A heat pump is one of the few things in a house that will keep working while it quietly gets worse. It still blows air, it still makes the room warmer, and nothing obviously fails. What changes is how much power it uses to do it, and how long it lasts.
Northland is harder on heat pumps than most of the country, for three reasons.
Salt air
Most of Northland is within reach of the coast, and salt attacks the aluminium fins on an outdoor coil. As those fins corrode they lose the ability to transfer heat, so the unit has to run longer and work harder for the same result. Badly affected coils eventually start losing refrigerant at the joints.
Rinsing an outdoor unit down with fresh water a few times a year makes a genuine difference if you are near the sea. It is the single cheapest thing a homeowner can do for a coastal installation.
Humidity
Northland is humid, and humidity means the indoor unit is constantly pulling moisture out of the air and draining it away. That drain is a warm, damp, dark tube, which is exactly where biological growth likes to live. A partially blocked condensate drain is the most common cause of a heat pump dripping onto the floor, and it is entirely preventable.
The same humidity means filters and the indoor coil collect a damp film of dust that turns into a mat if it is never cleaned. That is where the musty smell on start up comes from.
A long cooling season
Plenty of Northland households run their heat pump on cooling for a good part of summer as well as heating through winter. More running hours means more wear on the compressor, the fan bearings and the reversing valve than the same unit would see further south.
What an annual service actually covers
- Cleaning or replacing the indoor filters, and cleaning the indoor coil and blower wheel
- Clearing and flushing the condensate drain
- Washing the outdoor coil and clearing leaves, spider webs and salt build up
- Checking refrigerant pressures and looking for signs of a leak
- Checking electrical connections, contactors and the isolator
- Confirming the unit is reaching the temperatures it should on both heating and cooling
Pulling the filters out and vacuuming them is worth doing yourself every few months. It is not a substitute for the rest of that list, most of which needs the covers off.
The warranty argument
Manufacturer warranties generally require the unit to have been maintained. If a compressor fails at year four and there is no service history, that is an awkward conversation to be having with a claim assessor. Keeping the paperwork is cheap insurance.
It is also worth remembering that heat pumps contain synthetic refrigerant gases, which are regulated in New Zealand. The Ministry for the Environment sets the rules around handling and recovering them, which is part of why refrigerant work has to be done by someone qualified rather than a handyman.
When to call rather than wait
Book a service sooner rather than at the next annual if you notice any of these:
- Water dripping from the indoor unit
- A musty or sour smell when it starts up
- Ice forming on the outdoor unit outside of a normal defrost cycle
- The room taking noticeably longer to get to temperature than it used to
- New rattles, hums or vibration
We service any brand
JP Air Con services and repairs heat pumps across Northland whoever installed them, and whatever brand they are. If you have several units, or a commercial site with equipment running long hours, ask us about a planned maintenance schedule so it does not get forgotten.
Call 021 344 340 or get in touch through the contact page.