ok, it's 75 outside. New heat pump installed 3 days ago. Why is it forming ice on the outside & inside? Looking in from the top, the brass/copper coils have ice all over them and the outside is covered with ice/frost snow white. Needless to say, I shut it off and pool company is closed. Was hoping to swim tomorrow for the holiday party that I am having!
heat pump forming ice on and out?
- Thread starter poolowner
- Start date
I believe a heat pump is supposed to cycle and warm the coils periodically to remove or prevent ice from forming. I know when they ice up the heat pump will not perform. I had this happen on a heat pump for a HVAC setup in our home. As I recall there was a reversing valve that was not performing properly. Perhaps someone can offer a more exact explaination.
skippr1249 said:
Heat pumps do have a "Defrost cycle" Where the reversing valve will switch position and shut the fan off to melt any ice built up. So I guess it depends on how fast it's building ice, after a few mins or after few hours? Even though i work Heat pumps, A/C's, chillers, etc. everyday. I have never seen or worked up on a pool heater packaged Heat pump and Thats why I asked for more Info.
I have a heat pump (aquacomfort) and it too will ice up from time to time but when this happens it automatically kicks into "defrost" mode and takes care of it. I have only noticed ice buildup when running in the pump in cooler temps, I know your post says it is 75 but was it running overnight or something when the air was cooler? In any case, I would check to see if it has a defrost mode and if so I would consider letting it run and see if that kicks in automatically.
Mine also has a water flow sensor so would switch off automatically if that was a problem so would guess you might have that built in too.
So, in short, the pump may well be operating as designed but read up in the manual and check it out.
Mine also has a water flow sensor so would switch off automatically if that was a problem so would guess you might have that built in too.
So, in short, the pump may well be operating as designed but read up in the manual and check it out.
The heat pump was running overnight. The temp got down to 50 or so. There was ice all around the heat pump around 10am when I checked. Hosed it off with the hose and buckets of hot water as the pool company said to do. Unit came right on. At about 2pm, it was covered again in ice. I just find it strange that there would be ice in such warm weather. I am guessing that it did form overnight and while I hosed off the outside the first time, it was still covered with ice on the inside and continued to form ice thruout the day. Once I hosed off the 2nd time I hosed the inside and outside and it hasn't formed ice since then. Needless to say, I will know more once I have a service call to check it out. Thanks all.