If you’re recognizing a odor from your heat pump, it’s attempting to tell you that something is up. We’ve developed 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. Your Heat Pump Smells Like Mold
If your heat pump smells musty, there’s probably mold growing on wet evaporator coils or in the ductwork. This heat pump odor is often called dirty sock syndrome. You can deter this by scheduling routine heat pump maintenance and air duct cleaning.
2. Your 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 problem
Electrical problems are serious, so shut your heat pump system off as soon as possible at the breaker box and get a hold of us at 630-313-2509 for heat pump repair.
3. The Heat Pump Smells Like Sulfur
Normally when you are dealing with 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 Pure Comfort Heating and Air Conditioning technicians can eliminate the smell by cleaning your heat pump.
4. The Heat Pump Has a Sewage Smell
As we discussed before, your heat pump is electric, so any rotten egg smells are linked to a gas leak somewhere else. If your heat pump smells like sewer, you might have a backed-up or broken sewer line. We suggest contacting a company that does sewer line repair.
5. Your Heat Pump Smells Burnt
You might be dealing with an electrical concern 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 dangerous 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 630-313-2509.
6. Heat Pump Defrost Cycle Smells
Like we discussed previously, a dirty socks smell can happen when your evaporator coils need cleaning. You might notice 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 fast on the coils from condensation and interfere with heating. During defrost mode, your heat pump shortly switches to cooling to clear away the frost.
Having a Pure Comfort Heating and Air Conditioning HVAC technician clean the coils will help get rid of the odor.
Depend on for Your Heat Pump Repair Needs
It can be confusing to troubleshoot your heat pump by yourself. Your comfort matters to us at Pure Comfort Heating and Air Conditioning, so you can count on our experts to help you when you need us. When you need heat pump repair in Streamwood that you can count on, call us at 630-313-2509.