Heat pumps are one of the most efficient ways to heat and cool a home — but they’re also one of the most misunderstood systems I worked on in 45 years in the field. They behave differently than furnaces, they have quirks in cold weather, and most homeowners don’t know what to do when something goes wrong.
In this section you’ll find practical, field-tested articles covering how heat pumps work, how to troubleshoot common problems, when to call a technician, and how to get the most efficiency out of your system year-round. Everything here comes from real experience — not guesswork.
Your best backup heat source would depend on your location, your climate, the availability of fuel, and what type of fuel meets the price you want to pay. I’ve worked on, repaired, cut on, bled on, and installed just about all of them except for wood backup. The simplest form of backup heat for an…
It totally depends on the capacity or size of your heat pump. Residential heat pumps come in sizes ranging from 1-1/2 to five tons of refrigeration. The word “tons of refrigeration” does not refer to the weight of the equipment, but to the capacity, with one ton equaling 12,000 BTU’s. 12,000 BTU’s is enough to…
If you’ve noticed your heat pump leaking water outside in winter, you are very observant. Let me explain why this water and maybe ice could be a good thing. Heat pumps leak water in winter because they have a defrost cycle governed by a control board. When outdoor temperatures drop toward freezing and below, the…
With copper prices soaring over $5 per pound, you can stop copper thieves from targeting your HVAC equipment. Review my 14 tips, you don’t have to do them all. Update – April 2025: With copper prices over $5 per pound again, AC unit theft is on the rise. These 14 tips can help you secure…
You’re evaluating a heat pump vs gas furnace efficiency, as you should. They are both great products and need a lot of consideration. My own opinion is: A heat pump heats and cools, and a gas furnace with AC heats and cools. If natural gas is not available, buy a heat pump. If natural gas…
If you turn on air conditioning in the winter it can cause the indoor coil to ice over, blocking the air flow through the home. But there is a fix. A crankcase heater and an ambient control can be added to slow or intermittently stop the outdoor fan which raises the condensing temperature and keeps…
Over time, dust gets past your air filter and into your ac coil. As condensation drips down your ac coil into the condensation drain pan some of those same impurities flow down the condensate drain and into the trap where they set and turn to a drain plugging sludge. Some of this same sludge collects…
To best explain auxiliary vs emergency heat, you have to realize that auxiliary heat supplements the heat pump and emergency heat cuts out the heat pump. Auxiliary heat is displayed in various ways on a thermostat. They use abbreviations like “aux ht” or “em ht”. What does emergency heat mean? Why does my auxiliary heat…
What a great idea to have a heat pump roof and keep the snow and bad weather to a minimum. It can extend the life of your equipment and even improve efficiency. But let’s do it the right way. Over the years I’ve been working on heat pumps, I have seen some really good roofs…
