this sounds alarming. You don\u2019t want to see smoke coming off of any mechanical appliance for your home (well, except for a barbecue). It usually indicates a fire has started in the machine, and that\u2019s a serious emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So if you looked out the window on a cold day while your heat pump was running and saw big clouds of smoke billowing off it, we wouldn\u2019t blame you for getting panicked and wondering who you need to call to get something done about it. You may be even thinking about calling the fire department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, we\u2019re glad we caught you in time. Although we can\u2019t 100% guarantee that your heat pump hasn\u2019t caught fire and is belching out smoke, we think we can say with about 99% certainty that what\u2019s happening is normal and not harmful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Can a Heat Pump Catch Fire?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Technically, yes. It\u2019s an electro-mechanical device that uses powerful motors, and there is also some risk of an electrical fire from any appliance like this. But the chance of a fire starting is extremely low as long as you haven\u2019t gone into the machine and tried to execute a DIY repair work. This is one of the reasons we always stress on calling professionals only<\/em> for repairs for your heating system, even if it\u2019s an electrical system like a heat pump. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, what you\u2019re seeing right now from your heat pump is probably not an electrical fire. In fact, you\u2019re not even seeing smoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s Steam, Not Smoke Coming From the Heat Pump<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If this is the first winter you\u2019ve used a heat pump, we understand why you might not be used to seeing clouds billowing from the outdoor unit. A heat pump works in a similar fashion to an AC, but during the winter when it switches over to heating mode it has a few different operations than an air conditioner that might catch you by surprise. One of them is defrost mode<\/em>, and that\u2019s what\u2019s causing the steam (not smoke) to rise from the heat pump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In heating mode, the heat pump draws heat from the outside air onto its coils by evaporating refrigerant. This evaporation causes some moisture to form on the coils, and if the temperature outdoors is low enough, this moisture will turn into frost. This frost will interfere with the heat pump\u2019s ability to absorb more heat, so the unit is set to periodically switch into defrost mode to remove the ice. The heat pump briefly changes the direction of refrigerant so the outdoor coils release heat\u2014just enough to melt the ice. This creates the steam you\u2019ll see rising from the unit. It will stop when the heat pump resumes standard heating mode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heat Pump Troubles? We Can Help!<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you have any concern that your heat pump isn\u2019t working properly this winter (maybe it won\u2019t switch into heating mode, or it won\u2019t make the house warm enough), our team offers the heating repair in Maryland<\/a> you need to get back to comfort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Atlantic Refrigeration & Air Conditioning, Inc., \u201cWe Take Pride in Your Comfort!\u201d Call us for heat pump and other HVAC services in Delaware and the Maryland Eastern Shore.<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We can\u2019t 100% guarantee that your heat pump hasn\u2019t caught fire and is belching smoke, but we can say with about 99% certainty that what\u2019s happening is normal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[75],"tags":[50,164],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1401"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1401"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1405,"href":"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1401\/revisions\/1405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atlanticrefrigeration.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}