You noticed your heat pump isn't warming your home. So you decided to check the circuit breaker and saw that the heat pump's breaker is tripped. You flipped it back on and everything was good for awhile. But then the breaker tripped again. First, turn off the heat pump immediately and call a heating repair professional to find the problem. The circuit breaker is doing its job by tripping and cutting the power before something worse (like an electrical fire) happens. There’s a problem that’s causing your heat pump to pull more power than it should. Let’s look at some of the most common problems that can cause your heat pump to trip the breaker. A dirty air filter restricts airflow in your air duct system, forcing the heat pump’s blower to work long and harder to circulate air around your home. Working this way causes the blower to trip the breaker. Check the air filter at least once a month to see if it needs changing. Dirty outside unitThe outside heat pump unit (the one with the fan) gets dirty over time.  

Long story short, this forces the heat pump to work harder and longer to heat your home (much like a dirty air filter). Again, this trips the breaker. Solution: get the yearly maintenance your heat pump needs. Old/weak compressorThe compressor is the part in your outdoor unit that pumps the refrigerant through your system. If the compressor is going bad it may pull in too much power when starting up, causing your circuit breaker to trip occasionally. If this is the problem, then a professional can possibly install a hard start kit to help the heat pump start without tripping the breaker. Loose electrical connectionsWeather conditions throughout the year causes wires in your heat pump to expand and contract, eventually working loose. Once loose, they can cause a short circuit, which will trip your breaker. Locked up fan motorTo absorb heat from the outdoors, the heat pump’s outdoor unit’s fan circulates air over refrigerant coils. But, if the fan motor locks up (either from an obstruction or malfunction), it can pull extra electricity, which will trip your breaker.

Breakers wear out over time, especially when they’ve been tripped frequently. So the circuit breaker itself could be bad and needs replacing.air handling unit design If everything in the heat pump checks out (it’s not actually pulling more electricity than it should) and the breaker is fine, the problem is likely in the wiring between the heat pump and the breaker. rc ac unitIn this case, get an electrician to run new wires to your heat pump.carrier home ac units As we said before, do not let your heat pump continue to trip your breaker. Doing so can put you in danger of an electrical fire. Call a heating professional like Coolray to diagnose and fix the problem. We provide heating service to the entire Atlanta metro area.A: A heat pump is a heating and air conditioning system comprised of an outside unit and an inside unit, which alternately takes the

hot or cold air from the outside and transfers it to the inside (or vice-versa, depending on which mode the unit is on--heating or cooling). A: The heat pump contains a very cold refrigerant liquid in the outside unit (-62 degrees Farenheit) that absorbs heat molecules from the outside air and transfers them through the inside unit. Imagine we have a shoe box that is -20 F inside, it is 100 cubic inches and has 20 heat molecules evenly spaced out. If we were able to extract the same twenty heat molecules and place them in a smaller space the tempature would rise because the molecules would be closer together. The same would be true if we were to close the sides of the shoe box in. by way of absorption move the abundant heat molecules from the outside air to the small-in-comparison homes we live in. A: The price of each unit fluctuates, but the cost of each unit installed is generally between $2,700 and $5,000 and above, which includes the labor and materials required

to install the unit. Depending on the size of the home, its heating requirements, layout and floor plan, and any existing installation, additional units may be required to optimize heat usage and savings. One of the many advantages of installing a heat pump system in your home is that should you need multiple units, installation can occur in stages, one unit at a time, to take the sting out of the cost of installing multiple units at one time. A: Efficiency Maine is now offering $500 rebates through the Home Energy Savings Program on the installation of eligible high efficiency ductlessHeat pumps can also be part of larger energy upgrades that qualify for $1,500 in incentives. A: A heat pump can easily blend into the interior of your home. Visit our installations page to see for yourself. A: Again, judge for yourself. The condenser on this home can be found in the lower left corner of the back of the house. A: The heat pumps we install run at approximately 45 decibels, equivalent to a person's whisper.

You will likely not notice your heat pump any more than you would your refrigerator when it cycles.COMMISSIONERS / MANAGEMENT     |     COMMUNITY                 If you're looking for ways to cut your heating bill, consider that heating and cooling account for about half of your home energy use. Also, the easiest way to take a bite out of that part of your bill is with an energy-efficient heat pump. A heat pump is the most efficient heating machine on the market. For every dollar of electricity you put into a heat pump, you get back $2 to $4 of heat. Plus, a heat pump also acts as a central air conditioner in summer, giving you year-round comfort. That varies by family, of course, but if you are using an electric furnace, you should be able to save between one-half and one-third on your heating costs. You could switch to another fuel and lower your heating costs; however, you would not have the comfort of air conditioning during summer months. Instead of making heat, a heat pump extracts it from the outside.

Your refrigerator is a good example of a one-way heat pump. It removes heat from the air inside the refrigerator and moves it to the coils on the outside (back or bottom) of the refrigerator. Have you ever felt the warm air that blows out from under your refrigerator when it's running? A heat pump uses this same principle-extracting heat from the air and moving it to where it's needed. An air-to-air heat pump extracts heat from outside air. And amazingly, even in winter the air holds heat, even when the outside temperature gets down to zero degrees F. A ground-source heat pump removes heat from the ground, which stays about 55 degrees F year-round. Loops of flexible pipe are buried in trenches four to six feet underground. The pipe is filled with a liquid that absorbs heat from the ground and transfers it inside. Ground-source heat pumps typically cost more to install than air-to-air heat pumps, but they are the most efficient heating choice because of their heat source-the earth itself.

Ground-source heat pumps also may last longer than air-to-air models. There is less wear on the compressor because they operate over a narrower range of temperatures, following the uniform ground temperatures through the year. Klickitat County has nearly ideal climactic conditions for maximum efficiency and performance. When it is 47 degree outside, air-to-air heat pumps extract three units of energy for each unit of energy they consume. At an outside temperature of 17 degrees, they extract two units of energy for each unit of energy consumed. During more severe winter temperatures, your back-up furnace makes up the difference. On the other hand, a ground-source heat pump does not use outdoor air as a heat source. Therefore, no back up furnace is needed and efficiencies remain high in the coldest weather. Because they use the same process, they are about as reliable as a refrigerator. In a study of air-to-air heat pumps performed elsewhere, after 20 years more than half of the heat pumps were still in operation.