heat pump not working

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VAwaterboy

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May 10, 2014
56
Falls Church, VA
I have a Hayward HP ABG heat-pump heater. It had been sitting un-used for a while and I am now trying to get it to work. After I replaced the capacitor, contactor and pressure switch, the red power light came on but not the orange heat light, and it did nothing. Then I by-passed the thermostat with a jumper wire, and it worked, instantly heating the water, and turned off after a few seconds. So I bought a new thermostat and now, the lights come on, the fan turns and the compressor seems to be working -- but it is not heating the water.

My HVAC guy is stumped; he says the refrigerant pressure is correct and everything is working -- but it is not heating the water. Any ideas or suggestions?
 
If the refrigerant has differential pressure then the compressor is running to create the difference and heat is being created. And if water is flowing then the heat will go into the pool.

How do you know the HP is not heating the water?

What BTU is the water?

Do you have a pool cover?

Could you be losing the heat generated to the cooler air this month?
 
ajw22 said:
If the refrigerant has differential pressure then the compressor is running to create the difference and heat is being created. And if water is flowing then the heat will go into the pool.

How do you know the HP is not heating the water?

What BTU is the water?

Do you have a pool cover?

Could you be losing the heat generated to the cooler air this month?
Click to expand...
I agree that it seems like it should be heating the water. Why do I say it's not? Well, the water coming out of the heat pump -- and the water right now is spurting into the air just above the pool surface -- doesn't feel any warmer than the water going into the heat pump, or register as warmer on a thermometer. The air coming out of the top of the heat pump is the same temperature as the surrounding air, according to a thermometer I placed on top of the grille. There is condensation on the copper tubing, which should mean it's producing heat, right? But I ran it for four hours yesterday with no increase in the pool water temperature. Right now, in Northern Virginia, the daytime air temperature has been in the mid-70s, just above the pool water temperature of about 68-70.

You ask what BTU is the water. I don't know what that means.
 
VAwaterboy said:
You ask what BTU is the water. I don't know what that means.
Click to expand...

Every heater has a BTU rating for the amount of heat it can generate in an hour.

1 BTU can heat 1 pound of water 1 degree in an hour.
 
wireform said:
Let's see your valve setup please
Click to expand...
I assume you are wondering if I accidentally set the valves to bypass the heater. I am fairly certain that I have them set correctly. This shows my temporary test setup; I did not want to re-do all the permanent piping until I am sure this heat pump is working. The lower pipe brings in water from the pool, and the upper pipe returns water to the pool (The other plastic cover piece, not shown in this photo, is clearly labeled that way.) When I briefly got this working when I bypassed the old thermostat, the water coming out of the discharge was instantly and noticeably warmer than the pool water.
 

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Now your question makes sense: you're asking the BTU rating of the heater, not the water. I've looked it up, but it doesn't really matter because the water being discharged from the heater is not any warmer than the water going into the heater. This photo shows my temporary test setup; I did not want to re-do all the permanent piping until I am sure this heat pump is working. The lower pipe brings in water from the pool, and the upper pipe returns water to the pool (The other plastic cover piece, not shown in this photo, is clearly labeled that way.) When I briefly got this working when I bypassed the old thermostat, the water coming out of the discharge was instantly and noticeably warmer than the pool water. Now, the water coming out feels the same as the water going in, and registers the same on a thermometer. The BTU rating of the heater affects how long it takes to warm up the entire pool, but that's not the issue here.
 

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Interesting test rig now that we understand what you are doing.
 
Did your HVAC guy see differential pressures indicating the compressor is working?
 

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Do a search on “heat pump TXV” to learn about it.
 
That seems like something my HVAC guy would have checked. I'm good at basic electrical and plumbing work, but that's beyond me. To feel if the heat exchanger is getting warm, where exactly do I stick my hand? I'm sure this seems like a stupid question, but I don't know which part is the heat exchanger; the parts diagram I am looking at does not list that.
 
Show me the parts diagram you are looking at.
 
Can you get into 15?

The condenser is where the heat and the water mix in separate pipes intertwined together.
 
I'm a bit hesitant to take this thing apart more, because I might not be able to get it back together. On the other hand, it's not doing me any good now. Here's one bit of news: after running for about 1.5 hours today, the air coming out of the top was about 10 degrees cooler than the ambient air temperature -- BUT the water coming out of the discharge was exactly the same temperature as the pool water. That doesn't seem logical, does it? If the heat pump is extracting heat from the air but not putting it into the water, where is that heat going?? Meanwhile, I'm hoping someone will respond to my separate post about problems with my gas heater (which is currently plumbed into my system).
 
Looked at your set up and if that is the way you are running it when checking operating parameters the set up is faulty. If you are running it with the cover part way off you are bypassing air around the heater evaporator coil ( the part that wraps around the outside of the heater ) and you will not get any relevant readings.
 

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