Why Is My Heat Pump Leaking?

​If you own a heat pump in Christchurch, you know the value and high levels of comfort it can deliver all year round. From warming you up in winter, to keeping you cool in summer, all while making sure the air in your home is fresh, filtered and dry. Heat pumps are amazing pieces of machinery!

Unfortunately, as with all great machines, sometimes heat pumps don’t work as they should. Occasionally we get calls from worried people around Christchurch wanting to know, “Why is my heat pump leaking?”

Well, here’s the answer.

How A Heat Pump Works

To understand why water may be dripping from your heat pump, it’s important to understand how heat pumps work in the first place.

Very simply, your heat pump uses a compressor and refrigerant gas to move heat from one area to another. Just look at your fridge for example. It uses refrigerant and a compressor to move all of the cool air in your kitchen into your fridge in order to lower the temperature. Using your heat pump as an air conditioner in the summer is exactly the same process and technology at work!

Check out this handy guide if you would like a more thorough explanation into how heat pumps work.

How Do Heat Pumps Work?

Air Conditioning Your Home

​In cooling mode, your heat pump is extracting the heat from inside your home and blowing it outside. The indoor evaporator coils heat up as air passes over them, so the refrigerant inside the coils travels to your outdoor heat pump unit where the fan is blowing that hot air away. As the refrigerant cools down, it’s ready to circulate back inside and absorb more heat.

As we mentioned before, while heating or cooling heat pumps filter and remove excess moisture from your home to keep your house and family healthy and dry. Normally, condensation forms on the evaporator coils and drips away down the condensate drain on the outside of your home.

In winter, it’s not unusual to see the opposite happening to your outdoor heat pump unit. As it extracts heat from outdoor air and warms up your Christchurch home, condensation can form on the outdoor unit as the cold and hot air meet. So, a little water coming from your outdoor unit in winter isn’t something to worry about. But that’s not why you want to know why your heat pump is leaking.

​Reasons Why a Heat Pump Can Leak Water

​There are two main reasons why there might be water leaking from your indoor heat pumps.

Ice On The Evaporator Coils 

But it’s summer, I hear you say! Well, if your heat pump’s refrigerant levels are low in the summer, condensation on the indoor evaporator coils can freeze. Ice on the evaporator coils stops your heat pump from working properly when you want to air condition your home. When you turn your heat pump on, it starts its defrost cycle which melts the ice, causing the inside leak.

That’s an easy fix. We can test your heat pump’s refrigerant levels and if they are low, we can give them a top up which should stop your heat pump leaking.

Condensate Drain Problems 

Look out in your garden. When the heat hits Christchurch, things start to grow. While this is great for your vegie patch, it’s not good inside your drain. A little water and a lot of heat inside your drain can cause algae and mold to grow, clogging it up. As your heat pump cools you down and filters the air, the excess moisture has nowhere to go, overflowing out your heat pump.

This is another easy fix. When Heat Pumps NOW cleans and services your heat pump, we clean and clear away any blockages inside so the water can drain to where it needs to go. Ideally not inside your home.

If you’re concerned about an indoor water feature where your heat pump used to be, contact the team at Heat Pumps NOW. We can fix your leaky, dripping heat pump, so it can get back to the business of air conditioning and cooling your home.

Don’t live with a drip, contact the team at Heat Pumps NOW on 03 377 7393.

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