Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Looks like smoke is coming out of my air conditioner.

Did you see smoke coming out of your air conditioning unit this morning? We have received many calls from panicked customers. No need to panic.

Its cold here in Florida and our heat pumps are working overtime. Its so cold that ice forms on the outside of the heat pump unit. This is perfectly normal. The heat pump senses the ice and switches into defrost mode which causes the unit to look like it is smoking. What happens is the fan will stop spinning, and the valves will hold all the refrigerant inside the machine, and it will groan and shutter. You will see steam which looks like smoke. The unit is doing its job in defrost mode to melt the ice and will resume normal operation shortly. Do not shut off your system as this will interrupt the process. Its a scary sight but all is perfectly normal and a process that is typical of a heat pump system.

Don't have a heat pump? Straight cool systems are working even harder this season. Its so hard for a 5 or 7.5 kw heater to heat up a whole house in 30 degree weather. Now is the time to think about installing a heat pump. The heat is much warmer, cheaper and rebates are available from the power company. Feel free to call us for a free estimate. 727-447-1903 Deal directly with the owner and save!!