Knowledge is power. And in our last blog post we discussed 6 Things You May Not Know About Your Heat Pump. So now you know how a Heat Pump central heating system works, but you’re probably thinking, How does this help me?
Knowing how your Heat Pump system works will help you in two ways: 1) You will understand why regular maintenance is a necessity, not just a luxury; and 2) You will know how to get the most out of every penny you spend in energy costs. So, in this post GAMA Air will explain three tips for getting every penny out of what you paid to install your heat pump, and what you pay to maintain and operate it.
- Make sure the indoor unit has good airflow
Your heat pump system relies on good airflow to work properly. In the indoor unit, the air is pulled through a coil to heat up the air. This also means that anything else floating around in the air, such as dust, lint or hair could also be pulled through the coil, which eventually could completely clog it up in a matter of months. That’s where your air filter comes in. Regularly replacing the air filter protects the coil and is essential to keeping good airflow through the indoor unit. If you try to save money by stretching out air filter replacements until they look black and dirty, then you will lose much more money on increased energy usage. Not only that, but an air filter that is left in there too long will over fill. That means dirt, dust and lint will get pulled through it and into the indoor coil itself. And cleaning an indoor coil is a delicate time-consuming task. So, save yourself the trouble, and the money, by regularly replacing your air filter.
- Make sure the outdoor unit has good airflow
However, “good airflow” is also important for the outdoor unit. Over time the coil outside may get clogged up with grass clippings, dirt or leaves. Cleaning the coil on the outdoor unit before each heating season is essential to having good airflow and keeping energy usage down. But please don’t try to do this yourself. You may be tempted to just pull out your garden hose and blast away all the debris you see, but that could do more harm than good. The coil is very delicate and even water pressure from a garden hose can damage it. Cleaning an outdoor coil (the same as with an indoor coil) requires proper training to do it correctly. - Make sure the refrigerant level is correct
You now know that your heat pump depends on refrigerant to heat your house. It is essential that the refrigerant level be correct. That means not too much, and not too little. A heat pump system, if installed correctly and maintained well, should never get low on refrigerant. But in the real world things happen that could cause refrigerant to leak out. Imperfections happen in the manufacturing plant, or your neighbor’s kid might accidentally hit your outdoor unit with a soccer ball, loosening a fitting. Whatever the cause, if the refrigerant level is too low, then the system will work harder to keep the house comfortable. On the other hand, if an untrained person services your heat pump and adds too much refrigerant, then the efficiency can drop drastically.
It is worth calling a reputable heating and cooling service company to check out and clean your entire system for each heating season. We can help you with this. We perform system tune-up and safety checks and we guarantee 100% satisfaction for our work. So please call us at (310) 651-6936 to schedule an appointment or use our online form to schedule a visit.
Do you have a question about any of this? Visit our “Ask an Expert” page and ask away! The resident expert at GAMA Air will get back to you quickly with an answer.