If you’re discovering a odor from your heat pump, it’s attempting to tell you that something is wrong. We’ve developed 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 likely mold growing on wet evaporator coils or in the ductwork. This heat pump odor is often referred to as dirty sock syndrome. You can avoid this by scheduling frequent heat pump maintenance and air duct cleaning.
2. Heat Pump Smells Like Fish
If your heat pump smells like fish, there could be several things wrong:
- Motor is too hot
- Wiring issue
- Plastic components or coating is melting
- Other mechanical difficulties
Electrical problems are unsafe, so turn 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’ve got a gas leak. But your heat pump doesn’t use natural gas. If your heat pump smells like sulfur, a small animal may have gotten inside it for warmth and died. One of our MPC Heating & Cooling [techs can get rid of the smell by cleaning your heat pump.
4. Heat Pump Smells Like Sewer
As we reviewed before, your heat pump is electric, so any rotten egg smells are connected to a gas leak somewhere else. If your heat pump smells like sewer, you might have a backed-up or broken sewer line. We advise contacting a company that does sewer line repair.
5. Heat Pump Smells Like Burning
You might have an electrical concern if your heat pump smells like burning, burning plastic or burning rubber. This burning smell can be caused by melting plastic on electrical wires. Electrical troubles in HVAC systems are serious and could lead to a fire. If you notice this smell, turn off your heat pump at the breaker and call us at .
6. Heat Pump Defrost Cycle Smells
Like we mentioned earlier, a dirty socks smell can happen when your evaporator coils need to be cleaned. You might notice this smell when your heat pump is in defrost mode.
It’s typical for your heat pump to have to switch on defrost mode during heating season. When the air is much colder, frost can form rapidly on the coils from condensation and impede heating. During defrost mode, your heat pump shortly switches to air conditioning to clear away the frost.
Having a MPC Heating & Cooling HVAC technician clean the coils will help eliminate the odor.
Depend on for Your Heat Pump Repair Needs
It can be difficult to troubleshoot your heat pump by alone. Your comfort matters to us at MPC Heating & Cooling, so you can count on our experts to help you when you need us. When you need heat pump repair in that you can rely on, call us at .