Get your heating and cooling system back in action
Heat pump systems use heat transfer to warm or cool your home.
The solution could be as simple as clearing debris from the fan or resetting the thermostat.
Other possible explanations for the problem include a damaged motor or power supply issues.
You shouldn’t try to use your heat pump if the fan isn’t working.
Struggling with a heat pump fan that’s not spinning? Electric heat pumps have several moving parts, and when one stops working, it can shut down your entire HVAC system. For example, if your heat pump fan is not spinning, it could cut off your heating and cooling and put your system at risk of overheating. Here are a few reasons why the heat pump is malfunctioning and what to do to resolve the issue.
When you’re troubleshooting or clearing out your heat pump fan, never stick your fingers inside the unit. Use a stick to clear out debris and try other troubleshooting methods, instead.
Sometimes, fixing your heat pump fan is as simple as clearing out leaves, dirt, or other debris that may be clogging it. To do this, turn off the power to your heat pump, then take off the top part of the unit. If you see anything blocking the fan, use a stick (not your hand) to remove it.
A fan might also stop spinning if the motor is on its way out. You can test this by pushing the blades gently (again, with a stick or tool—not your fingers). If the fan starts moving, this may be a sign that the motor is about to die and you’ll need to replace it soon.
If you tried to move the fan, but it didn’t budge, you could be dealing with a dead capacitor or motor. Testing a capacitor is fairly straightforward, but you should be comfortable using a multimeter and working with electrical systems. If not, hire a local heat pump professional to diagnose and fix the problem.
In some cases, your fan might not be spinning because your heat pump isn’t on. There are a few reasons why this might happen, but one of the simplest explanations is that your thermostat settings have changed (either accidentally or intentionally by someone else in your house). If so, set your thermostat to the correct setting and temperature to see if that solves the problem.
Another reason why your fan and heat pump might not be working? It isn’t receiving any power. Heat pumps use a lot of electricity, which can trip your circuit breaker. If your heat pump fan is not spinning in cold weather, it could be because the chilly temperatures forced the unit into overdrive, tripping the circuit breaker. You may be able to fix it by resetting the breaker to turn the power (and heat pump) back on.
After years of use, your heat pump fan might just die out from normal wear and tear. In those situations, there’s nothing you could’ve done to stop that from happening. However, there are other scenarios where you might be able to prevent (or at least delay) problems with your fan.
For one, it’s important to keep the area around your heat pump clear so nothing falls into it and damages the fan or other components. This means trimming any trees or bushes that hang over the unit.
You should also keep your heat pump clean and well-maintained. It’s best to check the filter once a month, swapping it out whenever it’s dirty or clogged. Every eight to 12 weeks, take the time to clean your fans and coils. Even if everything seems like it’s working properly, you should still schedule professional maintenance at least once per year and hire a local heat pump repair company to address any major issues.
Another company wanting to take your money before earning the job. I have an HVAC system that needs repairs and want to get quotes from several different HVAC companies. These guys are your typical contractor that what is important is their $89 service fee, non-refundale if they don't get the...
River City Heating & CoolingGreat, do not need to immediately replace the unit as it is working ok in spite of being 20+ years old. Required some minimal cleanup but working ok. When the time comes I will definitely use Chris/Air Care Heating and Cooling. Very professional, called 10 min prior to arrival and explained...
Air Care Heating & Air ConditioningPleasant experience all around. Good hard workers. They installed a new water heater and replaced some very old steel pipes with flexible plastic.
They air conditioner quit blowing cool air, but continued to run. The rep arrived, and would not enter our home without first putting on shoe protectors, even though the area he was working in has concrete floors. He was extremely courteous and professional. It was late in the day, about 9pm....
McCarthys One Hour Heating and Air ConditioningI had Elite out to quote installing an inline duct booster since our upstairs had low airflow and I was pretty sure I'd tried everything on the dampers downstairs to balance it out. Turns out I'm not as clever as I thought—Trevor went through and figured out that the line I thought was the...
It went very well. I was impressed with Tim and Jim. they were very pleasant and explained what condition my 1960's ducts were in, which was very interesting.
All Pro Carpet Cleaning IncI called them on a thursday they came the next morning. Water heater was leaking. The technician was good. I had purchased my own water heater. So i just needed the old one disconnected and the new one installed. They hooked the new one up and updated some piping to meet code...
My old furnace shut down in the early morning hours of 12/13/2013, a very cold Friday morning. i have a good Frontier wood stove, so I went onto wood heat and called Norm's Heating and AC at 8:00 AM. They arrived by late morning and diagnosed the problem with my 12 year old furnace as bad...
I bought a Living Social Coupon for air duct and dryer vent cleaning for $49, for services they normally charge $350 for. I don't really know the quality of the work they did - I do not notice any difference in air quality, but it wasn't that bad to begin with, so it's possible that they did...
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