Tips For Maintaining Your Heat Pump: Cleaning The Condenser
If you've got a heat pump, then you might have run into an issue or two with it. For instance, it might not have the same efficiency that it used to. Fortunately, a bit of maintenance can make your heat pump run as if it were new. On top of that, frequent maintenance can also drastically reduce the chances of your HVAC breaking down when you need it most. Here are some tips to help you improve the efficiency of your heat pump by cleaning out the condenser:
The Dangers of Debris
One of the best ways to improve the efficiency of your heat pump is to remove debris that builds up in the external condenser unit. Like an air conditioner, a heat pump is partially outside the home. Those external components require a lot of ventilation in order to successfully perform their job, which includes venting hot air outside the home. Leaves, dirt, and other problematic materials can easily get into that ventilation and clog up the condenser. This ultimately results in a lot of material that traps heat inside the unit. Your unit will then be forced to exert more energy in order to do its job properly, which will mean higher electric bills for you.
How to Clean the Condenser
Therefore, you should open up the condenser unit every once in a while and gently vacuum out all the debris that you can see. You won't need much more than a screwdriver and a vacuum to do this, since the condenser box should be fastened with screws. If you find that a screwdriver isn't enough to get the job done, you should contact the manufacturer before proceeding. After all, you don't want to open up something that you weren't supposed to in an overzealous cleaning frenzy. That's a good way to damage something expensive.
After cleaning up the general interior of the condenser box, you should also take a look at the fan blades. Carefully clean them off, but make sure not to break them. They can be quite a bit more fragile than you might initially imagine.
If you feel uncomfortable with the prospect of opening up the condenser, then you can do a limited amount of work with some compressed air. Simply blowing compressing air directly into the ventilation slits can remove a great deal of dust from the inside of your heat pump condenser. For more information or assistance with this, contact a company like Actionaire Inc.