You be careful shoveling snow, boy. HeyBob ain't around to haul you to the hospital this time
So, it's snowing like crazy here with 16" in blizzard winds with up to 4 foot drifts, and my brother calls. I had installed a heat pump on his oil furnace a few years ago and this is the first time we have had a lot of snow like this. My brother wanted to know if he was doing the right thing by knocking off the snow on the heat pump with a broom and if the heat pump froze up, would the oil furnace take over. The answers to all of these questions of course is yes. He was content.
When I hung up, I told my wife what his concerns were and she asked me; what about our heat pump? We don't have a back up other then the wood stove.
Since my heat pump system is undersized and usually runs 24/7 during the winter, I was not concerned about it becoming snow bound. But...to satisfy my wife, I opened the window that looks over our heat pump, knocked the accumulated snow off of the screen so I could see the heat pump; and I could not. See the heat pump, that is.
Now, the temps in the house are maintaining, so the know the heat pump has to be operating. But; I can't see it. Then it hits me. Last night I had built a fire and and it got a bit warm. I cranked the woodstove down when the temps at the thermostat hit 75. My thermostat is set to 72. So, during last nights snow storm, my heat pump had shut off for quite a while.
OK, I had shoveled some of my walkway this morning and the heat pump is only 12 or so feet from where I stopped shoveling. I go out, trudge through butt high snow to get to my heat pump, and remove 16" of a snow cap off the top of the unit (the fan whooshed in relief) and dug a foot wide channel around the unit with a foot wide relief trench heading down the hill. Everything looked fine and the unit was purring away contently.
So, thank goodness for unknowing brothers who worry too much, eh?
Training is important!
Practical Training is a must!
You be careful shoveling snow, boy. HeyBob ain't around to haul you to the hospital this time
IV IV IX
use your head for something other than a hat rack.......Gerry
We have freedom because somebody fought for it.
We keep it because we are willing to fight for it.
We lose it because we are not willing to fight for it.
Thanks baldy. Yes, I am very cogniscent about my heart when I am shoveling. I shovel slowly and do not pick up a lot of snow at one time. There is no doubt that shoveling puts a major strain on the upper body and the heart. If I feel even the slightest twinge of strain, I am back inside warming up.
Training is important!
Practical Training is a must!
Training is important!
Practical Training is a must!
Is it a Goodman?
Governments don't tax to get the money they need, governments will always find a need for the money they get. Ronald Wilson Reagon
Born Again KA
Cant be Dash only installs Carrier . Glad all is well Robin
i belong to peta ... people eating tasty animals. all my opinions are just mine.
Yepper. A GSH018 with a recip compressor that was returned as DOA. I evacuated it, didn't even change the internal filter/drier (I did heat it during evacuation though), hooked it up to a 10 SEER indoor Benchmark coil rated for 30,000 Btu, put the proper piston in it and charged it up. The darn thing is quiet and works like a charm.
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Training is important!
Practical Training is a must!
Glad I dont have a heat pump......29" here near Baltimore. Gas Furnace chugging away. Btw thats a trane 16xli under there.
What exactly does a heat pump defrost system do, if it doesn't keep the snow off the condenser ?
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If my heat pump had not been shut down by my running the wood stove and satisfying the thermostat, there would have been no issue. Once the 15" of snow accumulated on the top of the pump and all around it, the defrost cycle and unit fan could not overcome it.
Today is even worse, but I don't have to clear anything because the heat pump has not been stopped from running normally.
Training is important!
Practical Training is a must!
Before going out to shovel Snow. To protect your Heart, take at least one Aspirin an hour before going out, also eat a Banana, or drink Grape juice or Orange juice, at least a half hour before to get your Potassium levels up. If you think you are having a Heart attack, slowly chew one half of a 325mg aspirin tablet.
I just cleared my heat pump the hillbilly way. Living in a townhome in central md no room to move snow. Have 8foot snow piles and two big blizzards one week. So I Just hooked the hose up to the hot water heater ran it through the second floor window and drained the hotwater all around the heat pump. Worked good even threw a little salt around the melted area to keep it from freezing. I dont care about the unit much its a pos comfortmaker. When the money comes in Im going to replace a brand new comfortmaker hp system in a brand new house with whoever is gonna give me a better deal on a trane or rheem. I dont want Carrier its okay in customers houses though it pays for my overtime.
From the blizzard of 2/10/10, my heat pump was 2/3 covered in snow, a nice "snow hat" on the top, and 4 foot drifts on 3 sides.
I cleaned it off and it was the 1st time in 3 years that it was frosted over.
Because of the frost on the condesner, temperature output had dropped to 79F air after the indoor coil on a 28F day. Typical output temp is 90F on a 28 degree day.