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James A/C Co.
serving Do-It-Yourselfers since 1990.
Satisfying every customer....one at a time!
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Call toll free 1-866-584-0355 or 1-903-759-2160 fax 903-759-4605
309 Patriot Circle, Longview, TX 75604-2240
STEAM IS COMING FROM THE CONDENSER AND/OR NO FAN IS BLOWING:
- The Defrost Cycle controls will occasionally cause this symptom to occur. During low outdoor temperatures, the heap pump will not be working well enough for the normal defrost cycle of operation to remove the ice that will build up on the coils of the outside unit, but the controls will keep periodically trying anyway. Each time it defrosts it will do the following:
- Turns off the outside unit fan.
- Continues to run the compressor as usual as well as the indoor fan.
- Reverses the flow of refrigerant within the system and a loud "swooooosh" will occur when it changes. It actually is now in the cooling flow direction except the outdoor fan is off. This allows the hot gas from the compressor to flow directly through the tubes to the condenser that is covered in ice. Most heat pump systems at this point will additionally turn on at least one of the heat strips of the indoor electric heat to off-set the cool air that will be produced through the indoor coils.
- Runs in this state for about 10 minutes maximum before it terminates this cycle.
- Lets the reversing valve return the refrigerant flow to the heat pump direction of flow, turns the outside fan back on and disengages the heat strip indoors that may have been turned on. At this time, steam will normally be blown 20 to 40 feet into the air (and the neighbors are picking up the phone to call the fire department if it is the first time they have seen it happen).
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That is the defrost cycle of operation. If your unit is defrosting very often it is not as comfortable in the house as I am sure you would like for it to be. I suggest when the outdoor temperature is below 40 degrees to turn the heat pump off and use the indoor electric heat or gas heat if you have a dual-fuel system. It will give you nice warm air versus the mild air of a heat pump that is frosting up. When it is cold outside that is what you want. You want warm air not mild air. When you need it the most, the heat pump fails you. That is not too bad, though, because the rest of the time it is probably the most efficient heating system we have available.
You can turn off the heat pump at the thermostat during this cold time. Simply move the system switch from the HEAT position to the EM HEAT position. It should do three things.
- One, it should remove the possibility of the heat pump from running.
- Two, it should now utilize the warmer air of the electric heat strip or gas heat.
- And three, it should make the fan only run when the electric heat or gas is on, reducing the chill from the fan running when little or no heat is being produced. Hopefully, your system is wired correctly for this to happen this way. If it is not, then you must read my
Thermostats section with all the information about your system and thermostat.
First, try this yourself. Remove the front cover or covers from your thermostat and check to see if a wire is attached to the E terminal or a jumper wire is attached to it from another terminal. If it is, then yours is most likely working correctly. If not, it needs one and you will have to figure out which one goes to it or where you need to jumper. Look at the Diagrams of the thermostats I have provided and see if you can figure out which terminal is the normal electric heat. If you can, simply jumper it to the E terminal and that should be that. They are the SAME THING. The difference is that the normal electric heat will work periodically with the heat pump. If you place a jumper to E, then when E is energized, it will bring on the regular heat when needed independently of the heat pump. Normal heat will usually be W, W1, W2, or W3.
If you have comments, suggestions or you solved a problem with the aid of this free site,
please email me at
James' A/C Co.
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