Winter Storm Neptune Tip: Keep Your Heat Pumping and Your Home Warm

Even though modern heat pump technology has improved dramatically for cost effective, efficient heating through our New England winters, they don't come with a system to keep the condensers clear of snow, and snow will decrease the airflow across the condenser to the point where your equipment just won’t work.

If you have a conventional, ducted system, you might hear your supplemental heater switch on more frequently, or you find you need to turn on an emergency or space heater to satisfy your thermostat.

When covered with snow, a conventional heat pump can’t move air across the coil and will start to recycle the air, increasing the defrost cycle times and frequency.

We usually see this on top-discharge condensing units that may have been off during the snowfall, allowing the top to be covered. If this snow buildup is not cleared off, it will degrade the performance of your system and at minimum, cost you a bunch of money on your electric bill.

For our customers with Mitsubishi ductless mini-split systems and new H2i HyperHeat systems, this could create an uncomfortable situation, unless you have a supplemental system, like oil, natural gas or propane to back up your ductless solution.

If your home has a boiler or furnace to back up your ductless mini split heaters, this would be the time to fire them up.

Woburn ductless heating air conditioning

So get out there with a broom and clean off your outdoor unit. Don’t use a shovel or you run the risk of damaging copper tubing and other parts connecting your heat pump to the house.

Call us if you want some help, and stay safe and warm during winter storm Neptune.