Heat pumps shouldn’t produce irritating smells, as manufacturers designed these systems for your indoor comfort. Weird smells from your system in Portsmouth, VA, suggest that all is not well. We’ll discuss some heat pump odors and what they mean.
Musty Smell
Your home may smell like a dirty locker room when your heat pump produces this smell. It suggests that biological pollutants thriving in heat pump components such as the ductwork, drain pan, drain lines or indoor coil.
These pollutants grow on moist surfaces. So, if your system fails to drain moisture efficiently, the contaminants will grow on the drain pan and drain lines.
Also, if your ductwork has holes, these contaminants may enter and grow there. If left unattended, these contaminants may produce spores that enter your living space and create indoor air quality problems.
Schedule regular maintenance services with a service technician who can unblock clogged drain lines to allow moisture to drain away. The service technician will also spot any issues, such as ductwork leaks, and fix them.
Sweet/Chloroform-Like Smell
A refrigerant is an exceptional component that moves heat from the outdoor environment to your home or vice versa, depending on the season. When this vital fluid leaks, you may detect a sweet/chloroform-like smell in your house.
Don’t attempt to repair this problem, as this fluid can harm your health if you handle it inappropriately. Instead, schedule repair services to have the leaks fixed and your heat pump recharged.
Burning Smell
When your system produces this smell there could be components burning, such as the rubber coating on its wires. Also, you may detect this smell when there is too much friction between the moving parts.
Don’t ignore any strange odors that your heat pump emits. Turn it off and call our heating experts at Fair Mechanical to have it inspected. Our skilled service technicians know how to find the problem and eliminate it quickly.
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