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 most common six heat pump smells, what causes them and how you can correct 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 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 frequent heat pump maintenance and air duct cleaning.
2. Heat Pump Smells Like Fish
If your heat pump smells like fish, there could be a couple of things wrong:
- Overheated motor
- Wiring issue
- Plastic components or coating is melting
- Other mechanical issue
Electrical problems are serious, so turn your heat pump system off right away at the breaker box and call us at for heat pump repair.
3. Heat Pump Smells Like Sulfur
Often when you smell a rotten egg smell, you have a gas leak. But your heat pump doesn’t use natural gas. If your heat pump smells like sulfur, a tiny animal may have creeped inside it for warmth and died. One of our Enertek Air Conditioning & Heating [techs can remove the smell by cleaning your heat pump.
4. Heat Pump Smells Like Sewer
As we mentioned 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 be dealing with 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 have an electrical issue if your heat pump smells like burning, burning plastic or burning rubber. This burning smell can be the result of melting plastic on electrical wires. Electrical issues in HVAC systems are dangerous 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 previously, a dirty socks smell can happen when your evaporator coils need sanitizing. You might notice 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 interfere with heating. During defrost mode, your heat pump temporarily switches to cooling to clear away the frost.
Having a Enertek Air Conditioning & Heating HVAC technician clean the coils will help get rid of the odor.
Trust Us with Your Heat Pump Repair Needs
It can be hard to troubleshoot your heat pump by all by yourself. Your comfort matters to us at Enertek Air Conditioning & Heating, so you can count on our specialists to help you when you need us. When you need heat pump repair in that you can depend on, call us at .
