“I have come into the office this morning and turned on the air conditioning into heating mode but it’s not blowing hot. Is it broken?”

This is a typical question that we get asked by our customers at Young Air Conditioning, Malvern. And in this short post we will try to explain what could be the problem with your air con not blowing hot air.

Firstly your heat pump air conditioning system is probably not broken.
The air conditioner carried out a ‘warm-up’ process when first turned on to avoid blowing cold air when in the heating mode. The fan will generally start to operate after about 1-6 minutes of the warm up operation. This length of time will increase particularly if the outside temperature is low.
First advice is to give the air conditioner time to warm up and fingers crossed all will be well.

Heat Pump Inverter iced up.

Heat pumps will ice-up at some time during the winter months. It can be quite normal for the entire coil to be covered in a white frost, even light ice, during certain weather conditions. Heat pumps will periodically go into a defrost cycle to de-ice the coils. This keeps the unit running efficiently.

How does the defrost mode work?

When defrost is required, the reversing valve is energised, switching the system into the air conditioning mode. Meaning the outdoor evaporator switches to become the condenser, at the same time the outdoor fan shuts off. This will allow the high-pressure refrigerant circulating through the outdoor coil to get warm enough to melt the ice.

At the same, the second stage heat or back-up heat is energised to offset the cold air now blowing out of the vents. When a thermostat in the outdoor unit reaches a certain temperature and/or a certain amount of time goes by, the system goes back to normal heating mode.

When this happens you will usually see a cloud of water vapor rising from the outdoor unit and a “whoosh” sound can be heard as the refrigerant reverses direction. The process usually takes between 2 to 10 minutes depending on conditions and manufacturer of air conditioning system.

Obviously different heat pump systems have different ways of determining when to go into defrost. Some manufacturers use mechanical timers in conjunction with a defrost thermostat. If the thermostat is cold enough and enough time passes, the unit will go into the defrost mode whether it is iced-up or not. When the thermostat heats up to a certain temperature, defrost is ended.

Air Conditioning service Worcester.

If you are experiencing problems with you air conditioning in heating mode please contact us at Young Air Conditioning Ltd, Malvern Worcester, visit our website www.youngair.co.uk or email us at service@youngair.co.uk

Young Air Conditioning Ltd covers the following areas: Malvern, Upton-Upon-Severn, Kempsey, Twyning, Worcester, Powick, Droitwich Spa, Redditch, Kidderminster, Bromsgrove, Tewkesbury, Stratford-upon-Avon, Evesham.