My outside unit is icing up on my heat pump what is wrong with it?

Answer 1

What crackymcrackin said above me is mostly right. It is properly really cold where you are, but a heat pump is capable of removing heat from air as cold as 0 degrees F. and as he said it will defrost itself, it will automatically switches to a cooling cycle. The steam or smoke rising from the outside coil during this process is a normal reaction. So your first problem can be that its not defrosting properly. Another problem could be that in your outside unit there is a board with a bunch of pins on it, it is set to a certain outside temperature. and at that temp the emergency heat will kick on, this is called the balance point. you can try changing the balancing point to a lower temp like 10 or 0 degrees F. you might need to call an HVAC technician. Good luck! To the message after mine. Ya ApplianceGuy I'm sick of the low on refrigerant explination too (freon as most call it haha) , I have said this on other Questions I have answered.

Answer 2

Most likely it is really cold were you are. When the temp outside drops below 34 degrees an outside condensing unit will not work anymore. There is just no heat to be pulled from the outside air. The unit will freeze up and then start a defrost cycle. When the defrost cycle starts it looks like someone has set it on fire because of all the steam they put out. There is nothing wrong with it. When the temp does drop, turn the thermostat over to emergency heat. It will keep the outside unit from kicking on and save you from both kicking in and costing more money. I hope this helps.

Answer 3

I agree with Cracky and Big. Why is it that these so called "experts" are always saying "It needs a shot of Freezone" or something as ridicules when the refrigerant level being low would give you the exact oposite effect or has nothing to do with the problem?

Answer 4

Either low on a charge or your filter on the blower cabinet needs to be changed.

Answer 5

Probably low on charge.