Your home’s heat pump provides you with comfortably conditioned air at a low monthly price. To keep this equipment working properly, regular preventive maintenance is necessary. Here are a few maintenance tips that will help you get the most out of your home heat pump.
Operation
Your heat pump works much differently than a standard furnace or air conditioner. It provides indoor comfort by capturing heat and moving it around via a refrigerant that circulates between indoor and outdoor units. The system captures heat inside your home and disperses it outdoors to provide cool air. Heating occurs when the system captures heat from the air outside your home and brings it indoors.
- Be careful when setting back your thermostat: Don’t set your thermostat back if doing so will turn your heat pump’s back-up heating system on. Backup heating is intended only for short-term use when outdoor temperatures get too low. Frequent use of backup heating will eliminate the efficiency and cost benefits of your heat pump.
- Don’t run the fan continuously: System performance will decrease if you run a single-speed indoor fan continuously. Variable-speed fans can operate more frequently, so make sure to keep your thermostat fan setting on “auto.”
Maintenance
Regular preventive maintenance can keep your system working properly at its best level of efficiency. Maintenance should be performed at least annually by a qualified HVAC expert. For heat pumps, it’s advisable to have preventive maintenance performed twice a year, once before the heating season and once before the cooling season.
Typical maintenance tasks include:
- Changing the air filter.
- Checking and adjusting refrigerant level or charge.
- Calibrating thermostat and system controls.
- Inspecting ductwork and repairing connections.
- Cleaning and tightening electrical connections.
- Lubricating fans, motors and moving parts.
- Cleaning fans, motors, blowers and coils.
- Inspecting and tightening belts, as well as changing damaged belts.
For 70 years, Aladdin Heating & Cooling has been serving residential, commercial and industrial HVAC customers in and around Detroit, including Oakland, Macomb and Wayne Counties. Contact us today for more information on maintaining and operating your home heat pump.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Warren, Michigan about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about heat pumps and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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