Heating and cooling your San Marcos, CA home with a heat pump is a great way to lower your carbon footprint. Hailed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) as the key to reaching ambitious emissions-reduction goals, heat pumps are highly efficient. However, this is only true when these appliances are properly maintained. Read on to discover why routine maintenance is a vital part of owning and using a heat pump.
The Benefits of Regular Heat Pump Maintenance
Much like furnaces and air conditioners, heat pumps require ongoing maintenance. Routine maintenance slows age-related wear and can even reverse many wear-related damages. It also optimizes airflow throughout these systems, removes heavy buildup of debris, and prevents operational problems like short cycling and overheating.
Preserve Your Heat Pump Manufacturer’s Warranty
All heat pumps come with manufacturer warranties. These warranties cover repairing or replacing systems and damaged or malfunctioning components due to defective parts, incorrect assembly, or other manufacturing-related errors.
Manufacturer warranties are mutually binding agreements. While heat pump manufacturers agree to pay for their mistakes, homeowners must take steps to minimize the risk of functional problems. These steps include regularly changing HVAC air filters and scheduling professional heat pump maintenance at least once each year.
Prevent Mid-Season Breakdowns
During professional heat pump maintenance, our technicians:
- Optimize fan speeds
- Lubricate moving parts
- Tighten loose connections
- Replace worn or damaged components
These and other measures greatly reduce the likelihood of potentially dangerous mid-season breakdowns. This way, when the outside temperature plummets or soars, you and your household won’t be at risk of temperature-related illnesses such as hypothermia, heat stroke, frostnip, or extreme dehydration.
Protect Your Indoor Air Quality
Professional maintenance removes buildups of trapped dirt, dust, pollen, dander, hair, and more. When you turn your heat pump on, you won’t have to worry about these allergens and other contaminants breaking free and reentering your indoor air.
Like air conditioners and condensing furnaces, heat pumps regulate indoor humidity. They extract excess moisture from the air and route it outdoors via their condensate drains. Without regular maintenance, heat pump condensate drains can develop thick buildups of biofilm and algae. These buildups can result in leaks, pooling water, and elevated humidity. They also set the stage for mold and mildew formation. Routine maintenance will protect and improve your indoor air quality (IAQ) by supporting optimum humidity regulation.
Lower Your Energy Bills
Well-maintained heat pumps use less energy to create and maintain the indoor conditions residents want. With a clean filter, optimal airflow, and high-functioning components, your heat pump will run fewer and shorter heating and cooling cycles. As a result, you’ll have lower energy bills and a modest carbon footprint.
Enjoy Even and Consistent Performance Year-Round
Heat pumps provide year-round climate control by reversing the flow of refrigerant from season to season. In summer, they’re functionally identical to air conditioners. When winter arrives, heat pump reversing valves toggle from cooling to heating, and heat pumps funnel outside heat indoors. Scheduling professional heat pump maintenance is the only way to ensure a seamless transition from cooling to heating modes. Our technicians inspect and troubleshoot reversing valves to prevent or address common problems like stuck, damaged, and dirty valves.
Heat Pump Maintenance for Homeowners
Throughout the year, there are several things that you should do to keep your heat pump performing efficiently. These include inspecting and changing your HVAC air filter, clearing the perimeter of your outside condenser, and keeping your HVAC air vents open and clean.
Check and Change HVAC Air Filters
As per most HVAC equipment manufacturers, you should inspect your heat pump’s air filter monthly and change it every one to three months. Simply take this component out, hold it up to the overhead light, and determine whether light can still pass through it. If light can still pass through your filter and its accumulated debris, air can, too.
Maintain the Outdoor Condenser Unit
Heat pumps’ outdoor condenser units require a minimum clearance of 24 inches on all sides. If your heat pump’s condenser is blocked by overgrown grass, shrubs, or trees, your heat pump’s refrigerant will have a hard time shedding heat in summer and collecting outdoor heat in winter.
Check the perimeter of your heat pump condenser monthly. Remove all windblown debris and cut back all invasive foliage. To keep things simple, you can perform this maintenance task at the same time as your monthly air filter inspections.
Clear All Other Airflow Obstructions
In standard, central HVAC systems, vent closures place significant stress on heat pumps, furnaces, and ACs. You might have one or more residents in your home who close air vents in their immediate areas whenever they no longer want conditioned air. With nowhere to go, unwanted air builds up in HVAC ducting. The resulting static pressure can cause your heat pump to ice over, overheat, short cycle, or shut down.
Regularly check for HVAC air vent closures and open closed vents as needed. Every one to three months, wipe these features with a damp cloth to remove any buildup of lint-like debris. If there’s visible debris in your air vents, unscrew your vent covers and gently vacuum behind them. It’s also a good idea to schedule air balancing services and HVAC air duct cleaning every three to five years.
Professional Heat Pump Maintenance: What to Know
Although comprehensive maintenance is critical to remaining compliant with your heat pump manufacturer’s warranty, attempting to perform all required maintenance on your own could void your warranty outright. Professional heat pump maintenance addresses components that should only be touched by trained technicians. Apart from changing your air filter, keeping your condenser’s perimeter clear, and cleaning and opening air vents, you should leave everything else to a licensed HVAC company.
Heat Pump Maintenance Checklist
During professional maintenance service, our technicians follow model-specific checklists. We test airflow to identify potential airflow obstructions, check the integrity of HVAC air ducts, and assess the location and performance of thermostats. We also perform multi-point inspections that cover:
- Electrical contactors, circuits, and connections
- Condensate drain lines
- Evaporator and condenser coils
- Air handling units
- Blower motors and blower fans
We thoroughly clean all indoor and outdoor components, tighten or replace fan bearings, check refrigerant levels, calibrate thermostats, and more.
Why Twice-Annual Service Is Important
Scheduling professional maintenance once annually is sufficient for most HVAC equipment types. For instance, air conditioners should receive service before summer arrives, and furnaces need maintenance ahead of the winter season. However, heat pumps often work year-round. If you use your heat pump for year-round climate control, you should have it tuned up once in the fall and again in late spring.
Using your heat pump year-round but only scheduling maintenance every 12 months increases your risk of stress and wear-related breakdowns. It can also shorten your heat pump’s lifespan, raise your energy bills, and compromise your IAQ.
We help homeowners in San Marcos get the most from their heat pumps. We offer expert furnace, AC, and heat pump maintenance, installation, and repair services. We also provide cutting-edge IAQ improvements, smart thermostats, and HVAC preventative maintenance plans. To schedule an appointment, contact Oak Island Heating and Air Conditioning today.
