If you’re recognizing a smell from your heat pump, it’s attempting to tell you that something is wrong. We’ve created a list of the most commonly encountered 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 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 avoid this by scheduling routine heat pump maintenance and air duct cleaning.
2. Heat Pump Smells Like Fish
If your heat pump smells like fish, there could be several things wrong:
- Motor is too hot
- Wiring problems
- Plastic components or coating is melting
- Other mechanical issue
Electrical problems are dangerous, so turn your heat pump system off as soon as possible at the breaker box and call 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 utilize natural gas. If your heat pump smells like sulfur, a small animal may have creeped inside it for warmth and died. One of our Taylor's Heating & Air Conditioning [techs can get rid of the smell by cleaning your heat pump.
4. Heat Pump Smells Like Sewer
As we reviewed above, your heat pump is electric, so any rotten egg smells are linked to a gas leak elsewhere. If your heat pump smells like sewer, you might currently have a backed-up or broken sewer line. We recommend contacting a company that does sewer line repair.
5. Heat Pump Smells Like Burning
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 the result of melting plastic on electrical wires. Electrical problems in HVAC systems are serious and could result in a fire. If you notice this smell, shut off your heat pump at the breaker and get a hold of us at .
6. Heat Pump Defrost Cycle Smells
Like we mentioned previously, a dirty socks smell can happen when your evaporator coils need to be cleaned. You might experience this smell when your heat pump is in 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 quickly on the coils from condensation and restrict heating. During defrost mode, your heat pump briefly switches to air conditioning to clear away the frost.
Having a Taylor's Heating & Air Conditioning HVAC technician clean the coils will help eliminate the odor.
Depend on for Your Heat Pump Repair Needs
It can be difficult to troubleshoot your heat pump by alone. Your comfort matters to us at Taylor's Heating & Air Conditioning, so you can count on our specialists to help you when you need us. When you need heat pump repair in that you can count on, call us at .