Knowing Your Home’s Heat Pump Defrost Cycle

Schedule Now

In basic terms, your home’s heat pump pulls heat from the environment and moves it into your home. The heat pump is used not only to heat your home, but can also be used to cool it.

What Is the Heat Pump Defrost Cycle?

During the winter months, depending on temperature and humidity factors, frost may form on the outer coil of the heat pump. When this happens, the pump must work harder, and starts working less efficiently. In order to resolve this, the heat pump has a defrost cycle.

When the heat pump defrost cycle is triggered, the heat pump switches over to the cooling cycle temporarily. This causes the outside coil to warm up. The outdoor fan is stopped to prevent it from cooling the outside coil. The defrost will continue until the temperature of the outside coil reaches about 57 degrees.

How Does This Affect My Heat?

During the heat pump defrost cycle, the indoor fan will continue to run, and your system will be in cooling mode. In order to avoid cold air from circulating throughout the house, a heating element can be installed that triggers when the pump goes into defrost mode.

A well-running heat pump should run in defrost mode at timed intervals, and can run from 30 seconds to a few minutes.

Why Isn’t My Heat Pump Defrost Cycle Working?

There are several reasons why your heat pump defrost cycle isn’t working properly. An older system may begin running the cycle when it isn’t necessary. In other cases, the defrost cycle may not come on when it needs to, which can damage the heat pump. There are a few reasons this may happen:

  • Wiring problems
  • Thermostat malfunction
  • The outdoor coil is dirty or covered with debris

If your heat pump is not functioning properly, an HVAC professional should be consulted. If you are in the Cincinnati area and need heating or air conditioning repair or maintenance, contact Apollo Home Heating, Cooling and Plumbing today.

Image via Shutterstock.com

Schedule
Call
"Ernie & Mike did a superb job on my new furnace and A/C installation. Despite having more than a day’s work to do, they came in and stayed until the job was done. They were organized, efficient, and protected the rest of the house well. Got both furnace and A/C installed the same day. Ernie was courteous, informative, and clearly knew his job better than anyone I’ve encountered before. The units look so good guests now get The Tour of our new system. Apollo is clearly not a fly-by-night company. I would recommend them to anyone in need of a new furnace and/or A/C."
- Jerry A.
"I called Apollo because of a water leak I thought I had in our upstairs shower going into the kitchen. Robbie came and assured me everything was fine & looked at all the other plumbing. He ended up changing a few pipes for our washer & clearing a drain. He was very nice & knowledgeable with all my questions. I ended up signing up for the care plan & was very happy with my service."
- Cassandra B.
"The team at Apollo exceeded my expectations. As a business owner, my attention to the details and commitment to providing excellent service is high. From the sales rep. to the installation team, everyone’s performance was outstanding. For example, the installation team went to great lengths to protect our floors, placing floor runners and across the wood floors and up the stairs. They even were spot washing walls upon their departure. I highly recommend this company."
- Randy B.
"We scheduled an estimate AND a tune-up. We knew something was wrong with our furnace, but hoped we could make it through the rest of the season. Upon telling Bill what our furnace was doing, he warned us immediately what the possible outcome was going to be; a cracked heat exchanger. He watched the flames roll backward, tested carbon monoxide levels, which were so high they meter’s last reading was 5,600 before saying “high”. He immediately shut it down, tagged it, and explained that with levels that high and children in our home he wanted off right away. He continued his inspection and showed us via a camera that not only was it cracked in multiple places, but had holes all over it. He gave us a few options for repairing it; his knowledge as well as genuine concern was beneficial and refreshing. Luckily we also scheduled an estimator, Micah, to come too and we were able to get costs between repairing and replacing (with several options). We decided to replace with a much higher efficiency furnace and one sized properly to our home. Hands down, not only did they both provide us great service and knowledge, but without sounding dramatic, they may have saved our lives. This was our first time calling Apollo, but it won’t be our last."
- Sarah B.
"Apollo is an excellent company. I always receive great service. Alex A. was professional and friendly. He kept me informed during the process of checking my furnace and heat pump to make sure they were working properly. The company makes sure you are notified who is coming and when they are on the way. All my interactions with the company have been wonderful."
- Beverly S.
    Read Reviews
    Image

    Financing

    Learn More
    Image

    Apollo Care Plan

    Learn More