If you’re discovering a smell from your heat pump, it’s trying to tell you that something is up. We’ve put together a list of the most commonly encountered six heat pump smells, what causes them and how you can correct 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 most likely mold growing on moist evaporator coils or in the ductwork. This heat pump odor is often known as dirty sock syndrome. You can deter 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 a couple of things wrong:
- Overheated motor
- Wiring issue
- Plastic components or coating is melting
- Other mechanical issue
Electrical problems are unsafe, so shut your heat pump system off right away at the breaker box and call us at for heat pump repair.
3. Heat Pump Smells Like Sulfur
Normally when you have a rotten egg smell, you have a gas leak. But your heat pump doesn’t utilize natural gas. If your heat pump smells like sulfur, a tiny animal may have creeped inside it for warmth and died. One of our Colvin's Heating and Cooling experts can remove the smell by cleaning your heat pump.
4. Heat Pump Smells Like Sewer
As we mentioned earlier, 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 suggest 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 due to melting plastic on electrical wires. Electrical problems in HVAC systems are dangerous and could lead to a fire. If you notice this smell, shut off your heat pump at the breaker and contact us at .
6. Heat Pump Defrost Cycle Smells
Like we talked about above, a dirty socks smell can happen when your evaporator coils need sanitizing. You might notice this smell when your heat pump goes into defrost mode.
It’s typical for your heat pump to have to use defrost mode during heating season. When the air is much cooler, frost can form fast on the coils from condensation and impede heating. During defrost mode, your heat pump temporarily switches to air conditioning to clear away the frost.
Having a Colvin's Heating and Cooling HVAC technician clean the coils will help eliminate the smell.
Trust Us with Your Heat Pump Repair Needs
It can be hard to troubleshoot your heat pump by all by yourself. Your comfort matters to us at Colvin's Heating and Cooling, so you can count on our professionals to help you when you need us. When you need heat pump repair in that you can count on, call us at .
